Rich Samuels's Blog

Getting What I Deserve ranks high in Amazon’s Teen & Young Adult Loners & Outcasts Fiction category — and that tells me something important.

It’s not just a book for kids who’ve experienced bullying. It’s a book for anyone who’s ever felt alone, left out, or unsure where they belong. Reaching these readers is especially meaningful. In a way, it feels quietly subversive: connecting with readers who relate to those often left out of the story. They’re not the typical heroes in stories like this.

Why We Connect with Loner Characters

There’s a reason readers gravitate toward stories about loners. Sometimes, a character on the margins sees things more clearly than those in the middle of the crowd. Sometimes, they recognize truths that others miss.

That’s true for Charlie.

“I was mature enough to know what he was doing — but no one else could see it.”

Charlie’s solitude isn’t just circumstance — it’s survival. When you’re on the outside, you learn to read the room. You notice the patterns. You understand who’s safe and who’s not — even if it means keeping that knowledge to yourself.

The Pull Between Belonging and Protecting Yourself

Being an outcast can take a toll. It can make you wonder if you’ll ever find your place. And that’s where the tension of this story lives — in the pull between wanting to belong and needing to protect yourself.

In Getting What I Deserve, Charlie isn’t rescued by suddenly fitting in. He grows by realizing he doesn’t have to trade his safety or self-respect to be accepted.

That kind of strength is what makes loner characters so powerful in YA fiction — they often come to define themselves on their own terms.

Why This Category Fits

Maybe that’s why this category is such a natural fit for the book. Readers who find comfort in loner and outcast stories aren’t just looking for tales of isolation. They’re looking for examples of resilience, insight, and self-definition.

Charlie offers them that.

💬 If you’ve ever seen yourself in the loner or outsider role, I’d love to hear which books made you feel understood.

Read More

If this post spoke to you, you might also like my earlier piece: Why Charlie Opened the Door — a behind-the-scenes look at the pivotal moment when Charlie sees his bully at the door and makes a choice that changes everything in Getting What I Deserve.

💬 If This Resonates…

I hope you’ll share it with a reader who needs it, or with someone who might not realize how deep this kind of hurt can go.

👉 Read the First Three Chapters

👉 Purchase the novel
📘 Available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook

👉 Download the free resources
Discussion questions and guides for teachers, book clubs, and parents

🆕 Just released: The “Reader Companion” edition of Getting What I Deserve —  Includes built-in reflection questions and supportive content. Available now.

This fall marks the second year of Getting What I Deserve — and with another school year beginning, I keep returning to one particular scene.

It’s not a big confrontation or a dramatic turning point. It’s quieter than that. But for me, it’s where everything truly begins.

Charlie opens the door.

He’s alone at home. Summer has just begun. School is finally behind him — along with the worst year of his life.

He’s been humiliated, ignored, laughed at, and hurt. He’s been the target of something that never quite had a name but never stopped, either.

And now, on the other side of that door, stands the boy who started it all.

“Hey, Charlie.”
Mark smiled at me like we were best friends.

We like to believe that when someone’s been bullied, the next time they see their tormentor, they’ll slam the door.

Charlie doesn’t.

And that’s where the story really begins.

For readers, it might be frustrating. For parents, it might be terrifying.
But for kids who’ve lived through something like this? It’s deeply familiar.

Because sometimes, the line between attention and affection is razor thin.Because sometimes, being noticed — even by the person who hurt you—feels better than being ignored.

Because sometimes, believing someone has changed feels safer than believing you’re still alone.

Charlie’s not naïve. He’s not weak.
He’s doing what so many real kids do: trying to make sense of something no one ever explained.

“I was mature enough to know what he was doing, but no one else could see it.”
— Getting What I Deserve

This isn’t a story about “learning to stand up for yourself” in a tidy, after-school special kind of way.

It’s a story about what it means to long for connection from someone who’s also done harm.

It’s a story about how confusing it is when power gets disguised as friendship.
And how healing doesn’t always look like a single bold moment — sometimes, it looks like deciding not to shrink anymore.

