Somebody Is A Fan

Okay, I'll admit it ~ it's kind of cool to have a fan. Weird, but cool. One person, who's read one of my novellas, must have really liked it. 

See, people rarely go out of their way to do anything for purely altruistic reasons. I'm not talking about everyday courtesies ~ although those are waning, unfortunately ~ like holding a door for someone or waving hello to a neighbor you've never met. But to post a favorable review on three different sites and recommend your book and begin following you on social media, that's a step above. I don't know that I would do it. Granted, there aren't many things that would compel me to, and granted, this might just be a really nice person with lots of free time, but it still requires a bit of effort. 

When I'm writing I sometimes tell myself, if just one person besides me likes it, I would feel legitimate. I've never, ever had that feeling ~ mainly due to the fact that most of my books have never sold even one copy, and those that did sell still had no reviews. But now, as I resume work on my novel-turned-novella, I can keep that one person in mind. That's an impetus. 

I long ago resigned myself to only writing for me. I only self-published because...why not? It didn't cost me anything. With my first self-published book, I thought, "Wow, it'll be cool when someone buys it". I kept checking every day or so for a while; then reality smacked me in the face. I stopped checking. With my second and third novels, I never once checked my sales stats. I knew they wouldn't sell, and they didn't. If I wrote to please people, that would be a fruitless exercise. Thankfully, that's not why I did it. 

Now, the one book I seriously promoted has gotten me a fan. That's not going to change my mind about promoting; I'm done with that. 

But it's a really nice feeling.