Making the Most of the Gift

The Shift to Digital has given you a huge gift—don’t squander it. That gift is opportunity for anyone who is willing to do the work. Creatives of all types are empowered now, in a way that simply didn’t exist even just a decade ago.

Let’s use writers as an example. In the past, you had to work hard to impress one person—an agent or editor. If that person didn’t like you or your work, for whatever reason—game over. Shunned, shut out. You could not advance to the next stage of the game.

The person in your way was a Gatekeeper, and today, he’s no longer necessary. I use the word ‘necessary’ with intent. Gatekeepers will continue to exist, and will continue to serve a useful purpose. They have experience and market savvy, and can give you honest opinion about your work. It may even help you improve your writing. This is all valuable.

But really, in the publishing world, Gatekeepers serve the reader. Their primary value lies in curation. Based on their experience, they make bets on the books that they think readers will like. They save readers some time. If readers trust the publisher’s brand, then they can be reasonably sure that they won’t “waste time” reading a dud.

But think about this for a second. Depending on the publishing house, this philosophy leads Gatekeepers to make conservative choices—to lean towards the vanilla middle. There are plenty of exceptions, sure—but you can see the logic. Publishing is a business. It requires up-front investment. You win the game when you get a return on that investment.

This system works, to a certain extent. That is, as long as you (the reader, listener, viewer, etc.) are happy with the selection that tastemakers pick, package, and deliver to you.

And there’s the crack in the armor.

• Writers want to color “outside the lines.” They write stories to examine a new idea, explore a human emotion, or to create a new world. They don’t want to produce something for “the market.” They want to connect. With real people.
• Turns out there’s an audience for this. Readers want compelling stories. They want to learn something new. They want to be immersed, inspired, transformed, and more. Some readers are not satisfied with mainstream works. They forage around the edges.

Not all writers think this way, of course—and the same goes for readers. But for the ones who do, everything is different now because of one simple thing: ACCESS. Writers and readers have the means to connect, now. Directly. No middleman. No Gatekeeper.

Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. As a writer, you still have to work just as hard (if not harder) than authors under the old model. It’s your work. Take it seriously. But you need a different strategy now. Using the old methods under a new set of rules is why a lot of writers fail.

How to make the most of the gift

Let’s oversimplify, shall we?

• Abandon the idea that you have to please one person. Walk straight past the Gatekeeper. Don’t look back. If you do a good job, trust me—he will come looking for you later. But…
• Abandon the idea that you have to please everyone. The market is well-served with works of this type. Find your individual audience instead.

You have a huge opportunity in front of you. The only thing standing in the way is your own fear. Fear of taking a risk, fear of criticism, fear of failure. We as writers no longer have the excuse, “I got rejected.” It’s terrifying, right? Yes, but it’s also liberating. It’s a gift, if you can think of it that way. What are you going to do with it?

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For my 6-part series on the New Rules for Authors, please see: http://bit.ly/Author-101.

Photo credits:
“Dandelion” by Bert Heymans is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Unchanged from original.
“Handmade gift wrap” by erika g is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Unchanged from original.