In its second year, my hope is that Getting What I Deserve continues to reach the readers — young and old — who recognize what Charlie goes through. Who’ve opened their own metaphorical doors, even when they weren’t sure they should have.

It’s not easy to untangle hurt from hope.
But Charlie starts to.
And I think that’s what makes him brave.

💬 If this story resonates with you—or reminded you of someone you know—I hope you’ll share it.

👉 Read the First Three Chapters

👉 Purchase the novel
 📘 The standard edition of Getting What I Deserve is available on Amazon as an ebook, Paperback, Hardcover and Audiobook.

👉 Download the free resources

 Discussion questions and more for teachers, book clubs, and parents

NEW!

We've just released the "Reader Companion" edition of "Getting What I Deserve," including helpful resources included in the book. Available here.

Something a little bit different this time:

The “Back to School” / fall season is the best time for a middle-grade/Young Adult book like “Getting What I Deserve.” While preparing a new campaign for August/September, I decided to use ChatGPT to test my hypothesis. I asked:

I believe that, considering the entire population of the world, people who buy books in English, and subject matter, there is a substantial audience for every book. Can you work out statistics on why this would be true for "Getting What I Deserve," and what the potential readership could be if it were possible to reach every ideal reader?

Here’s how ChatGPT responded:

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Great—let’s step back and look at your question statistically and conceptually in the context of “Getting What I Deserve.”

You asked:

Can you work out statistics showing why there is a substantial audience for this book, considering the world’s population, English book buyers, and the subject matter? What could the potential readership be if you reached every ideal reader?

Let’s break this down:

📘 1) Who is the book for?

Getting What I Deserve is a YA/upper middle-grade novel about:

Bullying and its psychological impact

Toxic friendships

Coming of age, resilience, self-worth

This positions it squarely in:
✅ Middle-grade to teen readers (roughly ages 10–16)
✅ Parents, educators, counselors looking for anti-bullying resources
✅ Readers interested in stories about overcoming adversity

🌎 2) Global English-speaking & book-buying population

Let’s look at the reachable audience size in the English-language market:

A. Global Population

~8 billion people

B. English proficiency

About 1.5 billion have some English proficiency.  Of those:

~375 million are native speakers

~750 million can read English well enough to consume fiction

For a book primarily sold in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, etc., the more relevant pool is:

Core English-speaking markets:

U.S.: ~330 million

U.K.: ~68 million

Canada: ~38 million

Australia & New Zealand: ~30 million

Other strong English readers globally: ~100 million

=> Approx. 500–550 million high-proficiency English readers in book-buying economies.

C. Book-buying behavior

Roughly 15–20% of adults and teens regularly buy or read fiction books each year.

So:
500 million × ~20% = ~100 million active fiction readers in the core English market.

D. Target segment

Not every reader is looking for a story about bullying.

Estimate:

~30–35% of middle-grade/teen fiction buyers are interested in “realistic,” contemporary issues

Parents, educators, and counselors may also buy these books

If we conservatively say 10–15% of the broader English-reading fiction audience are prospective buyers of a contemporary anti-bullying novel:

100 million × ~12% = ~12 million potential readers.

👩🏫 3) School & institutional adoption

In the U.S. alone:

50+ million K–12 students

~25 million are in the age range that reads middle-grade/teen fiction

Many schools use novels as part of SEL (social-emotional learning)

If even 1–2% of teachers or librarians adopted the book as recommended reading, you could see:

25 million students × ~1% adoption = 250,000 copies distributed via institutions.

🛒 4) Realistic vs. theoretical ceiling

Theoretical maximum potential readership:

~12 million ideal audience individuals

~0.25–0.5 million institutional adoption

Realistically:

Awareness, marketing budget, discoverability, and shelf space limit actual sales.

Even bestsellers in middle-grade contemporary fiction might sell 100,000–500,000 copies over years.

If you had unlimited reach, the book could plausibly be read by millions globally.

