I’m tired of being looked down upon by nepo baby writers who live in gated communities. I’m tired of having them sniff derisively at my work. I’m tired of allowing them to push my compositions off the shelf to make space for their own. I’m tired of people who get six figure contracts who think that only their words matter.
Newsflash, everybody’s tired of hearing the sob stories of the privileged.
The way I look at it, nothing that’s been released by any big three publisher in the last forty years has any significance at all. The best writers have been pushed to the fringes because they’re the only ones willing to tell the truth.
Rich writers are usually rude
I get that we’ve all been indoctrinated to worship at the altar of wealth. It doesn’t matter if that wealth was obtained through theft, murder, exploitation or oppression. As long as there is a big pile of money, we’re supposed to revere whomever possesses it as some sort of example of “superiority.”
Well, I’ve seen enough to know that’s not the case.
People of privilege don’t pay any attention to anyone who grovels. But the second you turn away and attend to your own business, they go on the warpath. Guess what? We don’t owe rich writers anything. After all, when was the last time one of them did something for us? If there are good examples out there, they should be nodding their head in agreement with me now.
It’s time for all creative people to change their focus. We have to band together and give power to the powerless. We have to help other creatives. We need diversity in storytelling, and we don’t have it.
We have to stop chasing the big money contract that is never handed out to the people who actually deserve it. Also, we have to stop buying the offerings they do release.
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Our voices have been silenced by a corrupt system
Let’s take a step back.
Something that’s always struck me as absurd about the writing marketplace is that there really isn’t a working-class level. You either make nothing, or you make a million dollars. There isn’t a place for writers to work hard and earn fifty thousand dollars a year.
Even most big three writers have to take on second jobs. That makes their aloof attitude seem even more ridiculous.
I don’t think any of this is an accident. I think it’s by design. The one thing authoritarians want absolute control over is the narrative of our time. So, they’ve bought up the newspapers, they’ve bought up the small presses, they’ve bought up social media. There is no place for writers to make a name for themselves.
Then, they put the gatekeeper system in place with the intent of preventing the work of important voices from ever seeing the light of day.
A single rich patron is a system of control
The only way to ensure we have fair discourse is by creating an open system made up of many voices that allows work of true merit to emerge. This would be a grassroots mechanism.
Over the last 40 years, we’ve seen a massive shift in the United States where wealth and resources have been transferred from the lower and middle class to the upper class. Today, self-serving groups that are obscenely wealthy control enough resources to determine what ideas become available to the general public.
Writers should endeavor to earn the approval of a diverse audience. If a writer is supported by ten thousand people who each pay ten dollars a year, no one voice drowns out all the others. But if that writer is sponsored by a single patron who pays one hundred thousand dollars a year, that writer feels pressure to please an audience of one.
That unfortunate scenario is what a big three contract has come to represent.
We need to entertain constructive criticism of our literary system
It’s concerning how few intelligent people seem willing to debate or even recognize the inherent flaws in our current gatekeeper system. Modern writers are confronted with an oppressive industry that wields terrible control.
We need a system that ensures a greater variety of voices are heard.
Our purpose is to address the needs and beliefs of the entire human race. We can’t continue to be beholden to a privileged few who have been sheltered from the majority of the challenges modern people have to face.
Wealthy people are the least equipped to understand the suffering of the impoverished. We must let the impoverished speak for themselves.
We need expansive and inclusive literature
We can no longer accept the fact that so many voices are suppressed. They’re suppressed not because they lack merit, but on the grounds that those voices challenge the various mechanisms of exploitation that still exist in our society.
It’s extremely dangerous and short-sighted to assume we’ve already achieved the best human beings can hope for. The only time anyone thinks that is when the exploited aren’t offered the opportunity to speak.
That’s the system we have.
The criticisms are what we most need to hear
We live in a world where millions of people find themselves without representation and without adequate access to resources. The first step to challenging these injustices is to give power to the powerless.
Everyone must have equal access to a platform. The gatekeepers are nothing more than oppressors with another name.
Today, we’re seeing more and more readers turn away from traditional media. It’s because our culture is undergoing an awakening. The people have started to recognize that there are unlimited resources available for people to speak lies and hate, but there’s almost nothing for messages of kindness and compassion.
We demand better.
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Let’s find the pathway to a better future
Editors at large publishing houses don’t have any sort of magical knowledge. All they have is resources, and access to a carefully guarded distribution mechanism.
There are people who have worked outside the system for decades who know absolutely everything there is to know about constructing a narrative. It makes no sense that independent writers aren’t even considered for big three contracts, even when their work routinely outsells inferior novels that were given every advantage by industry gatekeepers.
When was the last time you read a truly revolutionary novel that came out of the existing system? I’m talking about words that captivated you without having some smug aristocrat insist you were too much of a simpleton to recognize the quality.
A true work of merit stands on its own.
The saddest part to me is that the big three model has become the modern version of the beaten path. Every writer should know that the way to make a difference is to select the road less traveled.
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