Reviews of SOMETHING MISSING have begun to pop up on Amazon as part of their Vine Program. Amazon describes this program like this:
Amazon Vine is a program that enables a select group of Amazon customers to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make educated purchase decisions. Customers are invited to become Amazon Vine™ Voices based on the trust they have earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews. Amazon provides Amazon Vine™ members with free copies of products that have been submitted to the program by vendors. Amazon does not influence the opinions of Amazon Vine™ members, nor do we modify or edit their reviews.
The reviews so far have been excellent. On a five-star scale, no one has rated the book with less than three stars, and it currently has an average rating of 4.5 stars.
Even the most critical of reviews contain a good deal of praise.
I have a friend who has published a few books, and he strongly advised me against reading reviews such as these, but I couldn’t resist. It’s been thrilling to discover what people think of the book, and a few of the more critical comments are probably accurate.
One of the critical remarks has altered my approach to the current manuscript ever so slightly. I think the reviewer was quite right in his critique of my writing style, and as a result, I saw room for improvement.
So reading these reviews, both positive and critical, has been helpful.
Besides, I’m known for having an exceptionally thick skin resulting from a lifetime of unwarranted attacks and persecution and a slightly inflated ego. I can’t imagine that any single review or collection of reviews could dispirit me to any serious degree.
I hope.
