Reviews: The key to success

One of the things that seems to be universally accepted in the whole indie writing game is that word of mouth is critical. You have to get people talking about your book, have to get them telling others about it and why they need to read it. That's why last month I was offering free copies of Chasing Filthy Lucre to people as long as they promised to tell others about they story if they enjoyed it. While I haven't seen a huge bump in sales, they are going at a steady pace and I'm happy.  I'm also seeing a steady increase in reviews praising CFL. Thought I'd share a few of those with you all today. Maybe convince those of you who haven't dropped your 99 cents on CFL yet to do so.

This bit is from the first review the book received. It's by Aden Penn and is at the site Pink Raygun.

This little novella is how I like my science fiction stories. Less shiny spaceships, and more dystopian grit. ... If you are jonesing for a little bite sized entertainment,this is right up your alley.

From Steve Umstead, a good guy I met through Twitter.

Rush seamlessly blends cyberpunk technology and post-apocalyptic settings with deep characters the reader can truly feel for. ... The story is fast-paced and progresses logically, with a couple of twists, and an exciting climax, then easily feeds into the next novella in the series.

From Elizabeth White, another Twitter friend and respected book blogger.

Chasing Filthy Lucre is a fast-paced, engaging look at an all too realistic possible future in which the rule of law has been replaced by the rule of the urban jungle. A little dystopian, a little cyberpunk, a little noir, Chasing Filthy Lucre is entirely thrilling.

Then this weekend I was mentioned in a Tweet. JT O'Connell posted an unexpected review, picking up on a small theme that I'd played with in the book.

Now and then, it is good to run across an author who appears to have a firm grasp on the differences between intentions and results. Jarrett Rush may be just such an author ... Check out Chasing Filthy Lucre ... It’s a good read and promises decent sequels to come. A solid purchase!

It's great that people seem to be liking the book and reviews like that are crucial to success. But what also helps is when people post reviews at the bookseller sites. Most of the people who have written longer reviews of CFL have also posted reviews to Amazon and/or Barnes and Noble. There have also been a couple of reviews that were only posted at those sites.

This one is from Jeffrey Rice at Amazon.

Chasing Filthy Lucre is a cyberpunk tale in the tradition of high tech, low life. But the tone is faithful to cyberpunk's noir roots, more than its scifi roots, giving it a real edge to it. Kind of a rusted, chipped, brutal edge. Sure, if you like Gibson and Dick, you'll like this. But probably even more so if you like James Cain and Richard Stark. The tension and desperation is that real. 

And this one Margarte Yang at Barnes and Noble is my first, and so far only, five star review.

Jarrett Rush has an engaging writing style, and the first-person narrator brought you into the story quickly. The action is never bogged down with too much description, yet I felt fully grounded in the world of the story. It's hard to find a good cyberpunk story nowadays. I'm very glad I found this one.

I am fully aware that all of this looks like me bragging, and I guess on some level it is. But it's also me trying to encourage any of you who've read Chasing Filthy Lucre and enjoyed it to go to one of the bookseller sites and leave a review. If you have a blog, take a minute or two to write down some thoughts and post them. Because the key to succeeding as an indie is getting the word out about the book, and I'll take all the help I can get.