Call me an idiot

But never call me a lame book reviewer.

My Wallet

contained this lucrative looking offer:

11 hours ago Transfer 0.001 SBD from @hugewhale
Promote your post. Send 0.700 SBD / 1.0 STEEM and url in memo and your post will be resteemed with over 8.000+ followers , Min 30+ Upvote , Hugewhale Upvote .

The part I should have read more closely:

Your post will be more popular and you will find new friends.

Red Flag Waving!

I never bought a single one of my 8,000 Twitter followers. Never used any service or gimmick. No TruTwit validation, no See Who Unfollowed Me service. Ever.

Send 0.700 SBD or 1.0 STEEM to @hugewhale ( URL as memo ) Service Active

Well, what the heck, I'll try it, I thought. Maybe it'd boost book sales for the author I was reviewing:

9 hours ago Transfer 0.700 SBD to hugewhale

https://steemit.com/writing/@carolkean/sidequest-in-realms-ungoogled-by-frank-j-fleming-keangrooview-16-march-2018 Service Active

And now, checking my wallet, I see....

TONS of Scammy/Spammy Offers!

And not a single whale-ish or pseudo-whale upvote

(Call me shocked? not.)

How do I check on resteems....?

How will I ever know if anyone actually reads the book review I spent so much time writing?

Call me a techtard,

a foolish optimist, a time-wasting, money-wasting idiot.

Call me an idiot,

But never call me a lame book reviewer.

I write honest, enthusiastic, thoughtful reviews.
It would be unethical to get paid for doing them. So I do them for free.
And I get so many requests for reviews, I cannot possibly grant them all. Even if I were paid, I wouldn't have time to read and review every book publishers and authors send my way.

Also, some people get really tetchy over a 4 outta 5 star review. No matter how many good things I say along with a few minor complaints.

Maybe I should hire myself out to Kirkus. They charge authors $200 and up for a review, and the reviews are often little more than book summaries. Some are quite unflattering, and there's no getting the review hidden from the public eye.

Irate Authors have asked me to pull down my 3-star reviews.

Even though I always find good things to say, and I include disclaimers that thrillers, horror, romance, etc, are "not my genre." I lean toward literary, quirky, fun, and no dark, miserable, tragic endings please.

Sometimes, I'll pull down the review. Once, I refused to, and the author pulled his book down from Amazon. I kid you not. How bad was the review? See for yourself: Buffalo Soldiers: Sergeant Goldsby and the 10th Cavalry by Fred Staff

But the link with the book cover is gone. Poof! Vacuumed right outta cyberspace, and out of my review.

Meanwhile,

I'll check back from time to time, @hugewhale, to see if you make good on your promise of

Min 30+ Upvote , Hugewhale Upvote

Obviously (to anyone who pays attention), @hugewhale is not a whale...I should have checked that blog page, @hugewhale(25)

How much time does it take to resteem a post, when you've been paid 0.700 SBD to do it?

Maybe you don't have bots doing the work for you.
I want to believe you're doing good things with my 0.7 SBD.
Until you do, I'm spreading the word that others getting this message from you should IGNORE it.

Oh, thank you for the 0.001 SBD. It lends such an air of credibility, no?

Ah, now this looks promising:

Steemsugars, No Bullshit Is Served by @vishire
(https://discord.gg/D2V8nq9)
Banner by: @thekittygirl

I can totally vouch for this guy! Gotta Love @negativer:

Until next time,

Keangaroo

because Kean sounds like Kane (not keen, hint, hint)

@keangaroo at Discord
Find me at Twitter:
@tea_in_carolina
novelist, reviewer, editor, book critic
fan of indie authors & underdogs
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In-Depth Reviews, Author Highlights, History, Current Events, and more at My Wordpress Blog
Perihelion Science Fiction| Let's Fry Chicken Little nominated for 2015 Pushcart Award
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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics