Why writers will be the next elite class

I believe writers are poised to soon be extremely highly-paid and powerful. Here’s why.

• Words are the lifeblood of the Internet. People may not be reading books, but people are reading all day long. Or they’re “reading” through audio.
• Words are extremely versatile. Unlike music or video, there has yet to be a consolidation of one or two platforms that dominate the consumption of words. Because of this versatility, the words themselves will remain the valuable asset, rather than any given platform.
• Words are powerful. Words hold attention, and shape opinions. Words are a brain-to-brain interface. Words are mind control.
• Words are currently a bargain. There are currently several layers of abstraction before most words make money. Advertising, or memberships, for example. The platform owners currently get the biggest cut, and the writers get paid less.
• Good words are rare. Writing words isn’t currently lucrative, so there’s relatively little competition. The attention economy also doles out false success to words that aren’t very good. Relatively few are taking the time and effort to be truly good with words.
• Decentralization will soon reward the writers of words. Instead of platform owners taking a big cut of the profit from words, blockchain technologies will break down barriers to value flow. Those who write the words will soon be compensated accordingly. I’m personally already earning for my words on the blockchain.
• Decentralization will kill the attention economy. Fake news and rage porn are a by-product of the attention economy. When eyeballs equal dollar bills, it doesn’t matter how you get those eyeballs. Blockchain technology will change these economics. This will change media. Better words will get bigger rewards.

I recall Wired’s Kevin Kelly once saying that when looking for the next big thing, look where people are spending a lot of time, but not a lot of money. That is in words. Words are the next big thing.