As a new writer thinking about publishing, I often get discouraged when I look at literary agencies and see the other authors who have managed to get taken on by agents and produce half a dozen or so works. It makes me feel that I have begun writing too late and there is no more room left in the market for someone like me. Someone who has not been trying to get literary prizes and published in magazines since I could read. It is as if the only way that there will be room for my work is when one of the other established authors feels like they have finished saying what they want to say and retire from writing.

Now my reasonable mind knows that this is moping hyperbole. The literary landscape is not full of apex authors that snap up the sustenance of the fledgling writers leaving them to starve. In fact, the field is much larger than that.

I know that I am a voracious consumer of stories. Movies, books, YouTube content. I consume it all faster than it can be produced. A few years ago, even though half a dozen franchises were producing new installments every year, it was not enough to satisfy my curiosity or my rate of consumption. And I am not a unique person in this regard. The audience can never get enough stories. This is a philosophical truth. Stories can’t ultimately can’t satisfy a person. You must look elsewhere for that. But the good news for us writers is that means that the market does not have definite limits. Publishers may have a limited capacity to produce, but we live in an age where indie productions and self-published works can serve the audience’s desire for new stories.

It can be hard to sift through our slew of ideas to find the quality stories that we hope the world will appreciate, and it can be a long process that doesn’t give us the results we want. However, we should not despair because we feel that the annual allotment of attention and acclaim has already been seized.

And we should not believe the lie that we are alone, or that our struggles to refine our stories and storytelling skills are being wasted. Practice on something that you are passionate about is not a waste of time. It may not be lucrative at present, but if money is the most important thing to you, then you probably should have gone into accounting. Every junk idea or trash short story is a learning experience, and you become a better writer afterward. Along with the many other writers that are struggling with you.

I think my point is writers can compete with each other, but don’t have to be disheartened when other authors have the success. I don’t have to feel jealous of the new break-out hit author. That writer has not stolen the solitary peak of a hill that all writers must achieve. We all have our own mountain to climb. We can look at each other’s works to be inspired and bettered. But we shouldn’t make a habit of enviously comparing our journeys to someone else’s. Better yet, we should look for ways to help each other and realize that the success of one can benefit us all.