When my book was first published, I was attending a regular appointment and naturally enough the topic of my novel came up. While I would not consider this person to be a friend, more of an acquaintance, they had come along on the journey to publication and were familiar with the whole process. After expressing good wishes that my sales would do well, I was taken aback when they asked if they could borrow a copy of the book. “Books are just so expensive these days,” they explained. Even though at that stage I was prepared to do just about anything to get my book into the hands of any reader, I saw red at this comment. They, however, seemed to miss the irony that they were dismissing my work as “too expensive” while I was going to have to pay on my way out the door for their expertise (which could also be considered expensive).
I did briefly consider lending this person a copy but before I agreed out loud, I pulled myself up and explained that I didn’t have spare copies to lend (what did I look like, a library?) as I had to keep my own stock ready to sell (hint, hint). Each copy I gave away, I explained, was income I was not receiving. Clearly this was still not enough to convince them, as they shrugged and said they would borrow it from the library sometime.
I did briefly consider lending this person a copy but before I agreed out loud, I pulled myself up and explained that I didn’t have spare copies to lend (what did I look like, a library?) as I had to keep my own stock ready to sell (hint, hint). Each copy I gave away, I explained, was income I was not receiving. Clearly this was still not enough to convince them, as they shrugged and said they would borrow it from the library sometime.