The Heart of an Author: A Love Story

In a bar, there was a girl named Kristle Rees and his friend author.

Kristle Rees: You’re paying my drink.

Author: Sure, and thanks for coming. There is just something I want to say.

I wrote a book not because of publishing but because I had an idea, a simple thought. My grammar was unacceptable back then. I even gave it to my friends (who is also writers/editors), make them read and only to found out that I was a cr*ppy writer.

Kristle Rees: I think every writer started cr*ppy. You should be proud, because I think every profession starts with cr*ppy.

Author: Thanks… What am I saying? ––

Kristle Rees: (cutting him off) I dunno. What are you saying?

Author: I can just give up, right? Go on with my life and forget that what I wrote. But I didn’t. It only proves that whatever someone said, I’ll still be stubborn. They criticized me, and by that I thought about the readers. Readers who will be taking their valuable time to read my work; they deserve better.

So I worked hard just to polish my skills even I know the odds are ever against my favor. To have readers who will be move in the words I put on paper/e-paper.

I finished a book, and now it’s live for about a month.

Kristle Rees: If I you only want readers, then you should put your book to be forever free. Hmm, I like that, forever free.

Author: That’s why I posted it free for 5 days using the Kdp select. But it will not be free again until its sequel goes live. I won’t use the select to increase my sales.

Kristle Rees: Wait. Sales? You mean it’s not free?! Liar, Hypocrite!!

Author: What is the value of free? How will I know if ever that reader who downloaded my book would read my book?

We all know that readers download about a few hundred of these free books, and then what? Will they read all of them? It’s easy to delete something you owned for free than something that has worth. Out of those thousand downloads, the reader would probably delete fifty percent of it.

That is why I price my book, so the reader could find worth and also so I can eat and pay rent. For me money is secondary, writing should be put first. So I price my book even I know it’s more than it is, because I do it for the reader. Because I know how money means nowadays. I know it’s a good book but that is not up to me, it’s up to them.

Kristle Rees: I don’t really get you. What are you really whining about? Are you in a phase?

Author: Phase? Yes.

I lost the spark of why write, I almost forgot that writing is better than sales. Because in the first place, I did not write to be published, self or traditional, I write because of that idea that to needs to be heard… and I forget about that. Expecting that your sales would go high is like a poison, a tasty one. Like a poor junkie in need of drugs, it sucks…   

Now that I remember why I write, I guess those sales don’t mean much. I just have to endure my day job.

Kristle Rees: So what do you call writing? A night job?

A dream, the author thought.