The Gift of Self-Esteem: How Becoming a Best-Selling Author Can Change a Child's Life

Bestselling author of three popular children's books, loving mom, and trained counselor Emma Jean is launching an online Academy to allow any young person to publish their own book. I'm An Author Academy will provide the full outline to the publication from the very beginning to holding your book in your hand!

Jean is passionate about helping children, but she didn't start her career writing books. Her first career began as a counselor in a school, but she found the work disheartening because she didn't feel empowered to actually make a difference in the lives of the children at her school.

She realized she would rather be a source of light for as many children as possible, and rather than needing to feel empowered herself, she wanted to give the gift of self-empowerment.

This thought process sparked Jean's passion for writing. She began her journey to find a personal voice that spoke to children and painted an escape to help them thrive in our oppressive world.

This endeavor started with the goal of enabling children to find their own inspiration and voices by speaking up for them in her writing. Now, she hopes to transform high school students into authors with her new I'm an Author Academy initiative.

Dream and Take Action

"All authors are dreamers, you have to be. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to visualize your story in your mind," said Jean. "That's why the hardest step for writers is to separate from the best part of themselves. Writers have to stop being the dreamer who came up with the stories in the first place and become the person who will start doing the remarkably hard work of making a name for yourself and building a brand."

From her experience, Jean has learned that one can be the creator of their own success while also needing the push from an outside source, like a dedicated mentor, to bring a vision to fruition. There is a balance within this combination that begets the success of the next generation's empowerment and dream fulfillment.

"Many authors, myself included, waste so much time believing that the beautiful stories they tell will be enough to get them their dream agent and a million dollars in the bank," she said. "It's like the author's version of trying to win the lottery; you have to stop dreaming about getting discovered and instead start doing the uncomfortable work of putting yourself out there if you want to make it in the literary world, or in any creative world, for that matter."

Finding the Path to Publishing

Through I'm An Author Academy, Jean strives to help young people find their own path to getting their work published by helping them learn from her experiences. Her journey was a long, difficult one, and she emphasizes this point while maintaining that she believes children and young adults with a passion for writing can discover and harness their creativity to publish a book of their own.

"Creativity can't be taught," said Jean. "It must be practiced."

Her Childhood Creativity Guide, which is free to download on her website, is a tool to do just that. Children can engage in creative writing and drawing prompts, dance, storytelling, and cooking projects. Included throughout the Guide are various prompts for long- and short-form story writing, and the entire Guide as a whole is geared towards becoming a vehicle for honing a creative writing mindset.

Everyone Can Find Meaning

Once a student begins to explore their creative process, I'm An Author Academy assists them in becoming fully-fledged authors.

One of Jean's published books, "Sleeping Beauty and the Cursed Code," is a novel about female empowerment with a technology-centric twist. In it, the heroine must defeat her adversary by writing a special computer code. This story perfectly illustrates where Jean's mindset comes from. She wants every person who joins the I'm An Author Academy to be their own hero.

"To read is to escape," said Jean. "To create is to be set free."

No matter what obstacles a person faces, Jean hopes to be a guiding force for inspiration, dreams, joy, and positive action through her I'm An Author Academy program. For those who have feelings of no control over their lives, she wants to spread the message that we all do, even if in small ways. Those small ways, over time, create big meaning.

About Emma Jean

Emma Jean is one of America's most popular children's best-selling authors. She has written 2 best-selling books and has created the I'm An Author Academy to transform students into authors. She was featured in Next On Scene Media, Indie Book Talk, and the Brainwave Podcast. Click here to join her I'm An Author Academy: https://imanauthor.com