PURE Reaches 30K

30,000.

It’s not an enormous number. In fact, it’s just a little over twice the population of Decatur. It makes for an okay salary, but not a great one. It’s significantly less than half of 100,000, and I’m sure you need a heap more than it to make it on the NYTimes Bestseller list.

But for me, 30,000 is WHOPPINGLY GIGANTIC. Because I found out this week that the total number of copies (including hardcover, ebooks, etc.) of Pure that have sold are over that amount. Actually, it’s a lot closer to 31,000. And I am utterly flabbergasted.

So I just wanted to write and say, Thank you. Thank you to all my readers, and especially to those of you who have read a book of mine and passed it along to a friend or loved one. Thank you to the librarian buyers who have stocked my work, and the librarians who have recommended it. Thank you to the teachers who have had me come speak to their classes, and the book clubs who have chosen this to read. Thank you to the bloggers and reviewers who have read my books and posted your opinions about it (whether positive or negative). Thank you to Borders (rest in peace) and Barnes & Noble, and every blessed Indie that took a chance on Pure and placed it where someone might find it. And then stocked the other two. Thanks to any bookseller who has ever hand-sold anything with my name on it. Thanks also to my author and industry friends who have supported and promoted my stuff along with theirs. Thank you, thank you to my publisher, my editor, and everyone who works to create these beautiful little products and get them out there in the world. Thanks to every English or Writing teacher I ever had, for inspiring, instructing, and pushing me as much as possible. Thank you to my yearbook teacher in 8th grade, Mrs. Johnson, for publishing all those awful poems of mine. Thanks to St. Andrews Press. Thanks to every person I’ve ever workshopped with, for sharing your talent with me and helping me hone mine. Thanks to my family, and my friends, and especially my husband. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone. Thank you for showing me what it’s like to NOT be Emily Dickinson, and to actually write something that actual people actually read during your actual lifetime.

Not that I think I’m Emily Dickinson.
But only a few short years ago I thought my writing would be a lot more like hers. Meaning, kept in a drawer until I was dead, invisible to everyone.

So thank you, everyone, for giving me the experience of not being in that drawer. 30,000 times.

Songs In My Head Upon Waking in the Last Week:

“Follow You, Follow Me,” Genesis; “I Heard a Rumor,” Bananarama; “I Want You,” Bob Dylan; “I Want It That Way,” N’Synch; “Teenage Gay,” Katy Perry mashup w/ OMD; ????; “I Found a Million Dollar Baby,” Bing Crosby