Better than a kick in the snaps, fo' sure.

For independent authors, reviews are one of the most critical components to crawling your way up the publishing ladder. I read a stat somewhere that nearly 600,000 new books are set loose upon the unsuspecting public every year. 600,000! In addition to all existing titles.

'Our biggest enemy is anonymity,' is something I also read somewhere.

In this gee-whiz technological society, word of mouth is still a major driver in forming buying decisions. Just ask Yelp. So when a reader recommends a book to another reader, it matters. I solicit reviews from my readers like any other author, but I also submit to review sites, book review bloggers and other avenues to drum up good words for my books.

This one came today on my latest release:

"In an excellent and epic work of fiction, The Killing Face: Blind Edition, the second installment of The Killing Arc series by author Kenneth Humphrey, readers will find themselves on the absolute edge of their seats, hearts in their throats, almost from the very start and through to the very end. Follow the story of Detective Arch Bell, a member of the Chicago Police Department, who entered the department after winning a contentious discrimination suit. His champion in the case, Noah Bell, a man dedicated to working towards the betterment of all in the city, black, white or any color in between, is found murdered, and Arch finds himself assigned with his very first case. Arch is determined to find the killers and on his quest he ends up finding much more. What, you might ask? You’ll have to read The Killing Face to find out. I loved The Killing Face. Loved. It. How’s that for a review? Author Kenneth Humphrey has done an absolutely masterful job at creating an intriguing and suspenseful read that will keep his readers engrossed throughout. His ability to create characters that his readers will be able to connect with, relate to, and care about is second to none. The story line is exciting and the outcome is not easily predicted, even for a reader that reads voraciously in this genre. I highly recommend The Killing Face: Blind Edition to any reader who enjoys a thrilling read full of mystery, or just a person who loves a great work of fiction in general. I look forward to reading more from the highly talented author, Kenneth Humphrey, in the very near future, and I certainly hope that he is hard at work on the next book in this series even now!"