U is for the Unknown
Unknown- not known; not within the range of one’s knowledge, experience, or understanding; strange; unfamiliar.
- not discovered, explored, identified, or ascertained:the unknown parts of Antarctica.
- not widely known; not famous; obscure: an unknown writer.
I found it rather ironic when I decided to write this post about the word unknown and how it relates to becoming an author that I looked up the definition online and the third definition under adjective gives a sentence as “an unknown author.”
Being an unknown author is pretty much how we start. You take the plunge, spend time bleeding your heart out onto paper, and hope that your writing will somehow float to the top and you will become a “known” author.
Well, I challenge that theory, just a little bit. I feel with the transformation of our culture into social media beings that we are transforming from that struggle of being an unknown author. As soon as you share your work with the world, and someone sees it, you’ve become known. The very fact that you have made the effort to put your work out for people to read and quite possibly review makes you known.
Granted that you are not most likely at this point a J.K. Rowling or a Stephen King. But in my mind, there is nothing wrong with that. When I set out on this independent publishing journey, I set a goal for myself to just get my book on Amazon. That to me made me known (Ok for those of you who know Powell’s – when I saw my book on their website THAT made me known). For me, every review, every positive comment, every sale of my books is icing on the cake.
If you are at the stage of ready to publish something but are worried about being an “unknown,” don’t be. Take the plunge and let it go into the world.
