Reviews...The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. Either Way, They're Important.

First off, no one likes a bad review. You spend days, weeks, months or years working on something, putting your heart and soul into it, and you're super proud of it. Then you put it out there, exposing your vulnerability. Opening yourself up for criticism and hopefully, praise. The good ones validate why you do what you do. The bad ones, though they hurt like a son of a bitch and bring you down a peg, they also help you grow at whatever art or work you're passionate about. And who doesn't want to be better...the best at what they do? And if you're not nervous about how your work will be received, then you've gotten too big for your breeches.

With that being said...Why in the HELL do I get so few reviews?! Do people think my books are so terrible that they don't want to leave that bad of a review? Or do they really like them and they leave it to someone else to leave a nice review? I do know that some people are just too bashful to leave reviews and I understand that. But it's just so frustrating sometimes. Especially when I see other books with a bizillion of them.

But to be truthful, before I started writing I never left reviews. Which now in hindsight, I realize was terrible. I don't read a lot anymore because I either can't stop thinking about my own characters while reading or I'm too afraid that ideas will subconsciously leak into my brain, but when I do I now leave reviews.

So for those of you reading this blog, if you have read one of my books and haven't left a review, I'd love it if you would. And if you haven't read any of my books, maybe this blog will still soak into your psyche, so that the next time you read a book or do anything that can be reviewed, you will leave one.

Because for anyone that is running their own small business, self-published authors or freelance workers; reviews are golden! Why? Because they help spread the word to others that happen to stumble along their work, to stop and check out that business, self-pubbed novel, landscaper, photographer, etc. Especially considering that we often don't have a large budget for marketing or promotions. So instead of "Be Kind...Please Rewind", how about "Don't make me Blue...Please Review!"