In a 2016 article in the Washington Post, journalist Juliet Eilperin described how female staffers in the Obama White House ensured that each other's voices got heard:
When President Obama took office, two-thirds of his top aides were men. Women complained of having to elbow their way into important meetings. And when they got in, their voices were sometimes ignored. So female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called “amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.
For academic and professional writers, to amplify means to make a fellow writer's words louder, stronger, and more impactful than they would have been on their own. For example, you could deliberately cite a scholar from an underrepresented discipline or invite an early-career colleague to collaborate with you on a high-profile project.
But what if you're the writer looking for a boost? How can you encourage other writers to amplify your voice?
Three strategies come to mind:
The Good Karma Game: Amplify the voices of other writers and trust that the universe will respond in kind.
The Quid Pro Quo Pact: Join with fellow writers in an "I'll-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine" fellowship of mutual amplification.
The Art of Asking: Follow the advice of my friend Amanda Palmer in her famous TED Talk (nearly 13 million views so far!) and New York Times bestselling book The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help: Just ask!
The Good Karma Game is my personal preference, with its quietly altruistic vibe. Whenever I notice something or someone sucking away the oxygen from our collective space of writing — our WriteSPACE — I do what I can to replace that poisoned air with fresh inspiration and resources.
But sometimes it can't hurt to ask for help.
If you're a writer who writes about writing, here a few things that you can ask me t0 do for you:
Social Media: Tag me into your writing-related Twitter posts (@helens_word) and ask me to retweet or quote-tweet them. (I'm less active on LinkedIn, but I'd love to connect with you there too).
Bookshop: Contact me with the publishing details of your new book on writing, creativity, or wellbeing so that I can add it to my curated Bookshop. You can also amplify your fellow writers' voices by recommending their books.
Reviews: I no longer publish book reviews, but I often accept publishers' requests to supply referee reports and/or cover blurbs for new books — plus, I'm always on the lookout for writers and themes to feature in my WriteSPACE Special Events series. If you've working on or have recently published a book on writing, please let me know what you're up to, and feel free to to pass along my contact details to your publisher.
Newsletter: Send me a link to any open access article, blog post, or other online writing resource that is likely to be of interest to a wide range of writers so that I can feature it in my weekly newsletter. Simply follow the instructions under "Other Writing News" below to format and submit your suggestion.
In return, I've listed below a few things that you can do to broadcast my message of pleasurable, productive writing to the world. By amplifying my voice, you'll help me amplify the voices of others.
Amplify my new book: Would your students or faculty writing group benefit from a more joyful approach to academic writing? Or perhaps you'd like to review Writing with Pleasure for a newspaper, newsletter, journal, podcast, or blog — and get sent a free review copy in return? If so, please contact me with the relevant details so I can pass them on to my wonderful colleagues at Princeton University Press.
Amplify my website: I've stocked my website with so many free writing resources that I sometimes lose track of them myself. You can support my pro bono work by taking 5 minutes right now to email someone in your institution — for example, your Provost, Dean, Chair, or the Director of your Faculty Development unit or Writing Center — and recommend that they Zoom me into your campus to run a virtual writing workshop. They'll find all the details they need (including a tickertape display of all my previous gigs) on my Bookings page — and I'll be eternally grateful!
Amplify my writing community: Please encourage your colleagues, students, and friends to check out the WriteSPACE, my vibrant international writing community. Membership benefits include a live Virtual Writing Studio where you can hone your craft as a writer, a members-only Library stocked with exclusive writing resources, and access to Writer’s Diet Plus, a premium version of my popular Writer's Diet diagnostic tool. I'll be adding a whole suite of new features over the next few months, so there's never been a better time to join!
I look forward to playing the Good Karma Game with you!