Santa’s Answer to John Storywriter’s Son

 

It is Christmas morning at John Storywriter’s home and Santa brought a lot of presents piled up under the Christmas tree. John’s children rush in with screams of delight and begin unwrapping their presents. On top on Emmanuel’s pile of present is a red and green envelope bearing his name.

Emmanuel opens it first, reads the letter fast and calls his dad even before opening his own presents.

 

“Dad!” he said, “Santa’s got you your present a long time ago, but you did not see it!”

 

Puzzled, John takes the letter Emmanuel is pushing in his hands and begins to read.

 

Dear Emmanuel,

 

Merry Chrismas to you!

I hope you will enjoy the Wii waiting for you under the tree. You are a very good boy and I would have love to bring you the electric bike as well, but my friend Rudolph told me that you would have to wait a few years before you could ride it on the street because of something called “legal age” so I will be happy to bring you one in a few years when you will be old enough to take it out of your yard.

Regarding your request for you father’s present, unfortunately, “publishing contracts” for previously unpublished authors are almost impossible to get, even for me, and that is saying something, believe me.

However, because of that, a few years ago, I came up with a solution called “self-publishing”. I have been sending that to your father in the form of Internet posts ever since you asked for it four years ago, but, maybe I should have put a letter under the tree as you suggested. In case the letter I sent him this year following your advice gets lost in the wrapping papers as you hint might happen, I trust you to help him around.

You remember last year, when you got your Lego castle? It came with instructions that you brilliantly followed to build your castle.

Well, the instructions for “self-publishing” are a bit more complex and do change a lot, so I put them on the Internet.

I am sure your Mum will be more than happy to help him like she helped you with your Lego castle.

Please tell your father to google “how to self-publish a book” and take it from there, taking into account that it will have to go hand in hand with something else called “marketing your self-published book”. If he follows the instructions as well as you did for your Lego castle, his book will be published in no time at all.

Your father is a lucky man to have such a thoughtful son. I wish all the little boys I visit on Christmas night were as good boys as you are, and, to thank you for being such a good boy, I have added tickets to the next Super Bowl season for you and your father to go together.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the games!

Santa