Why I ask you to review my books

If you've bought one of my books, then thank you very much, you've done PLENTY. But if you liked it and want to go the extra mile, pleasepleaseplease post a review on the site where you bought it.

Why? Well, one advantage of self-publishing on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble is that they are actually quite good at marketing titles to people, and I of course have no marketing department. Let's say that you (like me) are a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. (How big a fan am I? I spelled all that right on the first try! And I can't spell!) And let's say you've bought her books on Amazon, and then you leave a favorable review for Trang there. The next time someone goes to buy a Vorkosigan book, Amazon will recommend to them that they take a look at Trang as well.

How effective is that? It can work pretty darned well! According to this article in The Wall Street Journal (which you probably need a subscription to access, argh), Karen McQuestion, who has never been published by a traditional house, has sold 36,000 copies of her books in less than a year this way!