ABOUT TWO MONTHS after the release of my book, I was browsing in a Barnes & Noble bookstore when the store manager walked by. I stopped him.
“Excuse me. You sell my book here,” I said. “I was wondering if you could tell me how it’s doing?”
The busy manager looked at me with a dull expression. “What did you write?”
“It’s called The Christmas Box.”
His eyes widened. “That’s your book? It’s actually doing very well.”
“How many have you sold?”
“At least seven hundred.”
“Is that good?”
He smiled at my question. “Yeah, that’s good. That’s as good as a new Grisham paperback release.”
I was still too naïve about the industry to be impressed. “Yeah, but that’s just a thriller. How’s it doing compared to the rest of your Christmas books?”
“Christmas books? We’ve sold three times more copies of your book than the rest of our Christmas titles combined.”
I smiled. “Pretty good.”
“Pretty good,” he repeated.
