Relentless Aaron Author, publisher, brand builder conyers goergia
Content Creation is nothing new. William Shakespeare did it. Rogers & Hammerstein did it. Edgar Allen Poe did it. Mark Twain did it. The advent of desktop publishing (in the mid to late 80’s) changed all that, and it became easier for John Doe and Suzie Q to “mark their words,” and to catch-up with other content creators who were “first-movers” in the ever-flooded world of words, anthologies, and yes, books. If you were polarizing enough with your content, you’d be labeled by society, threatened and forced leave the country like Salman Rushdie, creator of “Satanic Verses.” On the other hand, if you were lucky enough, and skilled enough, your embedded sexual undertones, or your overtly racist overtones would be imported into the education system throughout the nation/included on the viral “suggested reading list.”
In time, the disenfranchised folk amongst us, those who were exposed only to the resources of free government cheese and food stamps could now tell their stories. The first movers of that generation were eaten up and accepted as “the best” or “the most important” when, in truth, they were but first movers with little or no competition/nothing to measure them against, but connected enough and resourceful enough to move their brands to the front market and even the black market. The rest of us were subjected to making it happen the best way we knew how, typos and all, from the trunks of our cars, or from backpacks. And once upon a time there was such thing as “mail order.”
Those days are far behind us, when the resources we once knew as “publishing” were available only to the few and the far between. Their were “choice picks” that were held high and recognized BECAUSE they were held high and BECAUSE they had investment to support the initiative. But while the playing field has leveled, that has also weighed in on the rest of the crabs in the barrel now wanting the fame and prestige/the recognition of “author,” when the reality is that those titles have now been blurred and no longer hold the prestige, the recognition or the value they once held.
Those things we recognized as “resources” to get content to the world are now available globally and stuck in just about everyone’s pockets. The vanity we once knew as “content creation” is now “required” in everyday life, just to make a buck.
If you’re in business, looking for any kind of longevity, you’d better have unique content, no matter if its the hairstyle you create in your salon, or the way you adjust a patient’s back; you’d better have something unique, some character, or a core story to hold your audience. Otherwise, what you give someone, they can get right down the block from the other 20 people who also now have “resources. As for the creative writing we once knew, that has been replaced with a ratchet slushpile of aimless storytelling that preaches to that certain audience/an audience glued to their TV screens (millions-more screens than were ever available in the history of the world); its an audience that rarely reads anymore. An audience that has turned to the superficiality of reality shows, shock video and all-things-Worldstar.
Where’s the answer? How can one survive? How does the man or woman who has yet to exercise their abilities of publishing resourcefulness get a shot at whats left of the pie? How does one earn a living doing what they love; expressing themselves, their stories and ideas?
In the back of my mind I can hear and see Kanye West yelling at me:
“Relentless YOU AIN’T GOT THE ANSWERS!”
Lmao. Yes, I do son. Stay tuned…
