Amy Newmark’s Role in Shaping the Chicken Soup Legacy
“Overall, I find myself dramatically improved as a person, and everybody in my department feels the same way. We all feel like these stories have had such an impact on us.” —Amy Newmark
During their second retirement, Amy Newmark and her husband, Bill, bought the Chicken Soup for the Soul company from the founders in 2008 at the height of the worst recession in decades. Amy had never read a Chicken Soup for the Soul book before this and was amazed at how much they impacted her. She soon became an author, editor-in-chief, and publisher, and her husband became the CEO.
In this episode of “Authors Who Lead,” I talk to Amy Newmark about buying and growing Chicken Soup for the Soul and her journey writing Chicken Soup for the Soul: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: 101 Stories about Trying New Things, Overcoming Fear and Broadening Your World.
Messages, Not Just Words
As Amy found out when she started researching the Chicken Soup for the Soul company, stories can do more than entertain. They can be inspirational or funny, and they can have the ability to change a person. So when she works with authors, she urges them to be authentic, which is what I encourage the authors in our Authors Who Lead program to do as well. Amy goes on to tell us, “Some of the best writers I’ve encountered don’t have this grammar sense that others do, but they have a vulnerability or truth-making ability that the rest of us don’t.”
The Authors
Amy has a small team that runs the Chicken Soup for the Soul company, and she leads by example to treat all the authors with respect. She’ll give them advice and even help rewrite stories that are particularly engaging but need some work.
Writing and editing a book are just the first steps in the author’s journey. Amy warns that publishing and marketing are even more daunting tasks, but they are ultimately worth it.
In this podcast, Amy also shares with us:
- Tell your story as if you’re sitting across from your best friend.
- Know that trends in the types of stories may change.
- Chicken Soup for the Soul publishes ten books a year.
- Authors should not quit their day jobs.
- A published short story can start a writing career.
- Even best-selling authors want to write for Chicken Soup for the Soul.
What was your biggest takeaway from this episode? Do you enjoy writing short stories and would like to be published in Chicken Soup for the Soul?
That’s all for this week. If you have a message inside of you that needs to be written, today is the day to start. Don’t delay—take action.
Azul Terronez
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Connect with Amy here:
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Get a copy of Amy’s book here:
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: 101 Stories about Trying New Things, Overcoming Fear and Broadening Your World
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