You know, @ats-david, you probably won't see this - it will be buried under all the positive responses you received on this post, but I just want to say that I admire your straight-forward manner and honesty. That's really why I began following you. Regretfully, I missed this post - it's now 3 days old, but I'm glad you got so much encouragement.

What bothers me is people spamming their books or their posts and being rewarded for it. I mean, when I put my novel on Amazon, I was contacted by marketing firms to represent it, and I couldn't come up with that money. I can't imagine somebody being able to shamelessly market their wares on here and get handsomely rewarded for it as well.

Thank you for your sane voice.