📊 5) Conceptual illustration

Imagine a pyramid:

🌐 500 million active English readers

📗 ~100 million regular fiction readers

💡 ~12 million readers interested in this topic

🎯 Your ideal target: teens, parents, and educators committed to anti-bullying stories

Even if you only reached 1% of the ideal audience:
12 million × 1% = 120,000 readers

This is a significant number compared to the reality that many books sell only 500–5,000 copies without major marketing.

✅ 6) Why this audience exists

Statistics supporting a substantial audience:

1 in 5 students in the U.S. reports being bullied each year.

~60% of educators actively seek classroom materials about bullying prevention.

~15% of children’s/YA books address contemporary social issues.

The market for “issue-driven” YA fiction is robust (e.g., “Wonder,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Speak”).

✨ Conclusion

Bottom line:
Yes—there is a substantial audience for Getting What I Deserve.
If you could put it in front of every ideal reader worldwide, you could reach millions. Even capturing 0.5–1% of this group would be a remarkable success.

-----

That was the entirety of ChatGPT’s answer. It doesn’t unlock the key to ensuring that success, but it provides insight that offers a meaningful starting point for more focused research and actions to improve my efforts. Of course, I’ll keep you in the loop.

What do you think?

 

When people ask me what inspired Getting What I Deserve, I often say it came from memory. Not just of events, but of emotions—especially the confusing, shifting nature of friendship during adolescence.

Friendship, at that age, wasn’t simple. And for me, it was never easy.

Trust Was Complicated

As a teen, I defined friendship through loyalty and trust—but I also struggled to know who I could really count on. I sometimes worried that acts of kindness weren’t sincere, that someone was setting me up to be embarrassed.

This wasn’t because of anything dramatic that happened to me. It was rooted more in low self-esteem—this lingering feeling that I wasn’t enough.

Still, I had real friends, too. We made Super-8 movies together. We shared a love of science fiction, Star Trek, and stories that let us escape into new worlds.

Public vs. Private Personas

One moment I’ll never forget: a classmate who had always been somewhat cold at school suddenly became my friend when we saw each other by chance on a family vacation. We had a great time—bonding, laughing, treating each other like real friends.

But when we returned to school and I said “hi” in the hallway, he looked at me with disdain.

That moment hit me hard. I realized how different people could be when peer pressure, image, or fear took over.

Staying in the Hard Friendships

Later, when some of my friendships fell apart due to “teen drama,” I found myself alone. That’s when I befriended someone who was even more isolated than I was—a deeply depressed boy who had no real support system.

He was difficult to connect with. His anxiety made every interaction feel like walking through fog. But I stayed. I put in the effort, not just out of kindness, but because I felt he might value my friendship in a way others hadn’t. For a while, that was enough.

Looking back, I realize I wasn’t just reaching out to him—I was also clinging to some sense of connection for myself.

“I wanted to believe that I had finally won out like I thought I would, and my life would change. I wanted to think that my worst enemy finally saw that I wasn’t so bad. I figured if he became my friend, then anything else was possible... I wanted to have a friend so badly.”
— Getting What I Deserve

The Fiction Came From Real Emotion

Getting What I Deserve reflects all of this. Charlie’s longing for connection—his willingness to tolerate mistreatment because he wants to belong—was very real for me. The confusion, the feeling of emotional whiplash when friendships shifted or collapsed—that was my adolescence.

And some of the most dramatic moments in the book, including a climactic physical altercation, were drawn directly from my lived experience.

Friendship at thirteen isn’t simple. There’s affection, but also dominance, sarcasm, and insecurity. There’s love—but there’s also fear. That’s the reality I wanted to put on the page. And maybe, through that honesty, a reader will feel a little less alone.

💬 If this story resonated with you—or reminded you of someone you know—I hope you’ll share it.

Getting What I Deserve is a novel about what it means to crave connection, even when it hurts. It’s for the kids who stay quiet, the friends we didn’t know how to help, and the ones still figuring out who they are.

