We dwell in a universe of quick, easy, “likes.”
So, when I checked the mail last week and saw a hand-addressed envelope, I was surprised. Inside was my first ever piece of fan mail. An honest-to-God, hand-written note to me:
As Newcomer put it:
“There will never be a digital form of communication which will ever be as exciting or meaningful to send or receive as a handwritten, envelope encased, lick stamped, return addressed, walked to the mailbox with your own two feet and pushed the flag up, postmarked first class, United States Postal Service delivered, motherfucking letter, period.”
I’m keeping it. In fact, I’m going to frame it. I’ll hang it on my wall next to my first royalty check (cashed of course, and digitally deposited). It’ll be good for those days when the writing isn’t going well or for when I check the sales numbers and discover that there are *only* 2883 science fiction books that are selling better than SPARK on Amazon. There are 1,024,278 books of all types with superior sales numbers.
That can get depressing. A little research, however, revealed that means SPARK is in the top 2% (approximately) of books on Amazon. Let that sink in for a minute. How’s that possible?
Amazon has over 48 million titles for sale. Nearly 2500 new ones are added EACH DAY.
That’s a lot of books to sift through. Matthew found mine. Then wrote me a note.
I’m humbled.
Now, to save you all the trouble that Matthew went through to find SPARK, here’s a link: