Thread by @lilithsaintcrow, So. Someone decided to say "other writers are your competition, you should [...]

So. Someone decided to say "other writers are your competition, you should remember that" and Author Twitter has gotten hold of it.

Mostly everyone is avoiding a pile-on, though, which is proof that the advice is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Approaching publishing as a zero-sum game is the best way to shoot your own career in the foot. Writing is a lonely act, publishing (even self-publishing) is a much more collaborative effort than you'd think.

Other authors' success does not detract from yours--a rising tide lifts all boats isn't just a truism but a fact of publishing life.

Not to mention the fact that if you get the reputation of being a zero-sum dickwad, nobody will want to help you with ANYTHING.

Publishing is difficult. The only way you're going to survive and have a sustainable career is with the help of your fellow authors. (Not to mention trusted editors and production people, but we're specifically talking about the zero-sum author success fallacy here.)

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that you write a very niche genre. Let's call it "were-hamster erotica with pancakes", or WEWP for short.

Let's say your friend X also writes WEWP. Is X your competition? Nope.

X, writing WEWP, helps bring your niche genre to other readers, because their marketing and treatment of were-hamster erotica with pancakes is going to be different than yours. Those other readers will be looking for more WEWP when they finish X's books.

And your WEWP will be right there waiting! And when YOUR readers finish reading your WEWP, they'll want more and fill the time waiting for your next WEWP with X's WEWP.

Not to mention that X will be one of the few people in the world who understands the challenges of writing this niche genre of were-hamster erotica with pancakes. So X can help you avoid pitfalls, discuss frustrations, and coordinate WEWP-marketing efforts.

Now, if you or X get your panties in a bunch about "someone else is writing my WEWP", the result won't be more readers for the panty-twisted. It'll be mockery and a slide into oblivion for the dickwad who thinks WEWP is their sole property.

This is just one particular illustration of why "other writers are your COMPETITION and this is a WAR" just doesn't work.

Publishing is small; nobody wants to work with a dickwad. Very little is more dickwad than being shitty over someone else's success.

Here's another illustration: I haven't seen the original tweet, just screenshots with identifying information scrubbed. Every single one of my author friends is avoiding a pile-on, treating the substance of the claim without pointing fingers at the source.

If we were all "competition" glorying in pointing out someone's dickery, we'd be making the source briefly internet famous and ruining the rest of whatever career they might have.

But nobody in my author circles is doing that.

Of course, we all understand very well that a source making that sort of assertion probably behaves badly in ways that will make them even less likely to succeed in publishing or have a long-term career, but that's beside the point.

So, to sum up: The idea that every other writer is a competitor in a dog-eat-dog zero-sum game is bullshit, though the people who believe that tend to act in other ways that shoot any publishing career they might have right in the ding-dang foot.

Your fellow authors are buddies in the trenches, sources of inspiration and courage, people who understand the unique challenges and frustrations of this career. What they are NOT? Enemies.

Now, we've got our dickwads. What specialized field doesn't? And some of those dickwads have been successful because the field is tilted in their favor for whatever reason.

But the dickwads do not have friends. Only sycophants.

When a dickwad stumbles or falls, there are very few offering a helping hand. But for the rest of us--the non-dickwads in publishing--there is a principle illustrated over and over again. Namely, we help each other.

I could start listing the ways fellow authors have helped me, but we'd be here all day. And I've tried to be as supportive as possible in my turn, paying it onward. I've lost track of how many times Authorlandia has ridden to aid one of our own.

That's the truth, not this "every writer is your competition, knife them before they knife you" bullshit.

Do your work, hone your craft, do your research, follow submission guidelines, and be a decent human being. That's the real secret.

Not "competition."

Publishing isn't perfect. (Far from.) The field is tilted against marginalized and BIPoC writers so far it's nearly vertical. Institutional white supremacy in the field is a problem we barely can see the dimensions of yet, let alone solve. This is true as well.

The way forward isn't this bullshit "everyone else is your competition", because it just helps the racists and dickwads strip-mine their short term success.

The way forward is helping and lifting each other, and using whatever privilege we have for good.

Period.

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