Piper Nuelle

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Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to another blog post called…

Drumroll please… ‘Am I The Author A-Hole’…

This is a series where people write in, email, chat to me, or I hear of stories where an author asks if they are the A-hole due to some sort of DRAMA!!! So, let’s hear this weeks… AITAA…

Am I The Author A-hole for not giving my Cousin a signed copy of my book?

Well, let’s see shall we!

Me, 23 (F) and my cousin also 23 (F) have been close since birth. Our birthdays are mere weeks apart and since the day we met we have been joint at the hip and have done ‘EVERYTHING’ together.

Well, after finishing school we both went to our local college, my cousin was very girly and into hair and makeup and so took up a VTEC / NVQ course in hair and beauty. I went the more academic route and studied English A-Level… I’d had an idea for a story that I had been secretly been working on for few years, but as I was young I was embarrassed and didn’t tell my cousin for fear of being laughed at, as at times she would laugh at me when I expressed a hobby or a skill.

For a piece of coursework I used some of my book idea and my teacher expressed delight in reading it and told me to try and publish it. Long story short I decided to go ‘Indie’ and self published my book. I was very engaged in my studies, planned on going to University to study journalism and I had other book ideas, so self publishing seemed a good way for me.

I was so excited that I created a mini book launch online, where I revealed to all my family and friends that I had written and self published a book. For the most part everyone was supportive… Other than my Cousin!

She laughed saying it didn’t matter, that I wasn’t a real author because I had self published my book and didn’t go traditional, and that she wouldn’t ever read it due to it being… Un-finished work and that if it wasn’t good enough for a real publisher then it wasn’t good enough for her. I was devastated, especially seen as I had a copy for her where I had written a note about our close bond and family/ friendship and how she was more like my sister. I threw that copy away into the burning fire of my boyfriends fire pit in his garden.

I backed off from her and went low contact, just saw her at family events and was amicable when needed.

My book did quite well in sales, and my mum the other day was bragging, saying how if I ever ‘Make it’ big, like EL James and have my self published book turned into a ‘Traditional’ published book, my first editions would be worth something one day. She meant it as a joke because I know that the chances of that happening are very slim. But this caused my cousin to get upset and angry at me for not gifting her a signed copy like I had the rest of the family. I tried to explain that I had planned on giving her one but due to her rudeness I binned it… And she went crazy at me, saying I’ve ruined her chances for easy money and her claim to fame… Knowing me!

I tried to explain that I will probably not be famous any time soon and that she shouldn’t see me and my book as easy money for her but she just called me an A-hole.

So am I the A-hole?

My judgement is… NO you are NOT the Author A-hole!!!

Your cousin put you down when she should have been raising you up and celebrating your achievement. She also only got upset when the idea of missing out on potential claim to fame and ‘easy’ money caused her to regret her dismissive nature toward you and your book. Throwing it away into a cleansing pit of fire to me sounds like a true cleansing ritual, one that you need to be rid of someone who is clearly jealous of you and what you achieved. Yes it is a shame as you had been so close over the years, maybe it was just jealousy rearing it’s ugly head and making her feel insecure so she took it out on you, or she was used to you maybe being in her shadow but now she’s in yours and doesn’t like it. Ultimately her behaviour and attitude towards you was so wrong. So no, in my personal opinion, you are NOT the A-hole!

I hope you enjoyed this episode of – Am I The Author A-hole… If you did why not write in with your own author a-hole stories and maybe I will feature it.

Take care, xo Piper xo