For a long time I was afraid of showing my work to others. Like a lot of writers, who tend to be sensitive souls, preferring to immerse themselves in the written word rather than “leading from the mouth”, one or two rejections were enough to stop me from trying to get published. Joining a writing group marked my first breakthrough moment. Members of this group–part of the Fellowship of Australian Writers–give one another feedback in a safe and supportive setting.
The other day I asked how many of my group were writing to be published. I was surprised to learn that they all, without exception, wanted to be published.
They all agreed, of course, that the basic impetus for good writing is passion. That is, you write because you really want to, and love to, not because you want to get published. Otherwise, your writing will probably not be good enough to be published in any case.
And trying to be published has not always been easy for many of us. In order to get published you needed an agent, and in order to find an agent, you needed to be published in some form or other! It was a case of the ubiquitous vicious circle! That is why it’s an exciting time for writers today. A Strategic Book Publisher sums it up: “With ebooks and Kindle and m-books for mobile phones around the world, it’s a great time to be an author and a publisher. We hope to convey that enthusiasm to the world.”
Of course, quality needs to be maintained as well as publishing facility, and that’s where editors and reviewers come into the picture.
Filed under: Emotions and Mental Illness, Publishing Tagged: Amazon Kindle, Art, fear, Fellowship of Australian Writers, Kindle, Lightning Source, personality, POD, PODG, publish, Self publishing, Writer, Writer Resources, Writing