Amazon and the Like

Now I've worked out the nuances of the Amazon rankings, I check them once a week to see if I've made any sales. Zero is usually the answer.
At first I was unhappy about this. After a couple of days musing, however, I realised it wasn't my writing that was the problem, it was a compilation of a couple of things. First, I don't write about vampires and I don't write about sex. I don't think there's anything wrong with these genres, it's just that they aren't the subjects I choose to be concerned with. However, I know that these are the hottest genres at the moment and that many people, when they go to buy a book online, actively seek them out.
The second reason is that I don't sell myself. I've joined writers' and readers' sites in an effort to get myself known, of course. I also blog and read others' blogs. However, paying for my books to be put in the foreground on these sites, to me, smacks of desperation, ditto paying for a reviewer, and I simply refuse to do these things. I work on the premise that if people want to read my work, they'll do so whether I get my money out or not. As a reader myself, I get pretty pissed off with the hard sell, and would prefer to browse my way around unhindered by intrusive advertising.
Now for my Burning Issues Spot. If anybody reads this blog, they'll know that I'm a political animal and like to discuss the events of the day.
The biggest news story at the moment is the mosque near the Ground Zero site. I've read both sides of the argument, and believe myself that the mosque shouldn't be so near to where thousands of people died. It's not that I think all Moslems are fanatics. I know that the majority are peaceful, and it's just a handful of idiots, with a control problem who are making life invidious for them. For me, not building the mosque is a question of respect for the dead and nothing more.
I abhor any form of fanaticism, which means I'd place the preacher from Florida, threatening to burn the Koran, up there among the supremest of fanatical idiots. I just wish people would understand others' need to worship the way that they choose and be done with it.
Finally, autumn is here again. It's my favourite time of the year, and I'm off to the coast to catch the last remnants of its sunshine, before the winter sets in.