Once upon a time, authoring a book made you an expert in your field. You’ll still stand out in a crowd these days with a published book, but it’s getting easier and easier to write a book.
That means that soon being an author alone will not establish you as an authority in your field.
The same happened with music. If you had an album out, you had hit mainstream. Then home studios and iTunes rocked the music world. Now your favorite band members record solo projects in their own home studios. But so does your ex-girlfriend’s brother.
What about the film industry? Television, including cable, is about to get hit. Youtube currently trumps the viewing world. Cinemas only still survive because we’re not creative enough (yet) to think outside the popcorn trough on date night.
News already has and will continue to switch. The gatekeepers are no more. Now anyone and his blog can break a story faster than anyone with brick and mortar and paper.
So what happens to the experts when everyone can publish a book or everyone can record a couple songs or everyone can upload a video or everyone can tweet terrorist attacks in real time?
The experts don’t go away – they just switch. But now’s the time to become that switch. Right now for example books still signal authority, but they’re easy to publish.
We’re currently caught in that wonderful land where the ability to became an expert has outpaced what it means to be an expert.
But it won’t last long.
