A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2025 Alex Diaz-Granados Waiting for My Own Words: The Emotional Lag of Print-on-Demand There’s a peculiar irony in being the author of a book and still having to wait—sometimes indefinitely—for a copy of your own work to arrive. Not a retail copy, mind you. Not something ordered by a stranger in Wisconsin who stumbled across your novel during a midnight scroll. No, I’m talking about an author’s copy. The kind Amazon prints on demand, ships at its leisure, and labels with the charmingly opaque tag: MOD Non-Retail. I ordered my updated hardcover edition of Reunion: Coda on September 20. As of this writing—October 14—it remains in the “Not Shipped” purgatory of my Amazon orders queue. Estimated arrival? Allegedly Sunday. But I’ve learned not to get emotionally attached to those dates. They’re more aspiration than promise. Now, I understand that author’s copies aren’t Amazon’s top priority. They don’t generate royalties. They don’t count toward sales metrics. They’re essentially the lit...

  October 10, 2025 – Orlando, Florida It’s Friday again. Another week winding down, and I wish I had more to show for it. Progress on the deluxe edition of The Jim Garraty Chronicles —the omnibus collecting Reunion: A Story , Reunion: Coda , and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen —has slowed to a crawl. Not a single edit this week. Part of the blame falls on Kindle Create, which seems determined to mangle my subheadings. But if I’m honest, the deeper culprit is doubt. Why release the collection now, when sales of the individual books have been... let’s say, modest? Back when I was writing Reunion: Coda , especially through that frigid New Hampshire winter, I held onto hope. I imagined fans of Reunion: A Story rallying—leaving glowing reviews, spreading the word, giving my writing career a gentle nudge. Some did. A few loyal readers picked up Reunion: Coda in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle formats. But overall, sales have been underwhelming. And yes, it’s dimmed my spark...

  This morning brought a small but welcome surprise: a modest uptick in my Kindle Direct Publishing royalties. Someone picked up a paperback copy of Save Me the Aisle Seat , my first self-published book—a collection of movie reviews originally written for the now-closed site Epinions. I’ve always had mixed feelings about that book. Of the four titles I’ve published, it’s the one I’m least fond of—not just because I rushed it out in 2012 so my mom could see it while she was still with us, but also because I believe it doesn’t measure up to my fiction work: Reunion: A Story , Reunion: Coda , and Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen . Many of the reviews weren’t edited as carefully as they should have been, and I gave away more plot points than I intended. Still, the introduction—written specifically for the book—feels true and heartfelt. That part came from a place of love. Sometimes I consider retiring Save Me the Aisle Seat , but I probably won’t. Despite its flaws, readers s...