Open kingdom — mythical gates

Democratization of Publishing — There Is No Key to The Kingdom of Medium

A new turning point in democratization of publishing with Medium as the spearhead — no-one holds a key to the kingdom and the gates are wide open

This is was created from an adapted excerpt of my story about why I write for publications and why I don’t have to.

Democratization of the publishing industry began centuries ago and is still underway. We are at a new turning point, however, and Medium is the spearhead.

There was a day in the far off past where the lock and key system was in place, even for reading.

You couldn’t simply decide to read a book and go to a public library, let alone ‘search it up’ online.

The gates to the kingdom of knowledge were locked.

Entry to the kingdom would be denied unless the gates were unlocked for you, by someone who held a key.

Imagine needing someone else to deem you worthy of a key to knowledge — someone to grant you permission to read.

Today, through the democratization of knowledge, we couldn’t even imagine a world where we have to ask permission to read or seek knowledge on any topic that interests us.

Democratization of music was more recent. I remember Best Buy held the keys to that kingdom, for me.

If I wanted to hear my favorite artist’s new single, I had to go and exchange currency for a key to listen to the song — in this case, a CD.

Through the democratization of music, today is different. I can listen to any song, the moment it is released.

Although access to reading (knowledge) has been long democratized, access to publishing your own writing somewhere, where people will see it, has remained limited and there are still many key-holders of this kingdom.

Medium takes away the power of these key-holders by giving anyone the ability to publish their writing for free, and connecting good work and great ideas with an audience that will value it.

Medium doesn’t care if Oprah liked your story or if you have 2 or 2,000 followers. They don’t care if you write for a publication or not — or whether you wrote a book or took a special class.

Do all these things have a hand in raising the voices of many great writers? Absolutely. But that is not the point. The point is simple.

There is no key to entry.

Publishing is being democratized.

The open gate kingdom of Medium

The opportunity to publish freely is what brought me to Medium.

It does not make sense for me to vehemently search out a key-holder on Medium when not needing a key is what makes Medium different — better.

If I don’t need a key, why would I spend large amounts of energy searching for key-holders?

Fortunately, I came to Medium when it was younger and before the mythical locked gates were constructed. So when I came back, after some time of not focusing on my craft, I knew they weren’t real.

I knew the actual gates of the Medium Kingdom were wide open and that, although some of the royal Medium successes could certainly shine on paths I had yet to travel, they held no key-to-entry.

If you are a writer, of any caliber, you don’t need a key either.

The kingdom of Medium is yours to explore.

There are surely kings and queens — and even Gods, of this kingdom, whose good graces enhance a writers visibility.

Sometimes they may even let you wave from the top of the castle by featuring some of your best work there.

Co-creating with those among us who people follow will help us in our leadership — because what more is a leader than someone who people follow?

Isn’t that what writing is, anyway? Leading?

Are we not leading someone somewhere with every word that we type and every sentence that we write?

Being around great leaders builds great leaders. It makes sense, then, that being around great writers builds great writers.

Publications, editors and high caliber writers are of great value to any Medium writer — for a variety of reasons. But they are like a garnish or a sauce you can dip into, not the main course.

Think of it as the gravy on the mashed potatoes. It might make them better, when you have a taste for gravy, but the addition of the gravy doesn’t discount the deliciousness of the mashed potatoes. You wouldn’t trash the pot of delicious mashed, simply because you didn’t have any gravy.

The support and experience of Medium leaders, who have gone before, is valuable beyond measure.

You might find great pathways through their guidance — pathways that will take your ideas to the minds that ‘can use them and make them more useful’, as Ev Williams describes.

Just don’t confuse the value of royal support for a key that is required for entry of the kingdom.

No-one holds a key to the Kingdom of Medium and those closed gates, of fairy-tails told, don’t really exist.

Written by Holly Kellums