“Thank you for smoking.”
“Feel free to spit on the bus.”
“Ride my bumper. Please.”
“Review this book.”

They’re all unnatural acts and fortunately I’m only guilty of asking you to perform that last one on the list. As a reader, you didn’t know it was your job, did you? You thought you paid your money and were done with your obligation. Not any more, my naïve friend.

It’s going to get worse. Amazon is separating out some of the self-publishers to promote based in part on number of reviews they’ve received. They must have some way of overcoming the obvious scams this can lead to, but they aren’t telling me about it.

So writers have become beggars. We’re threatening our families and waylaying the mailman and bullying our friends. I’m looking for a monkey and an organ to grind. There are sites where you can now buy reviews. Next some bright bulb will come up with a promotion: Review my book and I’ll refund __% of the purchase price.

Too bad this shiny new industry is already rusting at the base.