I once took a 14 hour flight from Australia back to the US before I had kids and there was a three year old little girl and her mother beside me. I remembered thinking “uh oh” about having a toddler beside me, but I did like kids and engaged with the sweet girl along the way at various points. But what I didn’t appreciate at the time was the fact that she was SOOOO good until I had kids of my own and realized what work that is as a parent on a flight with a toddler….I didn’t appreciate how much that mother did and how much work it was to keep her little girl happy for that entire time. Now I wish I could go back and order that mom a cocktail and tell her at the end of the flight, “WELL DONE MOM!!!”…Because now I get it.

The same holds true with leaving reviews on books. I’ve read more books in my lifetime then I can count, and yet the number of reviews I’ve given I could sadly count. Chalk it up to reading a lot from the library (before Amazon-yeah I’m dating myself), having an outdated original kindle, but really, it was about not realizing the power of a good review.

Now I can’t speak for a published author as I don’t know the process or if it makes a difference in book sales, but I will say as an Indie author (otherwise known as self-published-but doesn’t Indie sound cooler and more hip :-)??) reviews are everything. And I for one now know the value of them more than ever!   So share some love with an Indie Author and give reviews if you loved the book 🙂  I know I do now!! And know how very, very, (did I mention very) much appreciated they are by the authors who read every one of them! (Well at least the nice ones!)