Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Making cents

I'd wanted to blog about this little incident that happened a couple of days ago with a dear friend of mine, but the last few days have been absolutely insane at work.

However, last night said dear friend sent me an sms asking me whether I ever intended to update my blog or not. So I thought - okay, here goes, and blogged it down before leaving for work. Uh oh, too late babe! You asked for it! :P

***

She - So what else is happening?

Me - Hey, did I tell you the first run of my book sold out? I'm so happy!

She - Congrats! So what kind of royalty will you get?

Me - I get 10% of book sales. The book is priced at $7.80, so I get 78 cents for each book sold.

She - That's great! I'll buy a copy.

I looked at her with absolute adoration. Her statement had warmed the core of my heart.

You see, this book is not a cutesy fancy storybook that anyone would buy. It's hard core curriculum stuff. It's a book on challenging questions based on the Singapore primary science syllabus. It's the kind of stuff that excruciating classwork and homework are made of. In fact, it's a book that would make my target audience - 9-year-old kids - throw their (empty) lunchboxes at me in disgust if they found out I wrote it.

No wonder I looked at her with a fond "Awwww! You will buy my book?" expression.

She - Of course.

Me - Wow, thanks!

She - Or... I could just give you 78 cents. That would work out cheaper for me.

Me - :/

Sayesha thunks her head against hypothetical brick wall in slow, repeated motions.


.



28 comments:

Amey said...

Bhai woh kuch bolte hai na, "It's the thought that count" ya aisa kuch ;)

Unknown said...

Wow !!! victory dance...Silver or may be Gold as Amey has not claimed it !!!!

Sakshi said...

HAhahhahaa.
You should just say in that case buy two :P

Unknown said...

haha :-)
Congrats Sash!! That must feel so wonderful. If I had a child, pukka I'd have bought from you. But who knows after several years I'd be buying a new edition of that book for my kid :-). Naam kya hai book ka? (if u feel comfy saying) and when are you writing a book for everyone? Keep up the great work! You give everyone an inspiration to go for their dreams :-).

Maryum said...

hey... maryam here.. i just cudnt miss teh oppurtunity to be in ut top 10 comments... yippeee i made it.. anyways.. congrats on the book...

mythalez said...

lol
your friend is financially right :P
nice one ...

Zahid said...

kya kiya...Le leti ek hi toh baat hai...uska dil rakhleti.. hehe

brick wall huh???

Bivas said...

hehehe...u asked for it ;-)
ishmart friend :D

Sowmya said...

LOL!

Making a wild guess.. Should the tag be Simply Shub instead of Simply Sayesha? ;) You got what am trying say na? :D

And by the way, you still didn't add Sayesha's tag to the last post! :)

-Sowmya

aequo animo said...

I would buy the book too, for the science. And would ask for 78 cents back from you :D, Happy ?? ;)

parikrama said...

Taai,

An anonymous phone call has been made to IRAS. Start stashing those .78$ coins underneath the tiles of your apartments swimming pool, Pronto. Be scared, very scared.. Muhaaa haa haa haa.

p.s. : Gong Xi Fa Cai..

Sayesha said...

#Amey,
Haha! Sure sure! I just hope my target audience doesn't feel this way! :P

#Dhara,
:D

#Sakshi,
Hehehe... should tell her buy ten, get one free no? :P

#Harshi,
Thanks yaar! I do feel very happy about it. :) Will email you about the book in details. :)

#Household,
Hey Maryam! Good to see you on the comments space! Finally eh? ;)

#Mythalez,
With friends like these, who needs... *rolls eyes*
:P

#Zahid,
Haan lagta hai yehi karna padega... hold one katora outside the bookshop and ask all the people who did not buy my book to drop 78 cents in it. :P

#Bivas,
Woh toh hai! :D

#Sowmya,
//Making a wild guess.. Should the tag be Simply Shub instead of Simply Sayesha? ;) You got what am trying say na? :D

Hehehe! No comments. :P

//And by the way, you still didn't add Sayesha's tag to the last post! :)

Whoops! Just did! Thanks for the reminder! :)

#Aequo,
Sheesh! Refund??? Tch tch! :/

#Parikrama,
Aila! Tuney apun ko kya samjha hai re? Apun Bhai hai lekin 100% honest Bhai hai. Taxes toh apun fultu dega! Bas sales bhi fultu ho jaayein! :D

//Gong Xi Fa Cai..

Gong xi fa cai to you too! Hen gaoxing renshi ni! :D

John Doe said...

fun/interesting blog... am gonna bookmark you...

Phoenix said...

Aww...at least she *wanted* to be good to you:P

nycbewda said...

Bhai

Kaise ho.
Bhai bachon ko science ke saath saath thoda bhai giri bhi sikahdo na.

soleil said...

Haha! Friends say the darnest things just because they're your friends :p

sd said...

Very belated Anniversary wishes to Viv and you!

Maryum said...

yeah.. i finally commented on ur comment space... cudnt resist the chance to be in the top 10... sona chandi peetal.. kuch to mere hath bhi lagega hee na;)its such an honour really...neways did u get my mail last week?
tc
Maryum

Somya said...

wow! such a cute n nice friend you'ave got:-)

The Mad Girl said...

Hahahahahahahahaha.:D:D:D:D

Aiswarya said...

Id like to meet this mate of yours, 'cos that’s just so me saying that. My all famous line, 'Oh, what a lovely top? How nice of you, did you but this 28 days ago? Where is the receipt?' Its all good! We got to respect the visa man as well!

Congratz on your book by the way!

Unknown said...

AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sash, I'll buy your book too...or wait, I'll just send you a cheque of 78 cents...*snickers*. In fact, I think all bewdas should do it here. Your heart will be so warmed up that it becomes a blazing hearth...or you should simply be at the doctor's getting your over-thunked head bandaged.

Navdy.

PS: I'm gonna be back amongst the gold medalists now. In fact, I'm gonna be the ONLY gold medalist here. Hmph.

Amey said...

Given your description of the book, I guess the buyers will be the parents of the "target audience" and not the audience itself... So you're safe there ;)

Meher :) said...

Haha.. :)) Well I sure appreciate her thought!! She did do her part to see you would get your royalty! :D

[been long since I came here and must say, your template looks wow! :) Absolutely wow :)]

Stone said...

:-)

Swathy said...

arey bhai,
Apun ko tere line me aane ka ..bole to mai aapko apne "they-inspire-me" mai bithake ijjat donnga..
bhai. na mat karna..pleaajjjeee!!apne woh paper wale dande se marna par na mat karna!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Congrats. you should be feeling awesome! That was for the book. And heh :P what a comment to make... LOL

rt said...

ha hah ha!!
rofl!
congrats for the book!
dont put ur book title on the blog...9 yearers can be surfers too ;)