An encouraging thing has happened since Writer Abroad tried to sell her book, Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I’d Known,
to traditional American publishers.
Americans
are starting to care about the way things work in the rest of the world. Imagine
that. We’re discussing paid leave, work-life balance, free higher education,
and many other topics that citizens of other countries
call normal but Americans still call progressive.
But this is
changing. And Americans seem thirsty to hear about how they can have it better
too.
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| Americans needs to hear from American expats about the rest of the world. And there's never been a better time to join the discussion. |
Writer
Abroad calls this the Bernie Effect.
And it is
opening doors for expat writers.
How? Well,
before the Bernie Effect, American agents, publishers, and editors would say things like, “Well,
no one cares about Switzerland. This won’t sell.”
But now,
expat writer friends, there are a lot of outlets excited for stories about what Americans don't have in comparison to citizens of other countries. And who better
to tell these stories than people who have lived in other countries—especially the
ones with strong social systems?
Writer
Abroad didn’t set out to write semi-political essays, but lately they’ve been
popular. The piece in Vox, about how Switzerland ruined her for America and its lousy work-life culture has contributed to a larger discussion on the issue and
she couldn’t be more thrilled. This week, she was honored to be a guest on
HuffPost Live’s work-life balance discussion.
It’s fantastic
that Americans are finally interested in these topics. Because we have a long
way to go to catch up to the rest of the industrialized world in our policy
making. But we’ve got to start somewhere. And expat writers can be a big part
of the discussion. Have you contributed to this discussion at all? If so, how? If not, will you?
