It might surprise you to know that I, the author of Wage Slave Rebellion, a book where one of the main characters is so disgusted with his crappy sales job that he’d rather become a glorified mercenary, do not in fact hate sales jobs. In fact, sales and marketing fascinates me, and I may soon have a sales job once again for my full-time side job (i.e. the one that pays well enough so I can keep writing books). Does this surprise you?

It shouldn’t. It’s reasonable to assume that an author puts part of him out herself into their books, because we usually do. If you surmised that I disliked sales, out disliked jobs, or had a crappy job once, I can see where you’re coming from. But fiction authors only put a facet of themselves into any given work. We don’t put the whole thing.

Not that we could. Fiction authors are usually boring people. A true, full accounting of my life would be boring.

I like sales and marketing because I’m good at them, and because doing them in a way that leaves the customer as happy about the transaction as you are is both difficult and vitality important in this world of abundance. Sales need not be manipulative. Doing it right is a challenge I enjoy.

Now, if you were to ask whether I’ve ever worked for a company that did sales in a way I disliked, the answer might be yes. (Let’s not be coy—it’s yes.) But that doesn’t mean I dislike all salespeople or sales jobs. Just the ones like AIW.

Though that doesn’t really matter. My books are fiction, so it doesn’t matter how I feel about companies like AIW. All that matters is that Mazik was miserable, which propelled him to make a change.

You might think you’re understanding me or another author through our writing, but remember that our stories aren’t about us. They’re about our characters. If you want to find us, look to the world. How we choose to set up the world and the kinds of stories we choose to tell says far more about us than any single character. Those characters could be based on anybody. The story itself is what we’re really trying to say.