DIY

Years ago, in another time and space, it used to be that I could change the oil in my car. Touch-up work and small mechanical projects were within range of my pioneering mechanical talent. My 1959 Plymouth was the easiest project for me to tackle but even later on my Pinto easily came in second. But time and automotive advancements slowly brought an end to most of my automotive mechanics. After that, cars got a lot more complicated and harder to work on. By the mid-eighties with my two back-to-back minivans, I was out of the auto self-servicing business altogether.

Concurrently, during that period, many products in many different categories grew more complicated. For example, sewing, quilting and crochet all seemed to fade away and were replaced by inexpensive garments from Kmart, JC Penny’s, etc.

Overseas manufacturing flooded the US market with a cascading wall of items built cheaper overseas than could ever be made here back in the US. The whole cottage industry of making one’s own clothes, drinks, etc. slowly gave way to mass marketing and the demise of individual creative design.

That is, until now. As I’ve told my younger compatriots, there is an advantage to having one’s toes in the sand long enough to see history repeat itself all over again.

A classic example, of course, is the movie industry. It has always been at its core a ‘business.’ Despite the glitz and glamor of tinsel town, almost every action taken there was really focused on the bottom line. In the beginning, the studios dominated the landscape with their entrenched way of doing business. In the late 40s and 50s television became a growing threat to their iron-fist dominance. Studios responded with ‘blockbuster’ movie events and CinemaScope. But it wasn’t enough to stop the ‘little box in every living room’ from capturing market share and eyeballs.

More viewer choices grew with the introduction of VHS tapes and viewing habits gradually morphed from the downtown theaters to one’s living room. Cable quickly followed and captured an even bigger share of the market.  Gradually streaming services radically changed the playing field. Now I can watch almost anything from movies to games to news events on my iPad or Tablet, at my leisure, anytime I want to.

This movie scenario is a good analogy for how the whole idea of DIY ‘doing it yourself’ has gradually gained momentum. Certainly, YouTube videos and Pinterest are good examples of showing the way to individual creativity.

Comics and comic books were at one time the sole domain of large newspaper chains and select national magazines. Now the internet is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of comic strips and comic books written by individuals without the anchor of newspaper publishers holding them back.

Prohibition forced the major brewing companies to close. Out of that mistaken public policy grew a thriving industry of moonshiners and illegal brewing operations. The end of prohibition quickly strangled that cottage industry and the major brewers came back in force. Fast forward fifty years and we now have a thriving industry of individual brewing operations. The next logical step was the advent of ‘designer’ cocktails and specialty hard liquor drinks.

Etsy is another example of the internet as a vehicle for individual creative artists to show their wares.

As a self-published author, I am not beholden to the publishing industry anymore. In the past, if I didn’t have an agent or publisher, my only option was to go the ‘vanity’ route and find a publisher who would publish my novel for a fee and guarantee of hundreds of books that I had to have printed (and usually ended up in my garage or basement.) Vanity publishers seldom if ever did any marketing for the neophyte author.

Major publishers might conduct some kind of marketing campaign but their royalties usually hovered around 10 to 15 percent….and only after the gross expenses of the publisher had been returned. Now as a self-published author and using ‘print on demand’ I can determine how many copies of my product that I want to print at any one time. I am responsible for my own marketing campaign but I also enjoy a ROI of 70 and 85 percent royalties on my works that sell. In short, I am in control of my own publishing and marketing future. Another example of DIY at its finest.

This list goes on. If I want to conduct my workshop on ‘How to Get Started Writing’ I can do so by taping my own how-to course and put it on the YouTube Channel. If I want to start my own comic strip, I can place it on the internet. If I want to create music videos with my very talented granddaughter, I can place her songs on the YouTube Channel. It’s all there. It’s all up to me. Unshackled and unbridled, future endeavors are in my hands now. Like I said, given enough time some things eventually come around again.