The Gatekeepers.

I've been thinking a lot about the old method of publishing (agents/Big Five) versus the new world of indie or small press publishing.

I think it may take 10 or 20 years, but I believe the old method is outmoded, that it is eventually going to be bypassed.


So here's my analogy to what I think is going on.

Let's say there is a fishgate in a stream that chooses which fish get to swim further upstream.  It's trying to chose the healthiest, biggest fish, or the fish with the biggest potential.  So in the old days, the stream was smaller and the gate was bigger and it did a decent job of picking fish, though it always seemed to miss a few big ones. (J.K. Rowling, for instance, got locked out something like 12 times, after all.  And there are many more examples.)

But over the years, as the stream has gotten wider and there are more fish, the gate has actually gotten narrower.  But since it is the only way to pass, it still has the same power it ever had, even though it no longer is doing a very good job.

Now they could expand and improve the gate, try to make it better, maybe hire some of young Turks who are better at picking winners.  But the Gatekeepers are doing the opposite. They have fewer editors, not more.  They have narrowed the gates.

Here's the thing that makes the gate an anachronism.  Someone has come along and built a channel around the gate.  Now anyone can swim around it at any time.  Big fish, small fish, healthy fish, unhealthy fish.  The gate no longer impedes them.

After a while, it will become very clear that many healthy big fish have ignored the gate and swum upstream on their own.

Why wouldn't they?