👉 Read the novel
 📘 Getting What I Deserve by Rich Samuels

👉 Download the free resources
 Discussion questions and more for teachers, book clubs, and parents

Before I wrote my first book, a comedic novel called My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain, I attended a local author event. It was the kind of gathering where you chat with fellow writers, share inspiration, and talk craft. When I told one woman I was writing a novel for young readers, she asked if I had children. When I said no, she looked confused, puzzled at how I could write about kids without having one myself. For her, parenting was an essential part of her writing process.

I told her, “I can write about being a boy because I was a boy once.”

The Assumptions We Carry

That moment stuck with me, not because it discouraged me, but because it made me more certain of what I believe: my life experience qualifies me to write. Everyone has the right to be a storyteller. Everyone has a perspective worth sharing.

If we followed the logic that says we must live every aspect of a story to write it, then no one could ever write about dragons, or time travel, or even childhood trauma—because those experiences are deeply personal, and sometimes, imagined.

Writing from Emotional Truth

I don’t claim the expertise of an educator or the authority of a parent. What I offer instead is the perspective of someone who was once a child—someone who remembers what it was like to feel anxious, to question their friendships, to fear rejection or ridicule. That emotional memory still lives in me. It informs everything I write.

As a child, I often dealt with low self-esteem—feelings that, in hindsight, weren’t grounded in reality but were still very real to me at the time. Those memories help me create characters who feel real to readers because they come from a place of lived emotional truth.

What I Hope Readers Take Away

More than anything, I hope my books give readers a sense of perspective about who they are and who they can become. They can learn to trust their judgment, especially when it comes to how they should be treated. That they know they deserve respect, kindness, and the space to grow into the best version of themselves.

No young person should live in fear.

And no writer should be afraid to tell a story that needs to be told, just because someone else says they’re not qualified.

My Complicated Relationship with Bullying

My relationship with bullying has always been complicated. I was never bullied the way Charlie is in Getting What I Deserve, but I struggled with friendships that shifted, cracked, or faded away during my teenage years. Even then, I knew people changed—myself included.

There were times I didn’t treat others as fairly as they treated me. I didn’t always understand the weight of my words or the reach of my silence.

The Call That Changed My Perspective

A few years ago, someone I hadn’t spoken to since high school called me. We had been friends as young teens, but by the end of high school, we weren’t talking. I had taken his coldness as betrayal. But during that call, he shared a side of the story I’d never heard. His honesty moved me deeply and reminded me that everyone carries stories we can’t always see.

Friendships are complicated. That’s the truth I wanted to explore in this book.

When I Didn’t Get It Right

I’ve al[image error]so been on the other side. In junior high school, I was more afraid of being bullied than actually bullied, and that fear shaped how I acted. I once befriended a boy who trusted me enough to share his passions (childish by junior high standards)—Spiderman, Legos, and the like. But when I felt my social standing threatened in a random moment, I shared his secrets with other kids who then mocked him for it and forgot about me. He saw it as betrayal. Years later, he told me so. Even then, I couldn’t fully face it. I didn’t know how. I wasn’t trying to be popular—I just didn’t want to be excluded.

The Heart of Charlie’s Story

That’s who Charlie is in this book: a boy who tolerates emotional abuse because he desperately wants to belong. He doesn’t believe he deserves better. And he’s afraid that speaking up means being completely alone.

At thirteen, kids can understand right from wrong, but don’t always have the tools to navigate emotionally messy relationships. Mark, his bully, is confused too. He lashes out. Then he regrets it. Then he does it again.

Why This Book Was Different

Getting What I Deserve is the most emotionally honest book I’ve written. My earlier novels were lighthearted and funny—this one wasn’t. It was intense to write. Not just because of my own past, but because of the people I’ve known who never truly escaped theirs.

I’ve had friends share stories of bullying that haunted them well into adulthood. Some never found peace. I remember being a teenager and hearing classmates ask, with real pain, “Why do people treat me like this?” And I had no answer then—just the frustration of not knowing how to help.

An Answer I Needed to Give

This book was my way of answering—imperfectly, maybe, but truthfully.
It’s for the kids who are hurting. The kids who’ve caused harm. The ones in between.
It’s for anyone who’s ever felt like Charlie. Or acted like Mark. Or stayed silent.

