About a month ago, I’ve come across this comic strip by Manix Abrera and found it quite funny. As someone who dabbles in social media management in my day job, it really is quite humbling to see people liking and sharing posts you write, whether on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media channel there is that you use. However, the general thought of this comic resonated louder in me about two weeks ago when I published my first ebook.
I posted my “ad” on my personal Facebook page a day after Paper Planes Back Home was published, and let me tell you, pressing that POST button wasn’t easy. My FB friends list is teeming with writers–former literature and English professors, journalists, literature majors–and this constant question lingered in my chest: “What if they actually buy it and think it’s shit?” I composed my post at around ten in the morning and was only able to hit POST an hour later, after distracting myself with laundry so I don’t agonize about it over and over.
So finally, the word was out, and friends and family were very eager to like and share the good news on their feeds. It was several hours later that I checked my Amazon pre-order report and saw the number “1” under “Pre-Order Units.”
I was elated. Even though I was pretty sure this was one of my friends or family members, but there it was… a digit that signified someone was actually interested to buy and read my ebook. I literally said “I love you” while staring at that digit on my monitor and did a little jig in my seat, doing the laundry afterward with a little more enthusiasm than an hour earlier–I was that happy.
So far I’ve had several more people pre-ordering the book on Amazon and Smashwords, and I hope more will still do so in the next couple of days. It’s always a great feeling to know you’re being supported, and I have nothing but gratefulness to those who have, so far, let me know they got my back on this.
I have the most awesome friends.
Manix Abrera is a very witty cartoonist whose works I’ve only begun seeing late last year. If you want to see more of his work, visit News Hardcore.
