Hi Raisa,

I read your story earlier this morning on my commute to work and really kept thinking about it because your dream has been my dream too; someday owning a publishing firm and or working in one. Since I was young, I’ve always dreamed of working with books and kept dreaming of it all the way through to university and beyond, and even majoring in English Literature and Publishing as a minor, just to put my foot in the door when I graduate.

Just like you though, I took the easier and safer way out by getting jobs in marketing after graduation — but I never stopped dreaming, and don’t you ever. Just find another way to do it. Use what you know and help make it to do what you love.

Right now, with what I know about print and online publishing and my experiences in print and online marketing, it’s somewhat similar. So, now I’m thinking of striving for my own path and planning to create a small press publisher by myself. Though, I might not make enough in the first few years or maybe even ever, I’m doing it because it’s my passion and dream.

As one of my publishing instructors in university (he was the one who brought the Harry Potter series to the Canadian market) once said to me, and I would never forget it to this day:

“Publishers are not your typical business person. They’re mavericks. They’re dealers in culture so the more well read you are and the more experiences you have doing different things and wearing different hats, paired with a passion for the written word, the better of a publisher you will ever be. And that’s all you really need.”