And it’s for the part of me that finally found the words I didn’t have back then. If you're interested, please consider picking up "Getting What I Deserve" on Amazon (Paperback, ebook, hardcover, and audio) or on my website in paperback. Thanks.

In Getting What I Deserve, Charlie doesn’t find himself bullied in the classic way.
He isn’t shoved in hallways or stuffed into lockers.
He’s emotionally cornered—by someone who tells him they’re his friend.

That “friend” is Mark.

And while Mark led much of the bullying Charlie endured during the school year, he flips the script the moment summer vacation begins.

He reaches out. He’s friendly. He wants to hang out. And Charlie—desperate for a connection—says yes.

🎭 When the Bully Becomes the “Friend”

The relationship starts on shaky ground: Mark’s invitation comes just days after months of public humiliation.

But Charlie, craving any social attention, lets himself believe this might be real.

Maybe Mark has changed.
Maybe he finally sees Charlie differently.

What unfolds isn’t healing. It’s emotional manipulation.

Mark uses the summer to:

Control Charlie’s availability and emotional stateGaslight him when things go too farBlur the lines between joking and crueltySet the stage for an even more painful fall

And Charlie, hopeful and isolated, keeps accepting it.

🧠 What This Reveals About Friendship and Mental Health

Charlie’s story is a cautionary one—not just about bullying, but about how dangerous emotional manipulation can be when disguised as peer support.

In today’s culture, where friendship is seen as the antidote to loneliness, we often forget to ask:
What kind of friendship?

Because:

Not all friends make you feel safeNot all attention is healthyAnd not all forgiveness is earned

Charlie doesn’t lack strength. He lacks validation—the kind that tells him he deserves better. That's why he maintains a friendship with someone who's hurt him.

⚠️ Why Peer Support for Youth Is So Complicated

Kids like Charlie want so badly to belong that they’ll overlook history, ignore red flags, and rewrite stories just to feel wanted.

This makes the concept of peer support both powerful and dangerous.

The presence of a peer isn’t always positive.
Sometimes, it delays recognition of harm.
Sometimes, it deepens the trauma.

That’s why friendship and mental health can’t be separated.

A single compassionate friend can be a turning point.
A single manipulative one can be a spiral.

📘 A Story to Start the Conversation

Getting What I Deserve doesn’t offer a neat, triumphant narrative.
Charlie doesn’t immediately reclaim his voice.
He doesn’t “defeat” the bully.

Life is like that.

Instead, it shows:

How quiet manipulation operatesHow loneliness lowers the bar for trustHow trauma can hide behind a smile

Free learning tools available at RichPerceptions.com:

🌱 The Real Message

The “power of one good friend” is real.
But so is the danger of one fake one.

Let’s teach kids what real friendship feels like.
Let’s remind them they don’t have to settle for survival.
And let’s give them the words to name what hurts—even when it’s wrapped in kindness.

Because connection shouldn’t come at the cost of your voice.

When I wrote Getting What I Deserve, I wanted to explore something more than the typical bullying story. I wanted to show what it feels like when harassment becomes a routine—something you anticipate, fear, and internalize. That’s how Charlie Day was born.

Charlie Day isn’t just a plot point in the book. It’s a name for something real: a ritualized kind of bullying where cruelty becomes a weekly tradition. It’s terrifying, humiliating, and sadly, not that far removed from what many kids experience in real life.

🎯 What Charlie Day Really Means

In the story, Charlie is relentlessly targeted by Mark, a boy who starts out as a casual school acquaintance but turns into something far worse. At one point, Mark decides that Fridays should be “Charlie Day”—a time when people were encouraged to mock, torment, or attack Charlie, all under the guise of a joke. The rest of the week? He’s left alone. But on Fridays, he’s hunted.

I didn’t create this concept to shock readers. I created it because I know that when bullying is left unchecked, it doesn’t just grow. It organizes.

