Give Me One Good Reason! (Oh, That's A Good Reason) | INDIE

I had just been emailed by the author. The AUTHOR. Of my new favorite book.

What? I mean, what!?!

Is that even possible?

And they were nice, too! Said it was out-of-print, she couldn’t control that. She was sorry, but so glad you liked the book.

Suddenly my new favorite book became my new favorite author, and I started buying and reading a bunch of her other books. And they were all truly good!

She wrote across genres, so I had new and wonderous high fantasy to read. And more science fiction. She had a romance fantasy fairy-tale trilogy I fell in love with! (bu-dum-*cymbal crash*) So many new books hitting so many of my favorite tropes and genres! She had a couple really dark books that weren’t my cup of tea, just cause I don’t like reading really dark stuff. So I didn’t read them. I had so many other great books to dig into!

And then the used version of book two dropped in price (to a mere $35) and I snagged it!

I now had the gateway book to the rest of that series and my puppy tail was wagging me in half and in half again.

I was a mite bit excited.

I found all those other books I loved and still love almost two decades later because of one email from an author. Personally reaching out to me.

Becoming a person. Not a big name.

And the books felt better to read. It was like reading the book of a friend. Someone who cared about me and it mattered to her that I liked her book. That she gave another reading joy.

It was another PERSON telling me a story.

Like flashlights in bed, cuddled up warm and sleepy. Teddy under your arm, warm tea in your belly. The heat and pressure of someone against your side as you listen to their words in steady rhythm take you far away, just this side of dreams. Where story still holds you in reality before sleep takes you into another.

I have many writer friends now. And it is a joy to read their work.

Or I should say, when I open their book and I hear them tell me another story. I can see them in their choices and their characters. And then they are just the voice, and the characters are wild and free on their own. And I am swept away.

It is truly fantastic.

Gosh, I love to read.

And that connection, no matter how small, of another human-breathing-being reaching out to you and saying “I am glad we have this to share with you. I hope you enjoy…”

Well that’s…

Guys, I may have to swoon again.

But really, my heart is huge with the feeling. A need for human connection in this world. Now and forever. Because this initial connection was yes, before Amazon and the dinosaurs. But it was truly before all that has now become dividers between us. These past couple decades.

Human connection was of deep monumental value, before.

It has only become more precious.

A real person. Connecting.

With a real person.

“I’d love to tell you a story.”

Now that is magic.

So what’s this all got to do with Nora?

Indie authors are better for readers.

Remember that?

Well, I jumped on Nora’s website and on a few other big name authors and, is there a place where you can buy their books directly? No.

Any kind of cool merch? Naw.

Any place to talk to other people about the books? Oh, yeah. You can jump on a Facebook fan group. There is lots of that.

But what about…talking to the author?

*snorts*

OK, I will be honest and say that I haven’t tried it. I am actually nervous to do so.

And…I don’t think I would believe it if someone saying they were Nora did. Or Stephen King or James Patterson.

They are too lofty. In my thinking. They have a giant PUBLISHIING COMPANY they are astride in the Big Apple, crunching on it as their books are printed and spread all across this great country like reading butter on a very strangely topo-graphed and enormous piece of toast.

(Hmmm, now I’m hungry.)

Doesn’t that make them more real and more likely to be good, do you mean?

That they are traditionally published? They have the big titles and big accomplishments. That’s the whole enchilada.

It becomes a piece of cake to know if a book is good because of their creds, right?

(Oh, yeah. I’m definitely hungry.)

Well, let’s just see, shall we?

Come back next week and we shall dive into the meat of the matter: Does that stuff really matter?

OK, let’s both have a snack and a wonderful week!

(Thank you for coming out to play with me.)

(I’d love to do it again some time.)