I used to sell signed copies of my books from this website, but before my most recent book was published, I decided I wouldn’t do that anymore. What was I thinking?
It’s not as though it costs me money. I always sell books at the price I pay for them. It’s not as though it takes my time. I slip them into a priority mail flat rate envelope and take them to the post office in my little town, where I don’t much mind the long, slow lines, because the people inside the post office are my neighbors, and the service they offer me is sincere. On the days I do business at the post office, the worker there might be the only person I speak to in real life between the hours of eight and four o’clock.
No, it was never too much trouble, but I talked myself into thinking it wasn’t my job. My job is to write books, I told myself after years of laboring over the page. It’s someone else’s job to sell them.
After Paradise in Plain Sight was published, I realized I was wrong. I was wrong in a very familiar and often-forgotten way. I’m wrong whenever I expect someone else to do something for me. I’m wrong whenever I elevate myself above responsibilities that are mundane and unwanted. I’m wrong whenever I forget why I write, which is to be read. It’s not the writing alone that gratifies me; it’s sharing the work that matters.
So buy this book.
Here is an offering to buy two copies of Paradise in Plain Sight, signed with my name. Two so that you can share one with a friend or neighbor, which will bring you much pleasure. Shipped in a priority mail flat rate envelope to a single domestic address. For $28 total, the best offer on the planet, because no one sells my book better than me.
Two copies of Paradise in Plain Sight
Signed by author
Shipped priority mail to a single US address
I will give these to my friends.
I’m awfully fond of the the folks at my mail center for the same reasons. š
Comment by Meg — August 31, 2014 @ 4:34 pm
Karen, I have followed your blog for years (the only one I follow), and your other books hold cherished places on my shelves. I recognize what you say about the post office. I stand in line feeling kind of lucky for such a moment with others. I don’t even mind when the line is long. So I couldn’t resist this opportunity to purchase your book. Thank you so much, for all of your words. You’ll never know how much comfort and reassurance and sense of connectedness you have provided me. Just shows why the written word can be so sacred.
Comment by Kathryn — August 31, 2014 @ 10:33 pm
I love your writing, and I just wish there could be a better way to get payment to you next time than PayPal. I know they shave money from you with each transaction. š Thanks for letting us peek at the roadmap of your mind!
Comment by Misha — September 1, 2014 @ 6:18 am
Misha, I accept gifts of all kinds and sizes in all ways. Don’t let that stop you.
Comment by Karen Maezen Miller — September 1, 2014 @ 7:53 am
Karen,
I just purchased 2 copies. Will probably come back for more as I’m using it for a small group. I found your book last month at my local library. It was sitting all by itself on a shelf. I think I actually heard it say “please read me.”
Anyway I read it in one sitting and loved it. I used to live in the Sierra Madre Canyon and drove down your street many times. This made me feel a stronger connection to your garden….
Thank you!
Comment by Roberta — September 1, 2014 @ 12:25 pm
What perfect timing. I just gave my second copy away and added to my to do list to buy another copy or two because I am always quoting it to my patients and I wanted a copy for my waiting room when I open my own practice (soon!) Love it!
Comment by Meg Casey — September 1, 2014 @ 2:16 pm
Thank you Karen, I had wanted to have extras for gifts but one signed one will stay with me. Treasure your words and sit with you in the garden often.Hope order went through ok, didn’t see a conf. You’ll let me know.
Comment by daisy marsahll — September 1, 2014 @ 8:04 pm
Hi Maezen,
I love my local post office too. It features the changing art work of an artist friend (and retired postman), old New Deal murals and the loveliest clerks, one with whom I get to practice my Spanish. He is a very Zen gentleman….bows his head with folded hands as a way of greeting me.
I love my Paradise in Plain Sight and will now gift more to friends. Maybe even one to my amigo at the P.O..
Comment by clare — September 2, 2014 @ 6:45 am
“Iām wrong whenever I expect someone else to do something for me. Iām wrong whenever I elevate myself above responsibilities that are mundane and unwanted.”
Amen to that. If it’s worth doing it, it’s worth doing it myself. When I think others should do it, that is when I become neurotic about it.
Comment by Simone — September 5, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
I’m loving this post.
Comment by Ranya — September 15, 2014 @ 1:30 pm
I was just thinking how I wanted to get a copy for a dear dear friend…another grandma like me, and then here you are. Wonderful!
Comment by marcea — September 15, 2014 @ 4:26 pm