Why I hate the word “gatekeepers”
There is one word that comes up again and again, whether you’re talking about traditional publishing or self-publishing or epublishing or pretty much anything in between: gatekeepers.
Most of the time I see it being used by someone who feels like the gatekeeper is preventing them from doing something they clearly should be doing. (And let’s face it, it’s almost always in regards to NY agents & editors, even though epublishing has gatekeepers too.) Either way, whenever I see it, I get this mental image:
Reaper-Gatekeeper Mocks Our Pain
The so-called gatekeepers are there because our world is made of gates. Some gates are automated, some are manned, but pretty much you never go through a day without dealing with someone whose job it is to make their chosen field run more smoothly. (Am I saying they’re always accomplishing this? Hell no. The world is also full of people, and people are notoriously capable of not being perfect. I know, I was shocked too.)
Some gates are bad. Really, really bad. They’re built on ignorance and bigotry and they’re there to exclude people based on arbitrary and meaningless criteria instead of ability. Those gates need to be burned down and smashed through. And sometimes it’s hard to tell where those gates end and others begin.
Some gates are important. The med student who doesn’t want to study any existing medical texts because he is so ahead of his time that the establishment just can’t recognize his brilliance is probably not the one I’d like giving me medical advice.
Some gates are just preferable. If you can’t boil water without burning it, I’m sure a lot of us are grateful to the gatekeeper who kept you out of the kitchen where we just paid $25 for a meal.
I think everyone should be able to write. I think everyone should be able to share their writing through any avenue that their skills and talents open for them. If you don’t have the skills needed to self-publish, learn them. If you don’t want to deal with the traditional publishing industry, do your research. Learn about business. Covers. Editing. Distribution. It’s easier than ever before to get your words out there, if you’re willing to work for it.
If you’re not willing to do the work–what in hell do you think you’re doing, anyway? The gatekeepers aren’t holding a bunch of free passes that they’re dangling out of reach because it’s so fun to watch you dance. Do you know what’s on the other side of the gate? More work. Hard, endless work, and higher stakes because a gatekeeper just took a chance on you, and do you really want to make them regret it?
In our current world of entitlement, maybe it’s easy to think we all deserve the right to be published. I don’t think that’s true. I think we have to earn it, whether it’s by fitting in to the system or striking out on our own path. Just like everything else in life, you make your own opportunities.
More than anything else, I think I hate the word gatekeepers because it sounds so very, very bitter. In the last few years, I’ve encountered three basic types of people publishing outside of traditional avenues:
- Those who are doing it because they want to.
- Those who are doing it because they have to.
- Those who won’t stop telling you that they’re doing it because they want to, so loudly and so often that you start to feel like maybe they have to.
It’s the third group that pretty much makes all of the rest of us look kind of stupid. They are the definition of protesting too much and I wince whenever I stumble across a ranting, profanity-laced screed trying to convince the world that they don’t care, OMG they don’t care, see how much they don’t care WHY IS NO ONE ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR AWESOMENESS FOR NOT CARING?
Maybe I don’t get any of this because I’ve never been the sort of person who feels the need to “show them all” (whoever them all is.) I believe that the best way to prove you’re happy and content is to be happy and content. Maybe that means I don’t have the chops to be a true revolutionary, because I’m not interested in fighting the other methods of publishing. I just want to get out my virtual guitar and sing kumbaya.
If we’re all really lucky, my virtual voice will be a whole lot better than my real one. No really, guys. Dying cats might sound harmonious in comparison. You should thank whatever gatekeeper refused to make me a rock star.
Categories: All Posts, The Writing Life · Tags: kumbaya, rantypants mcbree
Interesting post- curious as to what prompted it
Oh, no one thing. In fact, if one specific thing prompts a post, I tend not to make it. LOL I don’t really think it’s good to call out one person. (The one time I came close, it did not end well. I have learned my lesson!)
The thing that broke the camel’s back on this, though, was a horrible, horrible series of rants on Facebook. I believe the man in question was yelling at the ladies at the Dijkstra agency (though it was last week so now I have forgotten.) Screeching blatantly misogynist insults at them while trying to tell them how they didn’t matter and he didn’t care about them.
I tend to find that sort of thing moderately horrific to witness.