I have a few friends who've said they want to keep their signed copy of FUNNY TRAGIC CRAZY MAGIC on a shelf to keep it looking perfect so that it'll be worth a ton of money one day.
While flattering, that's just crazy sauce, friends of mine. I'd like to have written, or one day write, the kind of book that people all over the world buy that will one day be worth more than the initial purchase price. I want to be able to ask people what their favorite rune is, or when did they get it, and people to understand what I'm talking about.
Mostly, I'd like that, because the more people who share a book, the larger the world of the story gets, and the more real the world gets. There really is a platform 9 and 3/4 in London. The idea went from one person's imagination, to an actual place.
That's magic. But those few first edition "Philosopher's Stone" book that's worth a pretty pound would be still sitting on a shelf somewhere if the millions of copies of that same book hadn't been beloved and lived in.To me, that perfect book, isn't nearly as special, as those first edition copies that those first few people loved, lived in, and told their friends.
Pristine books keep their worth, but they don't hold magic. Books on a shelf haven't been lived in. I want my book to be lugged around in a purse next to fruit snack wrappers, and lost car keys. I want my books to have dirt in the binding from people who bring it into the top of trees to read. I want my books to be highlighted, doodled on, and marked with the original owner so that it'll eventually find it's way back home after being loaned to one neighbor after another. I want my books to be dog eared, and accidentally dropped in a bathtub. I want my books to look homeless, because they've been lived in.
I didn't write my book so it'd look pretty sitting on a shelf. (Although in my opinion it's a very pretty book). I wrote my book, because my characters were looking for friends, and I was the only path they'd find to get out there.
So friends of mine, and friends of my characters, read my books like you want to live within them.
Or better yet, buy two. :)
~Sheena
Funny Tragic Crazy Magic is also available as a pristine ebook that doesn't collect crumbs.
It's still live-in-able, just don't drop your phone/ereader in the bathtub.*
*spoken from experience.
My copy of Funny Tragic Crazy Magic is currently lent out to a friend. But I know she'll take good care of it. I don't like my books to have dog eared pages. :)
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I'd better never borrow a book from you then, MaryAnn, because I dog-ear my books mercilessly. Actually, I'd be careful with yours, I promise. My grandmother once destroyed a precious autographed copy of Ender's Game by keeping it turned to the page she was on for weeks at a time (I told her and told her she wouldn't love it the way I do, but she's one of those people who has to finish a book once she starts it. I was in tears when she finally brought it back.) So I love on my own books and treat other people's books like gold.
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