Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech gets quoted constantly, usually the inspirational part about daring greatly and how the credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena.
But people conveniently forget the first part—the part about the critics.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
Roosevelt was talking about politics, but he could have been talking about indie authors.
Everyone Has Opinions Until You Actually Build Something
When I announced I was launching a digital magazine and mentioned accepting unpaid submissions—me, one person, self-funding everything with no investors, no corporate backing—the internet lost its mind.
“Scammer.” “Exploiter.” “Money should flow TO the author!”
Never mind that I’m paying for hosting, design, advertising, and taking time away from my actual income-generating work. Never mind that I’m building something that doesn’t exist yet and…
