After really getting into the IM conversation, we determined that we sell around the same number of books in the Science Fiction category, most of our covers are roughly the same quality and we both make ourselves available to our readers through Facebook and Email. I get a lot more Email than he does, while his Facebook page has about three times as many people subscribed.
The real difference with regards to reviews is that he asks people to review his work. He doesn't warn against spoilers, he just watches for them and has Amazon remove them when they pop up.
My position in our little discussion was that it's not the author's right to ask that his / her readers review their work. For some reason I was under the impression that a writer requesting something from his readers after they had purchased his book was a little vulgar. My contemporary thought that notion was ridiculous, that there was nothing wrong with asking for his reader's attention, then he dared me to ask for reviews.
That brings me to this point, where I ask you, dear reader to review my work on Amazon.com. I have to add the proviso that, if you are generous with your time in writing a short review, try to stay away from spoilers and be honest about your experience with your favourite book in the series.
So, there it is. I've made good on the dare, and I ask that you be gentle, be honest and I think you for volunteering your time. Here's a link to the list of books on Amazon.com: Link
RL
[What do you think about a writer asking for his readers to review his work? Vulgar or just part of the new, necessary, self publicity culture - as my contemporary put it.]
[The image in this post is by Liviu, check out his work - there's some interesting stuff there!]
