The Writing Guru Trap

Selling Creativity Back To The Creator.

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

I started my Substack just over four months ago. In that short time, I’ve written more than 30 articles and gained a small but meaningful following(Thanks to all who subscribe) I’ve genuinely enjoyed the process. But let’s be honest, when you’re new to the platform, it’s overwhelming. There’s no guidebook. No one tells you what to do. You just dive in and hope for the best.

And while you’re finding your footing, you start noticing something: a growing crowd of Substackers-turned-“Creators” who’ve appointed themselves as mentors, coaches, and niche-finding prophets. They flood the space with advice on how to write, what to write, how to grow, how to make money and what niche you should pick.

It’s a whole ecosystem of unsolicited instruction right before you as you just arrived, curious and wanting to be heard.

As a writer, I find this exhausting. I’ve never boxed myself into one genre or theme. I like to write about what interests me, whether it’s literature, comics, history, crime or culture. But these self-styled gurus push a different gospel: pick a niche, stick to it, and build your brand. If you like sci-fi, write only sci-fi. If you’re into historical fiction, don’t stray.

Stay in your lane.

With that type of mindset, It’s creatively suffocating the artist’s who are looking to make a step into writing and getting their work out there.

It’s also deeply ironic. These people claim to help you “Find your voice,” but what they’re really doing is selling you a formula. A course. A system. A pyramid scheme disguised as mentorship. They’re not here to nurture creativity, they’re here to profit from it.

And that’s the part that stings. Because they’re not targeting corporations or institutions. They’re targeting us all; the writers, the artists, the people already creating. They’re selling creativity back to the creative. They dangle promises of growth, fame, and visibility, but what they’re really offering is a repackaged hustle: “Buy my course, follow my steps, and you’ll make it.”

But you won’t. Not like that.

Creativity doesn’t come from a checklist. It doesn’t thrive in a funnel. And it sure as hell doesn’t need to be monetized to be valid. Yes, some people genuinely need help getting started. That’s fine and there are legit courses, people and writing schools that will help you,but when the help becomes a business model, when your art becomes someone else’s revenue stream, you’re not being mentored,

You’re being mined.

Substack isn’t the only place this happens. You see it on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, platforms overrun by motivational speakers and content farmers reposting the same recycled advice. They’re not building communities. They’re building audiences. And they’ll use your vulnerability, your ambition, and your hunger for connection to do it.

It’s not mentorship.

It’s manipulation.

Some of it even borders on grooming, luring people in with the promise of success, only to trap them in a cycle of dependency. Buy the course. Join the webinar. Subscribe to the newsletter. Repeat. You’re not buying wisdom. You’re buying a dream. And dreams, in this economy, are expensive.

So here’s my final thought: be careful. Be careful who you follow. Be careful who you trust. And be especially careful of anyone trying to sell you creativity. Because if you’re already creating, you don’t need a guru. You need space. You need honesty.

You need time.

And most of all, you need to remember that your voice doesn’t come from a course. It comes from you.

Thank you for reading this article, I hope you enjoyed it.

Slán Go Fóill

-Marc Sean

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If you liked my article above and want to read more of my thought’s on anything in general, please read one of my other articles below and let me know what you think Thank you.

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