My latest book came out last week.

It won’t be a bestseller. It won’t be reviewed in the NY Times or feted by Oprah. In fact, it won’t receive any fanfare whatsoever. Instead, my book will quietly find its way onto the shelves of school libraries across America—and maybe a few copies will land overseas as well. I have no idea how many people will read my book, but it won’t be many. An editor has already read it, so has my wife (twice!). My parents might read it at some point and so will a few of my friends if I give them free copies. My biggest hope for my book is that students will read it and use it for book reports and other homework assignments. From a financial standpoint, however, it doesn’t matter to me if anyone reads my book because I’ve already been paid and will never see a nickel from the sales.

This is my fifth book. They’ve all been relatively short (25,000 words) and targeted at a “Young Adult” audience. That doesn’t mean they’ve been easy to write. In fact, if I calculated the amount of time spent working on these suckers it would paint a bleak financial picture indeed. No, it’s not the money—fortunately I have a day job. Nor is it the acclaim—there’s none. And it surely isn’t the five free copies I get from the publisher. No, it’s none of these things. While these books can be a pain in the ass to work on, they give me the chance to practice my chops, learn about new things, and get a fleeting sense of accomplishment on the day of publication.

So, my latest book came out last week, but please don’t buy a copy. I’ve already been paid.