We all know how hard it is to get started in this publishing gig. Sure, there are those overnight success stories we’ve all heard (and secretly wished for), but let’s face it…in the massively big picture of our industry, those stories are rare at best.
So what’s a writer to do? Here’s what I think.
Many of us have been the fortunate recipients of a helping hand from others with more experience and/or knowledge than us. We’ve had our work critiqued or reviewed, we’ve been introduced to people who might be able to help us out, we’ve had advice and tips shared with us that make enormous differences in our writing lives. And like nice, polite writers, we’ve tried to reciprocate, because that’s what we’ve been taught to do. Someone does something nice for you, you do something nice back.
But what if we switch our thinking up a little? What if, instead of paying back, we pay it forward?
I’m a big fan of the kindness movement and the idea of paying things forward in my general life, but I recently read an article by entrepreneur Phil Taylor-Gluck that got me thinking about the concept with specific regard to writing and publishing. Gluck’s article is aimed at the entrepreneurial community, but when you think about it, that’s what we authors are these days: entrepreneurs in every sense of the word. When Gluck says “rather than seeing each other as competition, we are united in trying to make the world of recruitment better” — it’s easy for me to substitute the word publishing for recruitment, and to see the power behind the idea.
Because as lonely as this profession might seem at times, we’re very much in this together, and we have the ability to help one another in ways many of us need to explore. In Gluck’s words, “there will be space for more than one successful business, for more than one successful entrepreneur and therefore, sharing, collaborating and supporting one another helps everyone work towards their collective goal.”
So…what will you do to help another author today?
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