Keeping Track of the Books Read  

For several years now, I've kept up with the books I read on Amazon by writing a review. Not only do I have a list, but I also have my opinion on the book. It's the simplest way I've found, and it's easy to find when I want it. This is important, because I read around 250 books a year, even though I've started a second career.

Not only is this a way of tracking your reading, but it also helps readers. I know I usually check the Amazon reviews before I decide to buy a book, especially for my Kindle. I look at the low ratings first, because I want to determine if what bothered them would be important to me. This has saved me a lot of time and frustration.

In addition, it helps the author. I never knew how important good reviews were to an author until I became one. I hear that bookstores are considering stocking certain books over others based on their Amazon reviews. It's so crucial that some authors give away free books for the promise of a review. I haven't done this yet, because I've questioned the practice, but my small number of reviews, especially on my newer releases, show this.

With all sorts of reasons to write a review for the books you read, I encourage you to do so. They can be short, and that's just fine. Once you get in the habit of it, it goes really fast, and it can be of great benefit to you, the author, and other readers.

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