there is no "right way" anymore

It’s the beginning of the year, and everyone is looking for the latest “right way” to make it as a writer in 2026.

I’ve heard and explored most of them: write a short story and get it optioned, write a novel and own your IP, start a Substack.

The impulse to look for a map is natural. Human, even.

But here’s the problem: the entertainment and narrative fiction industries are shifting fast enough that it’s no longer clear who to listen to.

The credential-based path isn’t delivering the way it once did. The gatekeeping hierarchies many writers have spent years trying to please are losing their footing.

So here’s the real question: why keep exhausting yourself appeasing middlemen when it’s never been easier to reach an audience directly?

The writers I work with who are thriving have made a subtle but crucial shift. They’ve stopped trying to gain attention and started creating dependency. They’ve moved from making a case for their value to becoming so indispensable to a project they were handed a produced feature writing credit.

The people actually winning right now aren’t winning on proximity and relationships alone. They’re winning on message, humanity, and clarity.

This year, I’m working with people who want to author a career, not just author a piece of writing.

And authoring a career in today’s landscape requires high-level storytelling paired with market awareness. That’s why the writers I work with are already thinking like show runners, not entry-level players.

Because the signals the industry used to rely on - credits, access, even talent - are softening. Do we need more proof than the fact that star names barely move the box office anymore?

So instead of climbing a ladder and waiting to be chosen, you could collapse the distance between you and those people who need to hear what you have to say.

And instead of cowering in fear about a remade industry - with AI, shortened theatrical windows, and shifting economics - you could choose to think like an entrepreneur and see systems in flux as opportunity.

Never forget this: as writers, we sell possibility. Now, let’s pair that with leverage.

That’s what the writers I work with will be doing in 2026.