The Bleacher Amateur Keyboard Club: Is It Ending?

If you have ever tried to get a book into print, you will know the writer's standing in the world of publishing. He or she is a humble supplicant, and is soon scarred by the lash of rejection.

For those with the right product at the right time, submitted to the right agent who has the right contacts with the right publisher, there can be a route to the sunny uplands of success.

For every smiling J.K. Rowling, however, there are thousands of disconsolate wannabes collecting rejection letters.

Dear _________ ,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript.

Unfortunately it is not what we are looking for at this time, so I can only thank you for your interest in our company and wish you success with your future endeavours.

Signed,

Emily Thurgood-Styles

Emily, it goes without saying, will not have glanced at your manuscript, or at any of the mass of unsolicited material landing on her desk.

Periodicals can be a slightly easier proposition, depending on their circulation. An article on the finer points of bee-keeping may find a welcome at the West Sussex Apiculture Gazette, and its 117 readers will surely be most interested.

Large-circulation magazines are a harder nut to crack, and an amateur is certain to find that their views on the development of haute couture will not be featured in the glossy pages of Vogue.

What it comes down to is that nobody has a divine right to be published.

Not you, not me, nobody.

Up until now, amateur sports writers have been able to publish freely on Bleacher Report. The premise of this article is that, quite inevitably, that era must come to an end.

Not so long ago Bleacher proclaimed itself to be the home of fan-journalism, and thousands of amateur writers seized the opportunity to put their words in front of their peers. But again and again we must learn that the past is another country, they do things differently there.

Now Bleacher is self-described as 'The Web's best destination for sports community, news, opinion, photos, and more.'

The site is becoming very commercial, oriented towards maximising ad revenues, and professional standards must be rolled out across all aspects of it.

Predicted Changes

At the moment a writer can upload any photo they choose to accompany an article, and do so with a cheerful disregard for copyright. There is a box to be ticked, signifying that the uploader has the legal right to use the photo, but that will not keep the lawyers at bay for one moment.

#1 Bleacher will have to remove the photo-uploading facility.

Presently a writer can put an article on the site with no immediate restrictions. It can contain obscenities, libels, malicious accusations, incitement to commit murder, encouragement of racial persecution or defence of the same, and it will be live on site and visible to millions until it is removed.

#2 Bleacher will have to vet all articles pre-publication, and purge the article archives using the same criteria.

Writers from all parts of the world have found expression here. In some cases pidgin-English articles have appeared that would be totally unacceptable in any professional publication.

#3 Bleacher will become a less-hospitable place for writers who do not have English as their first language.

The 'I think this and I think that' type of opinion piece is very engaging for small groups of argumentative people, but has little appeal to a wider public.

#4 Bleacher editorial content will become much more depersonalised reportage, with only selected columnists with the rare talent to do so voicing opinion. There will be no place for articles purporting to predict Bleacher's future.

One consequence of Bleacher imposing professional standards on writers will be that those whose writing is up to scratch, and who can reliably deliver copy ahead of deadline, will receive remuneration.

#5 Those who seek to finance a yacht from Bleacher earnings should probably turn their attention to dinghies.

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