Authors send me books. Publishers send me books. Marketing companies send me books. You get the picture. They come from all over. There's nothing better than free books! Even the ones that you pick up and think 'well I'll read that when I have the flu' are exciting!
Every week, I buy books. Even though I have zillions of them sent to me. Why? Because authors work so tirelessly creating them! Let's assume I spent ten dollars to buy a book. Do you have any clue how many hours an author has to put in to that? Endless hours of thought, and writing, and rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting, and throwing everything away and setting the house on fire and then starting over, and rewriting, and rewriting, and then editing, and then rewriting and rewriting. They pour their souls into these works of art that we get. Souls! It's not like with moths where they chase you around and steal your soul, these writers take their souls and put them on pretty little china plates and have them inspected to make sure they're just right, and then hand them over to you with a smile! Ten dollars is freakin' cheap!
But I digress!
Every week I buy books. But how do I choose which books I want to buy?? I'd love to buy every book there is out there! I would covet them and place them in a safe room where grubby little hands could never touch them and only loving eyes would cast their gaze upon them. Some people adopt puppies. We all need a hobby. Stop judging me.
I have a list of authors that are MUST BUYS. These are the authors that have proven to me time and again that I am going to love whatever they have stuffed between the pages. I don't even wait until Happy Wednesday Buying Day. I keep a special fund just for these books. Why? Because I'm an addict!
I have several trusted 'advisors' that help me make up the list of 'REALLY SHOULD BUY'. These are people who know what I enjoy reading and are wonderful at tossing suggestions at me. I discover a lot of new authors this way.
The problem with new authors is that I just don't know them. The way the industry is set up, either you're on Oprah or you're still working on word of mouth. It's a dreadful thing! So the third list of books I buy from is the 'HEY I LIKE YOU! I HOPE YOU WRITE WITH YOUR PERSONALITY!' list. These are books that I've never heard of and never read. Somehow I've met the author or seen them post something and they really struck me. Authors are a really impressive group of people. They have to be with all that determination! So, when I find someone that I just really like...someone I could hang out with and dump Slurpees on sidewalks with, well I want to read their book. Most of the time, I've found if I like the author's personality, I'll love their writing. Most of these people end up on the MUST BUY list.
So, if you're thinking of approaching me for a review, there's one question you have to ask yourself. Do I like you? Huh? Do I? LOL Probably :D
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