Nicholas Carr is - as always - sarcastic about the new model of content distribution. He writes about some thoughts from Ray Kurzweil.
"The means of creativity have now been democratized. For example,
anyone with an inexpensive high-definition video camera and a personal
computer can create a high-quality, full-length motion picture."
"Yep. Just as the invention of the pencil made it possible for anyone to
write a high-quality novel. And just as that power saw down in my
cellar makes it possible for me to build a high-quality chest of
drawers."
Nicholas, you're right. A pencil does not make a novelist. But there may be quite a few really good novelists out there. And now they have a good chance to get read.
In the new model you have just to be good to be heard.
In the old model you had to be lucky and/or to know the right person.