It's a Small World

This is a time of communities especially on-line communities. Be it social networks like Facebook, professional networks like Linkedin or company communities that support their products like Kraft.  Groups of people are coming together in numbers unprecedented.  This is nothing new though for readers.  There have always been "people who read" and people who don't. Us readers have always had that drive to connect with other readers (and to be honest maybe even convert a few non-readers!)   What is it about a book that just begs to be lent to a friend?  I've done this all my life: shared books, exchanged books, talked books with friends and with strangers.  It's a much better way to get to know someone than talking about the weather.

So why did it so surprise me when it happened with my book, Murder Makes Mischief?  It was easy to follow some of my early sales as they went to friends and family.  One of my first sales ended up being passed through five different people in four different cities before I lost track of it.  Now to be honest, one side of me would have liked each of those people to buy their own copy but the other side said Yes!  You don't pass on a book you don't like.  Besides part of why I write is to provide people with a few hours of reading pleasure, a few hours of fun.  Bottom line: the more my books are shared the better.

Still it was a surprise to get a fan letter from a remote coastal town in Scotland!  Between sharing and the on-line book sites and communities, books are being sold and shared in places I would not have imagined.  Where next? My cozy murder mystery is off to book fairs in China and Germany and after that who knows.  It is after all a very small world!