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This article is from the Internet Writer Resource Guide FAQ, by Trevor Lawrence trevor@bel.avonibp.co.uk with numerous contributions by
others.
6) A Vision of the Future (Internet Writer Resource Guide)
(By L. Detweiler)
I wrote this FAQ for a variety of reasons. The Internet has completely
exploded into the collective human psyche and it is radically altering
the realm of writing, and writing for money. It is clear that Cyberspace
offers unprecedented opportunity for *everyone* to profit from writing
and editing, not just a anointed elite clique as is often the case in
many existing publishing structures. This threat to the status quo
upsets many. But to me the bottom line is that the quality of writing
available to the consumer (the reader) is ultimately going to improve,
and the cost of that quality is going to decrease, and selling writing
will be more accessable and profitable for everyone who truly has
something valuable to offer.
But the definition of `valuable' is going to be upheaved and
revolutionized over the next few years. I feel very strongly that a
certain kind of `parasitism' whereby a middleman takes advantage of a
writer, reselling the `product' without adding any value himself, is
going to become a much more difficult or even impossible niche in the
future cyberspatial society, because all writers will have available
their *own* unparalleled publishing capabilities.
I think we are entering an age where *everyone* will be able to run
their own publishing stations at home (sort of like FTP sites but far
less complicated!) -- they will become perhaps as common as answering
machines. And a structure to allow for transparent, seamless, painless
transaction charges will evolve very soon as well. And ultimately, this
was partly the motivation in writing this FAQ-- to encourage everyone to
market their writing independent of people who seek to take advantage of
them by denigrating, underpaying, monopolizing, and diminishing their
choice of outlets. I seek to advance this vision of the future where
everyone who can type can `publish'.
Some people think, or fear, that the role of the writing `middleman' is
threatened to the point of extinction. But I must emphasize that most
existing editors, critics, proofreaders, etc. *do* add value to writing
and deserve to be rewarded and sought by the better writers. In fact, I
think these future developments in Cyberspace will also help to
separate, more than ever before, the parasites from the truly talented
artists (writers) and `meta-artists' (critics, proofreaders, editors,
etc.) by rewarding the latter beyond their wildest dreams and making the
former an unprofitable and untenable existence. Cyberspace is going to
revolutionize publishing *more* than the printing press did, and in
amazingly similar ways.
One example of this emerging egalitarianism and populism in
cyberspatial writing is in the explosion of electronic `zines'. While
generally of marginal quality compared to more sophisticated outlets,
some 'zines have built up immensely prestigious reputations and quality
of editing and writing surpassing many paper-published journals. This
trend will continue until an entire spectrum (a sort of `food chain')
of magazines will exist in cyberspace from the lowliest free, irregularly
published, slapped-together paragraphs to the most professional, slick,
typeset, paying, even advertising- and subscription-based outlets all
coexist.
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