happiest days gets a review

I was helping a friend troubleshoot and .opml issue a few days ago, and ended up building the mother of all vanity searches with this thing called monitor.

I was going to delete it last night, but I'm glad I didn't, because I found this great review of The Happiest Days of Our Lives with it this morning:

The book is a compilation of stories from Wil's earlier years. The stories make for a great read. Some will make you laugh, while others will sadden you. And more than one is very easy to relate to. I really enjoyed the book. Reading it caused me to recall some great memories from my past as well.

Yesterday at work, I loaned one of my books to this guy Robert, who is a makeup artist I worked with a million years ago on Star Trek. They'd hired him to do special effects makeup on the background actors playing fans, but wouldn't let him use real pieces, because it would look too good. He ended up using the stuff you can buy  at Cinema Secrets, and it still looked great. I'm telling you guys, the authenticity is so great, you'll swear we were at a real convention.

Anyway, Robert sat down with it and started reading between setups. After about an hour, he came over to touch me up and make me look awesome for a closeup. While he put powder on my shiny face, he told me how much he liked the stories in my book, especially Blue Light Special, which he could relate to, and I am the Modren Man, which he said cracked him up.

I told him how happy that made me, and asked him to tell people about the book, because word of mouth is what sells books, not advertising. Think about this: when is the last time you bought a book, DVD, or game because of the advertising? I don't think I've done that since I realized advertising was bullshit about twenty-five years ago. I have, however, bought lots of books, games, DVDs, and CDs because my friends told me how much they loved it, and thought I'd like it.

Reviews are important for books, because they can convince people who are on the fence to take a chance on a book, but even more important is word of mouth, especially from your friends, family, and other people you trust to give you good, honest advice.

I'm not going to be reviewed by Booklist or any of the major newspapers, and it's unlikely that I'll get a chance to go on television and radio to let people know about The Happiest Days of Our Lives who don't know about it already. I'm counting on readers who feel my book was worth their time and money to tell their friends, and help me reach people who I haven't reached already.

If you've read The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and you felt it was worth your time and money, please tell your friends and family about it. It makes me so happy (and relieved) that it's already happening a little bit, right here on the Internets.