Blog No. 387
I’ve now been home for more than a month and officially off of the day job for fifteen days. Since then, the third book in my Synthetic Albatross series, Broadcast Wasteland, came out. I’ve been doing other writing and layout since the release, but I wrote about that last week. You don’t need to read about it again, especially since there really is nothing new to say. What is new, is that copies of Broadcast came in, I let them sit for the requited number of days to quarantine them, and I’ve spent two days driving around the city, dropping them in people’s mailboxes. I should say, parts of days. Really, no more than three hours, but long enough that I could convince myself that I’ve done enough work for the day and I can slack off for the rest of it.
Big thanks to the fine folks who requested a copy of the book. They made ordering copies in a pandemic worth while and also gave me an excuse to drive around a bit when I’ve been otherwise staying home. Not to say that staying home is so bad. I’m in a really comfortable situation and I generally like to stay home anyway. Still, too much of a good thing is a reality, and some fresh air and vitamin D along with a small sense of freedom that I get from driving, are all nice things.
I’m amazed at how busy the roads still are, also, and infuriatingly, how many groups of people I see hanging out together who are flagrantly violating the order to social distance. I get that some people don’t necessarily agree or don’t see what the big deal is, but they are wrong and putting people’s lives at risk. The more people ignore the recommendations from their local and federal health organizations, the longer this is going to last and the more difficult it is going to be for everyone. Putting the health risk aside (though it’s a big one, especially for the vulnerable) the economy is in shambles and the only way to save people’s businesses is to patronize them heavily as soon as it is safe to do so.
Another surprising thing was how many people don’t have mail boxes. I get that some neighbourhoods, especially newer ones, have communal boxes (which I won’t get into as they seem to be another hot topic for some folks). What I don’t get is that the houses with no mail box at all. Where can people drop stuff off? What about packages? Sure, many packages may be too large for a mail box, but I think I would still have one. That way authors who are delivering their books to people because they can’t sell them other ways have somewhere to put the books. I may be biased, though.
As of now, I am the only one selling my book. It technically should be available though amazon and indigo, but, as I’ve been told, those retailers are currently not stocking new books due to the pandemic. It makes getting books to people in other cities a challenge. Especially since mailing them is not a good idea right now. Not only is there an extra cost to me, but I don’t fancy hanging out at a post office (meaning my local shoppers). It’s not worth it right now, even though I feel badly that people who are interested in my book have to wait. I hope they are still interested when shipping is reasonable.
I think that’s all. Those of you who did get a copy of my book, I hope you leave a review. Goodreads, Amazon, or even just sharing it on facebook are good options. If you are interested, leave me a message. I’ll do more deliveries if enough people want it! Happy reading.
Ben Van Dongen 