Hot Dog Fortunes

I'm "not non-selling." That's my running joke about this writing hobby, that I'm not a non-selling author. Technically correct is, after all, the best kind of correct, and as soon as The Fall and Rise of @TheRealJoyG sold its first ebook copy, I was, technically, not completely obscure. Was it someone I knew? Almost certainly. I've made no secret of my lack of marketing efforts, putting more energy right now into finishing over flogging. It's fine to have a book out the door and let people know about it, but it's more satisfying to have another one to keep it company.

When I sold that first copy after a week after launch, I also joked that my royalties being "hot dog money," on that one copy. It gave me bragging rights, and, once joined by another six copies or so, Amazon would decide it was worth the compute power to transfer the princely sum to me. JoyG sells at about a penny-per-page in electronic form, nowhere close to the effort it took to pull it together, but I truly don't mind. It's about the principle and the process and the craft, and whatever fiscal rewards their are--technically--don't amount to much. One copy to someone-I-probably know† means the book that began as an assignment is our there standing on its own.

This month, a couple more copies have been sent out into the world: another ebook, and, to my delight, the paperback edition. And it's not been exclusive to Amazon, either. It's dribs and drabs, so James Patterson's position is safe. As much as I'd like to pretend that external validation doesn't matter, it kind of does? It's the chance to see a story stand on its own legs and wobble into the world, and that's magical, above whatever budget lunch it might bring.

Not non-selling is pretty cool, but being read is much cooler. 

🧩🦏

† If it's you, don't say anything. Let me cling to the wonder.