Reader Reviews Are Important

What a gratifying thing to learn today—that Amazon reviews are generally respected as much those written by professional critics now.  The piece (sorry,  I've forgotten where I read it!) says that sometimes professional reviewers give first-time authors short shrift,  choosing not to review first books at all.  Also, the pros often select books that have won prizes.

On the other hand, "regular readers" usually give us their no-frills assessment of a book, regardless of whether it's a first book or prizeless.  Of course it's possible that a marketing company or publicist could post reviews just to pump up the numbers for a book.  Apparently that doesn't  happen often, and we readers have good radar for that.  We usually can tell a genuine book review from the marketing hype.  Common sense is still a treasured commodity among readers, don't you think?

The reviews for Dancing on Mars have been excellent so far, and I'm hoping to see a few more on the book page over time.  I get excited every time a new one is posted, as if my inner child has been on a chocolate binge!

Wishing you a great weekend that will allow some relaxation and reading time.