Freebies!!!

Who knew all of those reviews I wrote on Amazon.com would add up to something?

I logged into my Amazon.com account yesterday and found an invitation to their Vine reviewer program.

It's an offer to those of us who write coherent, useful reviews of stuff sold on Amazon.com, to receive free stuff to review. I'm all in favor of free stuff, so I signed on immediately.

The last time they posted a list of available stuff was April 23, so it was pretty well picked over and down to a handful of books - mostly fiction and heavy on stuff for teens. I did, however, find an interesting book by a guy who got seduced into mountaineering in Colorado and went from an ordinary Joe to a dedicated peak-bagger.

I clicked on it and Amazon.com says today that it shipped to me via FedEd yesterday.

Needless to say, I'm checking regularly for the next listing of free stuff.

According to their data, I've written 71 reviews over the years. A total of 885 of the 1,023 people who offered an opinion about my reviews said they found them helpful, for a score of 87 percent. I am number 7,752 in the "Classic Reviewer" rankings, whatever the hell that means.