I lasted 4 months in the traditional publishing realm
If I didn’t despise traditional publishing before, I definitely do now. There’s no way you’d even remotely change my mind.
Toward the end there, my former day job got anal. They put every piece of content through the grinder. And no, it wasn’t for the better. Not even close.
In the end, the prose was so beige that it blended like a dull sandcastle. The writing wasn’t mine. It was corporate sanitized, designed to draw traffic through one lens (Google Discover), turning me and the team from influencers into outright drones.
That’s when I pulled a Quinn Cozens (my main character in Beyond the Lost), threw up two middle fingers, said “fuck you, I’m outta here,” and refused to look back.
Why? I realized one thing. We’re living in a world today where traditional publishing in all facets is so dumbed down that a writer needs to sell their soul to Miroslav Satan if they want traction.
But really, why bother if it means being a stranger behind a byline? At least that’s the experience I got. Yours may vary, and for the love of everything that’s holy, I hope you do.
My writing thrives without permission
When I spent those four months asking permission to write every last piece of content for micromanaging editors, I was so out of whack that I’d get stomach cramps in the hours leading to my shift.
The job paid well, but it’s not worth selling out at the expense of your health, which I caught the vibe I was doing. Over the 2025 Christmas break, I had some paid time off. Was it any coincidence that I felt fine? No feeling sick, no cramps, no dread? Just a clear mind, a laptop, and the freedom to write whatever the hell I wanted.
That’s when I got my old mojo back. Mojo that’d been missing for months. I regained my flamethrower style here on this author blog, my loose cannon mentality on hockey takes, and the blunt, no-nonsense fire at my Substack, The Rogue Scribe.
I didn’t need to think long and hard about leaving that day job behind. One that let us loose for years until it didn’t and they adopted a more traditional publishing model. A model that sucks the life out of even the most energetic writers.
I’ll never work a traditional publishing job again
These days, self- and indie-publishing have gotten easy. I started writing about Sabres hockey independently under my real name, taking on topics I wanted to take on. Not because someone in a corporate office told me to.
In my mind, traditional publishing is just another road to serfdom. It’s glorified feudalism with a paycheck, and it’s inauthentic. If you want to check out some authentic work that doesn’t see an editor’s eyes, then dive into my dystopian survival novella, Beyond the Lost Horizon.
My protagonist, Quinn Cozens, is a disillusioned sports writer when America collapses in a single day and night. Meet Quinn, learn about his tragic past, and see how he and his little sidekick navigate post-apocalyptic America. Get it now at The Rebel Lore Vault, where work that doesn’t ask permission to exist lives.
