Ten years ago, if you asked Hollywood studio executives what a “Vine Star,” “TikToker” or “YouTuber” was, they would have given you a blank stare. Today, platforms like these have become mainstream and are some of the first places that executives go to when looking for the next big star. Digital content creation can take aspiring content creators to places they would have never imagined, and media professional Erica Barry wants to help them get there with her new book, Don’t Wait, Create: How to Be a Content Creator in the New Digital Revolution, which is set to be released in late August.
Don’t Wait, Create provides a roadmap to digital content creation while also showcasing the success stories of entertainers like Tiffany Haddish, Andy Samberg, and Issa Rae. These performers and others have leveraged the power of digital platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to launch their careers, and Barry wants to show aspiring content creators how they can also use these spaces to realize their own dreams.
“In the past, you had to fit into a narrow box defined by Hollywood to get your content seen and monetized,” she explains. “The content that we consumed, the celebrities that we admired, and mainstream pop culture as a whole were all defined largely by invisible gatekeepers. However, the floodgates are now open for all types of content to enter the mainstream.”
According to a recent report from Global Web Index, the average person now has 7.6 active social media accounts. Barry says “If you’ve ever posted on Instagram or retweeted something on Twitter, you’ve created content!” She continues: “Many of us are content creators in some capacity, but we have not fully realized our potential or grasped the power, influence, and responsibility associated with this role. We are currently living in the Golden Age of Content Creation because technology affords us unprecedented opportunities to engage, communicate, and share our stories with the world.”
For the first time in history, content creators have control, and there are many low-cost paths to reach a broad audience. Barry wants to help new creators be the next big digital success story by showing them how to enter the digital world, learn from their experience, gain trust with audiences, and grow organically.
“You have all the power you need to become a content creator instead of a content consumer,” Barry says. “No longer do you have to wait to be ‘discovered,’ wait for a callback, or wait to tell your story. You have all the tools you need to create your own body of work right now.”
For more information on Erica Barry’s work in the digital media landscape, visit www.ericabarry.com. Don’t Wait, Create: How to Be a Content Creator in the New Digital Revolution is scheduled to be published by New Degree Press on August 30, 2021.
0
0
