How Much A Friendship Costs

Friendships should always be based on honesty. By this principle, I have so endeavored to maintain friendships on an even keel. Let us take the case of an FB enthusiast. He started commenting on my posts and so, I also commented on his. Somehow our friendship blossomed until I got him interested in "writing-for-pay". I thought that sharing a profitable pastime will cement our friendship further. I had to tell him of publishing costs which became fuel for a heated exchange of words:

"Please read and tell me how you feel. I am sorry that I have to add some inaccurate data to get his sympathy for you. So, actually, any token amount will be acceptable to him. So, whatever you can give, I will double so that our work will be sure to get published. I am the first author whom he did not ask for the regular $4000 fee to be published in my own name.

Publication online entails big costs and he told me so. It's a complicated machinery invented by amazon.com which enables a book to shoot up the bestseller mark by free downloads and right placement of ads in so many websites.In the short span of time (3 months) it took to publish my book up the bestseller chart - to be a "bestseller" is to be searchable by Google.

As there are probably millions of books of the similar genre and title, your book may just be buried even before it is "born". My boss does not keep the "fee" but gives it to keep me floating up the charts of known authors. This is not a guarantee of sales either. there are reviews that must be done by respected reviewers of amazon who rates your book as it pleases them.

So, it is a writers' jungle out there, and somebody stage manipulates the chart until my boss found a way to beat everybody at their game. He is a genius at tweaking apps. He never taught me this though, one of the tricks of his trade as publisher. The only advice he gave me was have faith in what he is doing for me. I can see the results as far as fans and pundits hit me on a daily dose.

So, there. I like to be perfectly honest. That should not affect our work at this point. If you do not want to publish at amazon.com, you can choose from a variety of publishers out there, but choose those without exclusivity clauses as you will restrict my share of the book. My suggestion is, try for the least amount of token but go for amazon.com as it is the most popular and most prolific of all book outlets as far as ebooks are concerned.

I hope we are still good. Just tell me what you think. I'm a big girl and you are a gentleman. I can ignore some uncalled for remarks and move on, if need be. Sleep over it and after that, we can work again or cease."

The rains have come. There's no way this weather can dispel the coldness and the gloom from settling in. Perhaps, if he calls and apologizes long distance? Then again, there is Skype and he is not even taking that free means to get to me. It was so wrong to assume he will trust me at this early part of our friendship, but then again, if he asks and I have to tell him - won't the effect be the same?

How does it happen that when you want to make a clean breast of a matter, you only succeed in making everything murky as muddy water, obliterating all good perceptions of a person? Words said can never be taken back and hurt feelings, though attempted to smooth over, can remain aching for days, even months. How do you mend a broken heart? How do you stop the rain from falling down? Or, how much does a friendship cost? There are events best left to their own denouement.