I grew up reading stolen books
But seriously, it wasn't my fault
As a kid many of my books came from my Uncle Freddie’s store in Linden, New Jersey. It was called Lin-Wood Fashions, but in addition to ladies’ clothing there was an ever-changing array of other stuff, from bedspreads to microwave ovens to books. That’s where I was exposed to Babar, and the poetry of Walter de la Mare, and all kinds of random stuff. My father would say that most of the stuff in the store “fell off the back of a truck,” but Uncle Freddie probably just bought pallets of remaindered goods.
My parents were flea-market addicts, and usually on a Sunday morning they’d pick me up after religious school and we’d head up along the Delaware River to Lambertville, New Jersey, where two flea markets sat side by side.
While my mother held up plates and vases to the sun, looking for the transparency that indicated unmarked Lenox china, my father browsed through trays of old tools. If the vendor didn’t know what something was for, my father would buy it.
I spent my time sorting through tray after tray of mass-market paperbacks, that small size you can stick easily in your pocket or purse. With the covers ripped off, they were usually ten cents apiece, and I discovered adult fantasy authors like Evangeline Walton, JRR Tolkien and Hope Mirrlees. But my tastes were eclectic—at a dime a book I could afford to pick up anything that caught my eye.
Only later did I learn where those coverless paperbacks came from. Publishers would send books out to stores, and if they didn’t sell, the store owners were supposed to rip the covers off and return them for a full refund. I don’t know if the stores were selling those coverless books against the terms of their contracts, or a third party was rescuing them from trash bins. My bookshelves began to fill with those paperbacks, and I still have many of them decades later.
This is probably why I don’t go after people selling bootleg copies of my e-books online. Given my book-buying history it might be hypocritical!
Today, I don’t need to travel to a flea market to buy discounted books. I subscribe to e-newsletters like BookBub, Book Doggy and E-Reader News Today, and pick up free and discounted e-books that way. I also advertise my own books in those newsletters. I hope that if you get a first-in-series book of mine and enjoy it, you’ll buy more. I did that myself yesterday—I loved Mary Bennet and the Bingley Codex by Joyce Harmon, which I picked up for free, and as soon as I finished it I bought the second book. (It’s Jane Austen + magic, which ticked my boxes! Sorry the sale is over and it’s back to regular price, but if this your jam you’ll love it.)
When I look back at how things have changed, it’s quite astonishing. I couldn’t have had the career I have now back when I was graduating from college, eager to establish myself as a novelist. When I appeared on Jeopardy! in 1986, I was introduced as a writer, and had to admit that I was still struggling to get published. (It would take another 25 years before my first book, Mahu, debuted.)
I haven’t yet been published in mass-market paperback, that small size you can stick easily in your pocket or purse. The only economical way to do that is to print thousands of copies, and I’m not that popular yet!
My beta readers have Grounds for Hope, the third book in the Smiling Dog Café series right now, and it’s up for pre-order, for an August 4 release. Because the first two have done so well in Kindle Unlimited, it will only be available through Amazon.
My editor has a new contemporary MM romance of mine, The Big Race, on his desk. I hope it won’t require much revision, and I’ll be able to release it in September.
After that Joanna Campbell Slan and I are working on another two-novella volume to follow up on the success of Death at the Dog Park. There’s lots more in the works and I’ll keep you in the loop.
With love and gratitude,
Neil
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