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Your First Bookstore Reading
‘Is the main character supposed to be you…?’ and other rites of passage awaiting the first-time author
It took you four years to cobble together enough half-hour time intervals to complete a 250-page novel. You painstakingly crafted such an intricate plot that Amazon user CrazyMogambo said it reminded him of something he had read somewhere. The writing was so nuanced, said Twitter user @death_skull, that it compelled her to try harder to see the good in others, except for her younger brother who is a “total waste, let’s face it.” It’s time for your first bookstore reading.
The first thing you have to do is find a bookstore. You thought you could walk into any bookstore with the word “indie” or “independent” in the name and hold a reading there. That was until the owl-eyed woman behind the counter told you that there were more books published last year than there are stars in our galaxy. You chuckle at the hyperbole, but she doesn’t break and instead holds the face of an oncologist who has to deliver some really bad news. “No, I’m serious,” she says. “There were 100 billion books published last year. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the shelf space, as you can see.”
Undeterred, you keep at it until you find the perfect place to read your YA, coming-of-age novel: an anarchist…
