I finally understand why it is that gamblers are dismissive of playing for poker chips, and prefer to play for money, even if it’s just pennies.
It’s the same reason that I’ve recently discovered that I love publishing eBooks. It’s not because I expect to roll in money and fame, or because I think I’ll be able to quit my day job. It’s because someone spending money is an implicit statement of worth: the story you came up with looks like it’s actually worth $2.99.
When I write free stories, I do love knowing that people are reading my stuff. A few of them care enough, for good or bad, to click a button and vote. Others care more, enough to actually type in a comment or send me an email. I’ve gotten to know some awesome people that way.
But the hook to writing commercial stories, is that for whatever reason, I know that at the end of the day, they felt confident enough in the sample or the description, or maybe the cover art, to spend $2.99 on it.
A gambler playing for money doesn’t think “Well, it was only chips – maybe I won that hand because people weren’t taking it seriously.”
By the same token, an author writing for money thinks, “Whoa. Out of all the books this person could’ve bought today, they chose mine. And if they felt cheated at the end, they wouldn’t five-star it anyway out of some sense of etiquette.” That’s an awesome feeling.
In other news, the covers for “Merlin’s Magic Wang” and my next project are looking good, but aren’t finalized yet.
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