🔍 When Fiction Mirrors Reality

Charlie Day might be fictional, but it’s a reflection of what happens far too often in schools:

Bullying as a group sport – where peers join in or cheer from the sidelines.Victim-blaming – where the person being bullied is made to feel like it’s their fault.Emotional manipulation – where abusers pretend they’re “just kidding.”Learned silence – where victims stop reaching out because nothing ever changes.

I can’t tell you how many readers have told me, “I went through something like this.” And that’s exactly why I wrote it.

⚠️ Why Charlie Day Is So Dangerous

What makes Charlie Day so disturbing isn’t just the cruelty—it’s the routine.

By turning bullying into a predictable weekly event, it becomes normalized. Charlie starts believing he deserves it. He stops asking for help. He even convinces himself it’s his fault.

That kind of internalized pain is hard to undo. It’s not just about bruises or rumors—it’s about identity, self-worth, and survival.

In third or fourth grade, I recall a group of kids constantly calling me by an unwanted nickname. For a time, it became so prevalent that our teacher perceived it as acceptable and used it, too. I still recall her looking at me, seeing my shock, and her sudden realization that I didn't like it at all. She never used that name again, but as minor as it seems, I remember that moment to this day. 

💬 What I Hope Parents, Teachers, and Students Take Away

If there’s one message I hope Getting What I Deserve drives home, it’s this:

Bullying doesn’t need to be obvious to be devastating.

That’s why I wrote this book. To shine a light on what kids often won’t say out loud. I want parents to ask the uncomfortable questions. I want teachers to notice the quiet kids sitting alone. And I want other Charlies out there to know they’re not weak—and they’re not alone.

🔦 Let’s Make Room for Stories That Matter

If you're a teacher, parent, counselor, or student yourself, I hope you’ll use Charlie’s story as a conversation starter.

I’ve seen how powerful it can be when young readers recognize themselves in the story—not just as the victim, but sometimes as the bystander, or even the bully. That recognition is where real change begins.

Thanks for reading. If Charlie’s story resonates with you—or reminds you of someone you know—I hope you’ll share it. Let’s keep talking. That’s how things change.

Want more behind-the-scenes insights from my writing process? Sign up for updates or check out the Getting What I Deserve study guide and classroom resources.

In Getting What I Deserve, Charlie’s story unfolds without hashtags or group chats. There are no viral posts, no Snap stories gone wrong, no screenshots that come back to haunt him. And that wasn’t an oversight—it was intentional.

Charlie doesn’t use social media. He knows he'll be rejected.

And at first glance, that might seem like a good thing.

He avoids the digital drama, the online bullying, the pressure to perform. He’s off the grid—which, for many parents and educators, sounds like a relief.

But in Charlie’s case, his silence online doesn’t protect him. It actually makes things worse.

🧍 Charlie Is Invisible—And That’s the Problem

Charlie’s emotional abuse doesn’t play out online. It happens in person. Subtle. Relentless. Under the radar.

The “jokes” that aren’t jokes.The weekly humiliation ritual called “Charlie Day.”The friends-turned-bystanders who say nothing while he’s pushed further to the margins.

And without social media, Charlie has no voice outside the room. No space to vent. No friends to DM. No digital record of what’s happening to him. He doesn’t even know what others are saying about him online—because he’s not there.

While his peers may see posts and whispers that hint at the cruelty, Charlie lives in the dark. And that dark feels incredibly lonely. Then, just when he thinks he’s safe, it arrives at his front door in the form of his worst enemy... inexplicably offering friendship.

💬 What Silence Leaves Behind

Charlie’s absence from social media mirrors his emotional silence.

He doesn’t speak up at school.
He doesn’t talk to adults.
He doesn’t have a safe space—online or offline—to tell his side of the story.

And that creates a dangerous loop:

He feels isolated, so he withdraws. The more he withdraws, the more isolated he becomes.

In today’s world, not being part of the digital conversation can mean not being part of the conversation at all—especially for middle schoolers.

🧠 What This Means for Parents and Educators

This isn’t a call to push every kid online. Social media isn’t the solution—it’s just one of many spaces where kids express themselves, find community, or ask for help.

