Leave Pesky Gatekeepers Behind, Young Writer

I’m not saying they’re aliens. But they’re alien to your work!

Gatekeepers are everywhere. In every industry, and in every mythology in the history of humanity. Yes, even the infernal and paradisiacal realms of yore have a person waiting at the entrance to see whether you’ll be found worthy to make it in or not.

As a Christian, this idea is right at home for me. As Jesus is the ultimate gatekeeper, I find the whole notion of gatekeeping in our realm to be ludicrous, especially in the 2020s. He’s the only gatekeeper with perfect knowledge, thus, He gets a pass.

The notion of literary agents and publishing houses having their place in the world of writing is antiquated.

Embrace the Indie, Be the Indie

The 2010s saw a radical shift in publishing.

Now we’re over a decade out from that timeframe, and the industry is gravitating toward the fresh paths on offer, with the publishing revolution favoring the independent path more than ever.

Indie authors aren’t going anywhere.

Even heavy hitters like J. K. Rowling and Sanderson have been dabbling in the independent side of things for some time. Pottermore is a resounding success and a smart business strategy that capitalized on success found within the traditional pathways. Sanderson’s indie project of early 2022 became the highest-backed Kickstarter campaign in history.

Yes, one can make the point that these two writers found successful careers in traditional publishing and then they leveraged their experience into the new frontier. But that’s missing the point. Many traditional authors are forgoing the entire paradigm of traditional publishing altogether.

We can even make the point that publishing houses take on a barrage of risk when they decide to take an author on, so the ROI for the author reflects that in their royalties.

But any savvy author knows that the unpaved roads lead to far better adventures than the traditional asphalt of the Big Five. Even small presses aren’t necessarily the best fit.

A Personal Example

My debut novel, Auminous, is a good example of a book that needed room to breathe. It is far too edgy for the traditional Christian market. And it’s an outlier too. Gothic fantasy, horror, and inspirational biblical fiction in collision written in a four-act structure that comes from the east.

Not exactly something you see every day.

I received rejection letters for that book, like any other writer. To be fair, the first agent I sent it to was like me batting a home run to the moon’s orbit when the book wasn’t ready for publication. So I deserved that rejection with a little hint at what to change. But later rejections showed me I was getting warmer, encouraging me to resubmit a novel that fit the mold better.

They weren’t form rejections, but the novel couldn’t fit a genre mold, and, to be frank, it was far too violent for the Christian palate in its earlier drafts.

From Traditions to Independence

Indie publishing is the way to go, a fertile new frontier like the great unclaimed space of the ocean of stars above us. It’s an arena with few rules, and best of all, no gatekeeping to tell you if you’re good enough to play.

I’m not saying gatekeeping is evil.

Far from it.

There is a certain measure of quality behind the publishing houses that is hard to find in the indie sphere. They do have that going for them. But I’ll never say it’s the end all be all in writing novels.

Are you going to have novels that aren’t quality in the independent sphere? Yes, but I can say the same of traditionally published stories.

But here’s the real kicker to everything.

The infamous merger trial from late summer of 2022. You know the one. The Big Five would become the Big Four and even Stephen King had to chime in about it in court. Here is a quote directly from the source:

“During the trial, a couple of depressing statistics were shared: of the 58,000 trade titles published per year, fully half of those titles “sell fewer than one dozen books.” More broadly, 90 percent of titles sell fewer than 2,000 units. Even a small advance of a few thousand dollars would not earn out at standard royalty rates.”

They said this under oath in a court of law. While I believe in hyperbole, you can’t do that under penalty of perjury.

Fifty percent of novels sold by traditional publishing houses sell less than a dozen copies. I’ve sold more copies of my novel in the first two months alone. I already beat them by going out on my own.

Not gloating, I promise. I’m not where I need to be yet.

But my point is the traditional path of gatekeepers and malicious rewriting requests that compromise our vision is not a path that we want to be on.

For every one hundred traditionally published authors under gatekeeper control selling less than twelve books, there’s a Hugh Howey or E. L. James waiting to happen again.

I won’t sugarcoat anything. Making a bestseller isn’t about a specific formula on what ingredients to throw together or chasing a market trend. The best thing to do is to write honestly and truthfully. Write who you are into your stories and tell the best story you can with as much skill as possible. Write you. Be you.

As Neil Gaiman once said: “No one can write a Neil Gaiman story like I can.” He’s right. No one can write a Bryan Rivera-Rivera story like Bryan Rivera-Rivera.

Oy Vey, the Pitfalls

See the pitfalls? Traditional publishing isn’t the glamorous way to riches often portrayed in movies. What about the sweaty days where you had to bleed out your eyes to get words on paper?

That isn’t glamorous. It’s hard work and dedication to the craft.

Am I saying don’t pursue a traditional contract? No, but what I am saying is that perhaps a better avenue to traditionally published success is to show your worth as a writer on your own first.

The game has changed, and for the better.

You still have to write an incredible story, edit it like your life depends on that comma placement or plot thread tie-in, and, to be honest, you can’t skimp on covers or formatting. If you do well on your own, you might end up attracting the contract you so desire, but in the end, you may forgo it in favor of having control over how and what you write.

Gatekeeping is out. The city gates are wide open, welcoming all writerly immigrants from many walks of life.

1) Do the best you can. Write the best story you can.

2) If you’re making art, there’s no point to half, well, you know. Pour yourself into the independent publishing sphere and go all out at it.

3) Don’t wait around for a gatekeeper to tell you you’re good enough. And if you aren’t good enough, there’s plenty of craft books and masters to study under so that you can become good enough.

Trust that gift inside of you. Trust that God has a plan for your writing, whether you can see it, or He has to clobber you over the head to see it.

Don’t give in to the pressure of appeasing the gatekeepers. Put the pressure on pleasing yourself first, and then your audience.

It’s time for the gatekeepers to abandon their posts.