This post is a little unusual for me because it focuses on a business venture that my wife and I have recently established. A couple of years ago my wife and a friend decided that they wanted to put together a collection of ideas, from women, concerning the spiritual journey that many of their friends reported experiencing. This eventuated in a collection of stories from 16 women. This book was published by a local publisher but we had to do the hard yards and launch it and pay for it. We wondered if we could do the same. We didn’t know anything about publishing but surely it couldn’t be that hard.
The original idea which came with that first book was a good one and we became excited when we thought of providing more people with the opportunity to tell their stories. People’s Voice Publishing soon became a reality and before long we had our first project underway.
My wife is a Forgotten Australian and her clan were finding ways to be heard. A book telling of their experiences seemed a great way to begin the business. We were new at this publishing business so we were not very aware of the time taken to edit and develop art work as well as setting pages for printing.
What is exciting is the difference people telling their stories has on the healing process. I know, as a Social Worker, how important it is for stories to be told. To understand anyone we need to know their story, we need to know their struggles, their emotions, their reservations, their personal doubts. Telling a personal story enables reflection, consideration and reflection. What is eventually printed on the page is a compilation of all of this.
Writing a story is giving people permission to know you. It is saying – you may not like were I have been but this has determined who I am today. I am not the product of my past but I am able to present my past to you and I need you to acknowledge where I have come from and that where I am now and plan to go to in the future is a far better place.
We are providing the opportunity for people to tell their story. To fulfil that goal we now need people to read their stories. You can do that by buying their stories at http://peoplesvoicepublishing.com.au/ .