But if a student isn’t visible online, it’s worth asking:

Do they have any outlet to be heard?Do they know how to ask for help—or who to ask?Are there places they could be supported, if someone helped them find the words?

Charlie's silence isn't just about fear. It’s about lacking safe, trusted channels to share his truth.

✏️ Fiction as a Reflection

In writing Charlie’s story, I wanted to show how emotional abuse doesn’t need a screen to be devastating—but also how silence, especially in middle school, can be just as damaging as cruelty.

Charlie’s experience reminds us that “staying out of the drama” isn’t always a sign of health. Sometimes, it’s a sign of hopelessness.

And sometimes, the kids we don’t hear from are the ones we most need to reach.

💬 Want to Talk More?

If you’re an educator, parent, or reader navigating these issues, check out the free discussion guides at RichPerceptions.com. It includes prompts and classroom-friendly questions around silence, peer dynamics, and the ways kids communicate—or don’t.

Let’s keep making space for stories like Charlie’s. And for the kids who feel like no one hears them, online or off.

When I first released Getting What I Deserve, I poured my heart into a story that felt deeply personal—not just to me, but to so many young people who have felt ignored, controlled, or emotionally shut down by their peers. It’s a novel about bullying, silence, and finding the courage to speak up, even when it feels like no one is listening.

Since then, I’ve realized something: while the book struck a chord with those who found it, it hasn’t yet reached enough of the kids, educators, and parents who need it most.

That’s why I’m relaunching it—with more intention, better tools, and a stronger sense of mission.

📚 A Story That Goes Beyond Name-Calling

In Getting What I Deserve, the main character, Charlie, is a quiet kid who becomes the target of emotional and psychological bullying—particularly from one boy, Mark, who manipulates their friendship into something cruel and controlling.

At one point, Mark even creates a tradition he calls “Charlie Day”—a weekly excuse to mock and torment Charlie. It becomes ritualized bullying. And the worst part? Most people around them ignore it or join in.

Charlie starts to believe that maybe he does deserve this. And that’s the hardest part of all.

🎯 Why the Relaunch Matters

I’m not relaunching this book for a second wave of sales or attention. I’m doing it because the need is still there—and the message still matters.

Teachers have told me, “I could use this in my classroom tomorrow.”
Parents have said, “Now I finally understand what my kid was trying to tell me.”
And readers? They’ve said, “This book made me feel less alone.”

During my first release, I ran advertisements asking, "Would you forgive your worst enemy?" The reaction was stunning, almost visceral. The trauma that some experience from bullying remain part of their being throughout their lives. For some, it was a lesson. For others, that simple question triggered feelings of rage and frustration.

This story is more than a narrative. It’s a mirror for kids who don’t have the words yet, and a conversation starter for the adults who care about them.

🔧 What’s Different This TimeA clearer identity: This book lives in that critical space between middle grade and YA, where emotions are raw, friendships are fragile, and silence can feel like survival.Teacher, Librarian & parent-friendly resources: I’ve created a downloadable discussion guide, printable reading excerpts, and topic-based blog posts to make the book easier to use in classrooms and clubs.Refreshed design and content strategy: From the cover to the SEO, I’ve focused on better ways to help this book be found—and understood.A bigger mission: This time, I’m not just putting a story out into the world. I’m building a platform around it—blogs, graphics, newsletters, and events to reach the right readers.💬 Why Now?

Because quiet kids still get ignored.
Because emotional bullying is still misunderstood.
Because some kids still think they deserve the pain they’re in.

That’s who this book is for. And that’s why I’m relaunching it now.

🤝 How You Can Help📘 Read the book and share it with someone who needs it.🧠 Use it as a discussion tool in your school, book club, or counseling group.📣 Talk about it—online, in conversations, or anywhere kids need to be seen.

Thank you for caring about stories that go beyond entertainment. Getting What I Deserve isn’t flashy. But it’s honest. And for the right reader, it might just feel like the first time someone gets it.

👉 Learn more and access free resources at RichPerceptions.com

Let’s keep reaching the kids who think no one cares.