I spend lots of time listening to podcasts. Many of those podcasts are focused on kidlit (or other writing and creativity). On my Friday morning walks, it’s time for Book Friends Forever (and Unorthodox). I listen to everything at 2x speed. IN Book Friends Forever, I enjoy the unscripted and honest conversations about their lives and the industry and the intersection of both. Last week there was a discussion about creating an author’s manifesto. A funny exchange about how manifestos, though lofty, are now often associated with mass shooters followed.
The idea was posited of simply creating an author’s mission statement and this made perfect sense to me. I recently had to summarize my focus for a podcast, All The Write Marketing, that I appeared on. Without realizing it, I had already created my mission statement!
I’m a kidlit author whose focus is on writing stories found in the margins and footnotes of history books.
On All the Writing Marketing, I discussed what it means to know your niche. Prior to being a kidlit author, I founded and managed Asian Jewish Life – talk about niche! Everyone has something that they’re an expert in and are uniquely positioned to talked about. In sharing the niche or the particulars, the focus is still on what is universal in the story. This allows readers to connect with stories that feature characters that are seemingly very different from themselves. As to whether a niche interest is too narrow to sustain a career (or magazine), once you deep dive down that rabbit hole of research, the possibilities are endless.
A mission statement will ground you and also help you to grow, not to limit you. If you’re stuck, knowing who you are as a writer is a very good place to start.
Happy writing!
