Here are a few of the differences between writers and Publishers, and why one is far superior to the other:
* writers exhaustedly chase media
* Publishers shrewdly stack media
* writers have to sometimes use tools (i.e., so-called AI) even if they don’t want to and it demonstrably makes their work look stupid
* Publishers can select whatever tools they want, and can ignore what they don’t
* writers have to do what client tell them to do even if it’s not serving the market/customer because reasons
* Publishers are their own client and can do whatever they want
* writers are often at the mercy of trends and the vagaries of the crowd, whether it makes sense or not
* Publishers can ride out, or even make their own, trends
* writers are subject to government regulations (like communist – literally – California’s idiotic AB 5 some years ago, that almost drove a bunch of freelance writers right out of business with its 35-submission limit for freelance writers and other creative professionals, severely cutting down how much money they could earn).
* Publishers are far less susceptible to such things for a variety of reasons the communist mind apparently can’t comprehend
* writers have to think tactically and in the here & now (i.e., like a chef)
* Publishers have to think strategically and long term (i.e. like a restaurant owner)
* writers are totally expendable in a world awash in writers and, now, AI prompt fondlers
* Publishers are the boss, can’t be replaced, unless, I suppose, they replace themselves
* writers have a ceiling on their income
* Publishers don’t have a ceiling on their income
* writers can only sell their own work, if they stop working they stop selling
* Publishers can sell their own writing as well as others’ writing (via licensing, hiring ghost writers, buying rights to IP, whatever), and so can keep earning even if they stop selling
I’m not going to blow sunshine up your righteous skirt and say it’s “easy” to switch one’s mentality from being a trend-chasing writer to being a trend-creating publisher. If it was easy everyone would be doing it, just like anything else in business and in life.
But, I daresay it can be worth it.
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Ben Settle
