First sale... to our first editor

A couple of weeks after those 25 boxes arrived, our first sale finally came through. The delay was less because of a lack of demand and more because of how long it took me to finish testing our website before it felt ready to go live.

That first order was from close friends, former neighbours, someone who'd actually helped make the book better. They'd proofread an early draft and caught details I'd have otherwise missed. Our kids have been friends since they were about nine months old — just two weeks apart in age, they've practically grown up side-by-side.

I delivered that first copy of Max & Pax myself, because it felt like the right way to start. I was handing the book to someone who already knew the story behind it and who'd helped shape it. The first sale wasn't to a stranger clicking "buy."

Every book has a first reader before it's even printed. I'm glad ours had ones who cared enough to catch our mistakes and then bought a copy anyway.