Can I get a hand here?

Ask Gina. I need help. This writing thing is something that I have wanted to do forever. Forever and ever and ever. I've been writing since I was a kid. Literally. Like elementary school. Well, maybe junior high. Still, I was young.

But another thing I've also done since I was a kid was be painfully shy. I know I shouldn't, but I've always cared about what others thought of me. Not all others, just others that I know and will have to interact with on a regular basis. That's why the writing thing was something I did in a deep, dark cave where the only light was the little that came from the screen of my laptop. I didn't want anyone I knew to know I did it.

It's not that I thought what I wrote was bad, I just didn't want anyone to have a chance to judge my writing, and by extension, judge me.

I'm slowly getting over that, because I have to. If I want to sell any of these books, the first people I had to ask were friends and family. So I did. I swallowed my pride and posted links to it on my personal Facebook page. And I got some good reaction. People seemed eager to read it. That's great, but their friends and family. I'd hope they wanted to support me.

I also sent out daily promos on Twitter. Got some good reaction there. That was nice. A real ego boost.

But here's the deal. I feel a bit like I've tapped those markets. Anyone who sees me regularly on Facebook or Twitter and was interested in buying my book has likely already bought it. So what I need to do now is get more people to read the book. I need to get it in front of their eyes and let them know about it. Give them the opportunity to buy the book.

So, now I have to figure out a way to do that. I think I have an idea, and here it is. I'm going to give away ten copies of the book to the first ten folks who leave a comment here and say they're willing to do one thing for me. If those people say they'll be willing to read the book -- it's only 21,000 words, shouldn't take too long -- and then, if they like it, tell someone about it, those people will get a coupon code for a free copy. And if they're willing to buy a copy then that's fine too. Links are up top in the "Where to read me" tab.

Now, telling someone may mean just telling people you know who may like the book. It could mean leaving a review at Smashwords, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. It could mean telling people about it on your blog or a message board. But tell someone. I need to start building word-of-mouth buzz about Chasing Filthy Lucre and the only way to do that is to get people talking about it. Are you willing to do that? If so, leave your email address in the comments or send me a message at jarrettrush@yahoo.com.