Why the heck have I changed the name of my publication?

#AmWriting has a new title, but its heart remains the same.

Canva image.

“What’s going on?” you may have murmured to yourself yesterday, tapping on your phone screen or mouse pad. “I don’t remember subscribing to this.”

Apologies if I’ve caused any confusion.

This week, I finally made the call to change the name of my little Substack publication from #AmWriting to How to Write for a Living.

I’d given it a good deal of thought beforehand, because a) I liked the original name, and b) I don’t like change.

However, I had a few key reasons for making this particular branding switcheroo.

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

First, and perhaps most significantly, another publication called #AmWriting already existed when I signed up to Substack. It’s been around for a lot longer and it’s way bigger.

I didn’t realise this at the time and thought I was being super savvy and original with my cool, hashtagged title.

I wasn’t - I just hadn’t researched it thoroughly enough.

So, being new to the scene, I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes or provoke any head-scratching. That’s reason the first.

Reason the second: #AmWriting didn’t quite match my true intention for the publication.

While I plan to write plenty about, well… writing… I also want to discuss what goes on before and after the act of writing itself.

Ideation. Storycraft. Developing a writing rhythm. Identifying your writing space. Editing. Publishing. Marketing. Online writing. Community. Mindset. And much more.

Most of all, I want everything in my publication to stay within the orbit of the words “for a living”, because that’s the heartbeat here.

• Writing as your Main Thing.

• Writing that helps pay your bills.

• Writing that gets read by other people.

• Writing that can potentially revolutionise your life.

Each week, I’ll share at least two posts, maybe more. Some will be written by me, others will be guest posts from fellow writers and industry professionals.

Every piece will be helpful, insightful, educational, and drawn from real, honest-to-goodness life experience (you’ll be getting the warts n’ all from me).

We’ll also connect in Chat and Notes. I’ll send you things I think you’ll find useful. I may even dabble in podcasts and videos at some point.

And if you can support my efforts as a paid subscriber, that’d be especially cool.

So come with me. Let’s go. Let’s talk about writing. Let’s journey towards the point where we can all do it for a living, if we aren’t already.

Thanks for being here, friends!

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