146.8 Why I Didn't Review Your Free Kindle Book

I get lots of free books on Kindle these days, and I am not complaining. New authors want to break into the world of publishing, and so they put their books up for free. They hope I will post favorable reviews of their books and tell all my friends how great their books are. This is really the only way a new author can get noticed these days, because there is so much out there available to read.

I am not complaining, but some new authors are. I see their complaints in Amazon's author forums: "I get lots of downloads when my book is free, but hardly any reviews," they say. "Why do readers take the time to read my book, but not the few minutes it takes to write a review?"

If you know any new authors, please direct them here to read my 2 answers, either:

1) I don't want my good name associated with your book, or
2) I did review your book, just not on Amazon.

1) Most people use real names on Amazon, and it's a pain to set up a new Amazon profile. When I review a book on Amazon, my name is associated with it basically for the life of the Internet. There are many reasons I might not like your book. Bad writing comes to mind almost immediately, but bad writing in itself won't put me off reviewing your book on Amazon. Mostly, it comes down to your book not delivering what it promises in the write-up you used to get me to download your book.

The most recent free book I started reading but neither finished nor reviewed promised a light, fun romance. What it gave me was a bunch of excuses for committing adultery. Not just once, but over and over again the two main female characters persuaded each other that it was OK to sleep with a married man. At first, I kept reading, thinking they would learn the error of their ways. But after 10 more pages of them telling each other home wrecking was just a little fun -- I gave up on that book. I slept on it, and I woke up with this rant in my head. There is no way I am even going to post the name of that book here, let alone review it on Amazon.

2) I have reviewed several books here on my blog, rather than on Amazon. You can find blog reviews of your book by setting Google alerts for your book's title. I link to the Amazon page of every book I review, so you are not losing sales from me reviewing your book on my blog. On the contrary, I am giving you free publicity. Books I am most likely to review here are weight loss, fitness and recipe books.

/end rant

I walked three miles yesterday and I lost .8 pounds. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Leftover baked chicken, onion and carrots
Small Fuji apple
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk