Amazon likes to send those annoying reminders to review products you’ve purchased.  I’m guilty of doing it for one out of five products. I always answer a request for a review….I didn’t know you could request a review until recently. Does everyone besides me know these things? Today I opened my email to a request to review my own book. The Beard insisted I download it so that I could see the final, formatted version. Here lies the rub….do I review my own book? I love my book. I wrote it didn’t I? What else am I going to say besides “It’s a good book. Read it. Love it. Buy all of my books” ?

Is it unethical to review my book? I’ve had over 700 downloads with only 8 reviews. Part of me…the smart ass part, wants to review my book with pithy, smile inducing wit. The other part of me…the part that has read the book over 100 times, struggles with anything beyond “Read it. You’ll love it.” I do still enjoy my book, my characters and my plot. Several times during the course of the craft…editing, revising, etc….I found myself caught up in reading the story and thinking, “This is a great read!”

The part of me who’s working on the second book, considerably more crafting than the first, is done with the first book. This part of me is focused on the new story. This part of me wants people to read the first book already so they can move on to the second book! Another part of me, the working on the other stories part, is demanding time for the two new books I’m writing. The murder mystery and the book about Hell are clamoring for their turn in the spotlight. Being pulled in so many directions makes it difficult to write a review.

It was easy to write a review for my friend Steve Linstrom and his book The Last Ram. It’s a great book. My book is great too although a completely different genre. Some folks are patiently waiting for the print copy.…which is sneaking onto the horizon btw. I get that….I love the physical book. I know that those readers will leave reviews after they’ve felt the slick, smooth cover and turned the creamy, crisp pages. How can you resist that eye?

Does this crazy, madness inducing wait for reviews justify leaving my own review? Authors…..what would you do?