I am a religious reader of music critic Bob Lefsetz. To use the old Simpsons quote, I am intrigued by his views and actually subscribe to his newsletter (called The Lefsetz Letter.) One quote from his most recent newsletter on Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds to Mars jumped out at me. It has so much cross over to the world of new sports media.
Said Lefsetz:
“Despite the prevalence of prepubescents, our rock stars are going to be older and older, because not only does it take that long to get noticed, but it takes that long to be good.”
Is this the way writing – in particular sports writing – is going?
Is writing becoming something you need to dabble in part time before you can make a sustainable living doing it? Is the new sports journalist the 29 year old who has had a blog for years, balanced writing with a non-writing full-time career, and eventually cobbles together enough to fashion a full-time living from it?
That’s both the rub and the reward of the Internet, online media and the growth of blogging. It gives those of us who dreamed of writing for a living but were discouraged and confused a second chance. But it widens the pool of writers, making things difficult for those who devoted schooling, internships and low paying police/fire newspaper beats to their craft.
Who is the new sports media member? Is it the nearly-30 blogger who tries their best to emulate the writers who inspire him or her, or is it the writer with the print journalism degree who took a more traditional path? Who will be the sportswriter of the future?
In this new media world, are sportswriters going to be much older when they finally, to quote Lefsetz, “get noticed” and “be good”?
As a sports writer at 15, this interests me. I think that the path you choose does not matter as long as you ate dedicated and try really hard with perseverance.
I thought of writers like you and Joshua from BostonSportsU18 when writing this – does this thinking change the advice us older writers should be giving you? I think there’s something to be said for the hands on experience you are getting now online, and maybe that means you should explore another subject in college. Or maybe that means you should major in it, because maybe editors will still be looking for those credentials. Who knows? But you’re on the right path by saying stay dedicated – that’s really what will make or break you as a writer.