How I went public and you should too.

Last post, I wrote about the type of reviews I like to read, and my rules I follow when I compose them.   Before I go much further, I now endeavor to write a review for every book I read, and post it to any forum where the book is located (always on Goodreads).  The picture below spells out why you should.  I figured it was time to give a little background on why I've started writing public reviews - again.

I had a blog once upon a time.  It was much larger and covered more topics I am interested in.  It was difficult to write a complete review.  I had other topic pages to cover so one-two short sentences was the norm on my book reviews.  This also applied to Goodreads at the time. It's a review but not very helpful if you think about it.  I didn't consider my blog 'public' as I didn't advertise, not on any search engines - you had to know me to find me.  I took down the blog as it became too much to manage across too many topics and moderate comments.  Vacation from blogging ensued.

Fast forward to this year.  I was introduced to Sawyer Bennett's books (Amazon Author Page) by my Recommended to You. At the end of the Confession of a Legation God, there was a link to her web page.  At the web page was an invitation to join her Street Team.  I didn't know what a Street Team was as this concept came about after I stopped blogging.  I learned what I needed to do and dove right in.  I loved her writing and talked it up to all my friends. So this was easy for me to transition my actions to other platforms.  Shortly after, a member of the Street Team recommended we assist our fellow readers by commenting and liking reviews when appropriate.  Well, it never occurred to me to:

1) Like another review if I felt is helped others with honest summary of the books qualities
2) To write a review in the first place for the general public to read

Hummmm....Okay, I can do this. Next Sawyer Bennett book I read is With A Twist. Once I finished,  I posted to Amazon. And there you go.  My "Go public with my Reviews" cherry was popped.  Now, I put my opinion out there for praise and criticism.  I realize not everyone will like what I say and that's okay. One person might appreciate my views to give the story a try.  That's what makes taking the time to saw a few words nice or constructive for the authors is worth it.

Previous post was tips to write a review.  This post is all about being brave to put yourself out their for your own brand of scrutiny.

• Are you brave enough? Ready to pop your public cherry? Or
• Do you review already? Do you feel effective in your message to others?  

Please comment below to join the conversation.