{I’m doing a little series on Content Expression and Tsh from Simple Mom is my first guest. This woman has launched her own media company, while raising a family and living overseas. She’s been published for years through her blog, but now is on shelves with Organized Simplicity. I’m amazed by her talents and hope you’ll take her wisdom to heart.}
When I bought a little domain name — SimpleMom.net — a little more than three years ago, I had no inclination that it would turn me into a published author. I thought it might be fun to practice my writing hobby, to have an online space to dump ideas, and if someone else read my words, well, then all the better.
‘Publish a book’ was on my bucket list since I was a kid, but I honestly had absolutely no idea at all how to do it. You can’t help but feel overwhelmed at the 50,000 books when you stroll in to Barnes & Noble. I interpreted this dream as lofty, and never really took it seriously.
Fast forward three years to that sunny afternoon when I bought that domain name on a whim. I now have a book out in the world, I’m starting my second book proposal, my one little “idea dump” is now a five-site blog network, and I have to daily turn down writing offers.
I guess you could say I’m a writer. Wow.
It took me awhile to admit that, and it still feels weird, to be honest. After all, I’m a simple wife and mama with a tiny house and one minivan. The kids are literally jumping on the couch behind me, in fact. No writing cottage in the woods here.
This is the beauty of the publishing industry today — almost anyone can do it.
Almost.
In a world where a new blog is born every second, you’ve got to stand out, find your unique angle, and be insanely remarkable (to borrow a word from Seth Godin). You’ve got to work and write, and work and write, and just when you think you can kick up your feet, you’ve got to work and write some more. You also have to love it so much that you’re willing to do it for free.
Publishing isn’t easy.
Today, you’ve got to be the writer, the editor, the designer, and the publicist. No longer can you just be a whiz with words. I know a few authors with books in a warehouse collecting dust, their tomes waiting to be released in stores because their publishers first want them to find a blog audience. If you want to write a book, you should also plan on becoming your own publicist.
But publishing is accessible to everyone. Anyone who wants to be a writer can. No excuses. If you have a dream to write, to have an audience, to encourage and inspire others with your words, there’s absolutely no reason in the world why you can’t.
What a great world we live in.
Yes, there’s a chance that hitting “publish” on your post can eventually lead to an editor in New York asking if you’ve ever thought of writing a book. It happened to me, and I don’t have any special contacts in the publishing world. But just because you don’t get that tantalizing email in your inbox, it doesn’t mean you’re not a writer.
You are. You’re a writer. A published one, at that {if you blog}.
The Internet has leveled the playing field, and your writing portfolio can be on display, for all to see. No longer do you need to know a guy to get a leg up and make a difference.
I’m forever grateful for my little online space, because the audience there granted me the chance to cross an item off my bucket list. And wouldn’t you know it, I think I may get to write another book and perhaps — perhaps — start feeling a smidge more normal when I say I’m a writer.
But that online space is equally fulfilling, because three times a week, I can freely hit “publish” and send content out there that hopefully inspires. {No bigwig in New York needs to sign my permission slip first. . . or yours’.}
