Is it easier to run from the past, or to face it?

Does it take courage to erase all memories and build a new life, or to embrace all the pain and keep moving forward?

Although it may look very cool from the outside, being a writer is actually a very difficult and exhausting process…

Beyond the difficulty of finding readers who have time to read, who understand what they read, who can at least compare what they read, who have an awareness of quality versus quantity, and who value what is written, it is also very difficult to provide the conditions to have the budget and time for those books.

Turkey has turned into a country where people with 60 thousand lira phones in their hands and 2 million lira cars under them perhaps never read a book in their entire lives. A country where the majority is a crowd that pays 650 lira for pasta in a fancy place but won't pay 100-150 lira to buy a book…

Writing, a job where you constantly dedicate yourself to pushing the limits of your mind, where you sacrifice your own pleasures to observe, and where you face the risk of losing your physical health from overwork, is turning into a profession where all values are disappearing. Especially now, in a world where artificial intelligence can also write books, we are perhaps the last generation of representatives.

Editing the works we have spent a long time working on before presenting them to you, and making them something we are satisfied with, also takes a long time. You get it ready, you find a publisher to print your book, but it doesn't end there. This arduous process, which can seem so easy when written like this, actually becomes even more difficult after this point.

It is also very difficult to blame the publishing industry, which is heavily affected by the hikes in paper, ink, and electricity, or the publishing houses that have become unable to carry out the promotional activities necessary for the book you wrote to be noticed among the hundreds of books coming out that month.

The culture and arts supplements that we used to follow with pleasure have also almost disappeared. Not only do they not open much space for new authors, but it is also debatable how many people they can reach even if they do cover the news.

And well, no one can find a newspaper to read anyway; we have all turned to digital. That place is also overflowing with advertisements. It's a good thing we founded 12punto… We can now follow the news cleanly, without ads.

Let's return to the subject of books…

I don't know what we would do without our loyal readers, the booktubers and bookstagrammers who support us.

We have no choice but to try to reach the handful of people on our social media.

Yet every published book is a newborn baby for the author… It needs to be cared for, looked after, and introduced to the family.

What happens to babies that are not cared for?

They cannot develop.

It is actually a very pathetic situation for an author to try to promote their own book. The author shouldn't have to deal with these things so that they can focus their mind on their new works. But the system has made this impossible.

In short, about a month ago, my new book, Issız Koy, took its place on the shelves to meet its readers. It went through difficult paths, got dressed up, and is ready to meet you.

Except for one radio program, no one is asking about the author, no one is saying let's support, and no one is saying let's do an interview. As for me, I am not someone who harasses people, wears down doors, or cozies up to someone for personal gain. It just doesn't happen… I have no words for those who do, but it just doesn't suit my nature.

Oh wait, I said it wrong. Someone from a place I can't even call a newspaper sent a message on Instagram. It went like this;

“Hello Ms. Aylin, I am the secretary of Ms. So-and-so, we have a corner where we introduce books. Ms. So-and-so wants to make news about your book. We will mention your book, but if you send us 1300 lira,” they said.

Then I looked and saw they asked for 2500 from another author friend of mine, 4000 from another… Whatever comes my way… It felt strange to ask for money to make news about a book. Of course, I didn't give it.

Anyway, if you were to ask what we earn from writing books, I would be ashamed to answer, it is that little…

Also, some people who claim to be a book club reached out. We are 50 people, send us books, let us read, they said. They thought I was a publishing house, since… I am not. An author is not a publishing house, and it is not possible for an author to always have 50 books on hand anyway. An author receives 10-15 books (depending on your contract), you sign and give those to your mother, father, sibling, and a few friends, and that's it.

Things I cannot wrap my head around.

Anyway..

I cannot say that I enjoy occupying this precious corner reserved for me to announce my own book and to vent to you, but unfortunately, this is the situation.

For those who are curious, I am leaving the back cover text below.

Jeannette… A woman drowning in the grief she feels for the sudden loss of her mother, realizing that she never actually knew her mother. She follows every clue she finds, clinging to the words her mother left behind as if clinging to her mother.

Victor… A man who lost his closest friend after his great love. While trying to protect his friend's secrets and privacy, he is also trying to get Jeannette to the place she wants to reach.

And Grace… Beautiful Grace, who has now surrendered to the color of death. Now, she is traveling through the lines of her youth from another world with her daughter.

Two different lives built by clinging only to dreams, without knowing that the other is alive… Two pairs of eyes that have not forgotten each other's gaze even though years have passed…

Is it easier to run from the past, or to face it?

Does it take courage to erase all memories and build a new life, or to embrace all the pain and keep moving forward?

Aylin İşcan Yener, after her books Ahmet and Acı Çekirdek, traces the marks of a familiar past in her novel 'Gözlerin Gözlerime Değince', and in every page of the novel, where you will be in harmony with a different emotion and face the deep pains of different lives, a story emerges that is both surprising and saddening.

Issız Koy was published by Mona Kitap under the umbrella of Alfa Yayınları.

Love to you all from the author…