In Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Topsy a slave girl, says, "I s'pect I just growed. While the character Topsy may have been bewildered about where she came from, the book that spawned the expression exploded on world in 1852 and according to some historians helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil War. It became the the best selling novel of the 19th Century and the second best selling of book of the 1800's following the Bible. To "grow like Topsy" became a common phrase.
Well, I can't exactly say that my novel is in that category of "growing like Topsy" yet. But it is fun to see it grow and spread. In some ways I can chart it's growth, but once a book leaves my door and heads toward a reader's hands, it is out of sight. From there, I have no idea whether the person who requested it, either with an order or who just asked for as a friend, will actually read it, start it and lay it aside after a few pages, read it in a few days, read it over a long time, or what. And then what happens to it? Does it get put onto a shelf? Is it put into a sack to go to Goodwill? Put into the recycle bin? Recycled along with a box of other books at used bookstore by trading for other books? Handed to a friend? Given to a local library?
All of the above paragraph describe the things that my wife and I do with the books that we buy.
Last night when I checked out what was going on with The Ruin on Amazon I was delighted to see the first used copies hit. What surprised was that the used copies are listed at a higher price than the new copies! The thing about those first hundred copies or so that went out was that they were printed here in my facilities and were each individually handled and mostly signed. Maybe that makes them collectors items.
The thing that pleased me though was it indicates to me the book has a life of its own.
That makes me feel good about it.
Respectfully,
Kenneth Fenter
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