Publishing Is Not The Point

There are lots of reasons why you should write a book. Short story collections, poetry collections, recipes... all good. You get an idea you want to share with others, and you write that idea in a book.

Still, while writers coming through my workshops consistently tell me they want to write so they can finally feel that sense of accomplishment from writing their story, there remains an underlying, sometimes unsaid, goal of getting published.

There was a time not that long ago when if you got picked by a publisher, you could make a decent living as a writer. Back before word processors. It also gave you bragging rights. "Look, Ma, I'm a published author."

Today, publishing is easy. Anyone can publish. (Now, they are degrees of being published. Self-publishing is for losers and scum. Indie publishing is for government grant-supported companies i.e., legitimized welfare. Only the big publishers really matter).

But here's the thing: publishing is not the point of writing.

Getting picked or doing it yourself is not the point.

Sure, I encourage all my writers to publish what they create because it makes the process more real, more risky. Which means, in the end, we become better writers.

So if publishing is not the point, what is?

​What you become by going through the writing process is.