At first it was just something of a hobby. But gradually over time I found that my reviews were gaining more attention and I was moving up the rankings.
Then came one review in particular which whetted my appetite and led me to believe that I might be able to do more than just review as a hobby. I was particularly inspired (humanly speaking of course) to write a review of Bart Ehrman’s, Misquoting Jesus.
Over time it became the number one review in the spotlight location and I began to receive the occasional inquiry from an author or publisher as to whether I would accept a copy of their book in return for a review.
As my ranking within the reviewers at Amazon continued to move forward I continued to write reviews and made it a point to try to do more than just write brief little snippets. More of my reviews began to garner spotlight positions and I broke into the top 5,000 reviewers on Amazon. About this time, Amazon began a new thing that they called the Vine Program. Established reviewers were invited to take part and receive a listing of books and other products from which they could choose several a month to receive free of charge. I was fortunate enough to be in the group initially invited and this combined with my usual reading helped to fuel my passion and opportunity to read and review.
Today I am a top 1,000 reviewer and I have on a few occasions risen into the top 500 reviewers. Hardly a week goes by without some form of contact asking me to review a book. Further I’ve expanded my reviewing to Amazon.ca in Canada, as I originally grew up there and many of my reviews are of books that somehow tie back to Canada. I am rising there as well for which I am grateful. My reviews appear regularly on my Facebook account and Visual Bookshelf.
All in all while it is still a hobby for me, and it is something I enjoy and use to keep up in my profession as a Government Consultant. I review books in Religion, Leadership, Organic Church, Management, Organizational Psychology and of course classic literature and novels for fun on occasion. Book Reviewing is not really a viable career but I like to believe that what I do contributes to my current career and I’m just hopeful enough that it may at some point lead to some form of work in which my passion for reading and writing can find greater expression. In the meantime, it’s enough that I enjoy it as a hobby.
Welcome to my blog. Feel free as you browse my blog entries to select the Book Review Category as I will be posting my new reviews here and well as bringing over some of my older reviews as well.
I do receive invitations to review works but I’m busy enough now that I turn more down than I accept just due to available time. Feel free to leave me a comment here if you’re interested in my reviewing or writing services.
I am listening to the audio version of “Misquoting Jesus” and I decided to go on Amazon to read what others were thinking of it. I appreciated your eloquent review very much. You put into words some things that were just floating around the edges of my thoughts as I listened. I would very much like to read another book on this topic by a more evangelical author. You mentioned a few. Would you be so kind as to recommend a specific book that might be suitable to follow this one?
I have just discovered your blog, and I love it as you are discussing so many things in which I have an interest. I look forward to catching up on your past posts.