Real Content Creator Story: Nobody Was Going to Give Me Permission

In 2023, I was just out of my MFA and I was hoping that one of the fellowships would come through and I would rocket in Academia as a fresh MFA grad with books out and coming out of a legendary creative writing program. I waited with baited breath and opened the email. I had so many that had not gone through my past chance was an opportunity at Harvard. I clicked on the email and read. Harvard said no. So did the American Library in Paris. And Berlin. Every prestigious academic program I applied to after finishing my MFA sent the same polite rejection.My entire post-grad plan collapsed in a series of form emails.

I sat there, lost, with no idea what came next. The path I’d imagined—the one where institutions validated my work and opened doors—didn’t exist. Not for me anyway. So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I kept publishing.

The Cameron Journal Wasn’t a Strategy

People ask me now about the decision to build The Cameron Journal. They assume there was a moment of clarity, some entrepreneurial vision where I saw the future of independent media and decided to stake my claim.That’s not what happened. The truth is messier and less inspiring. I kept publishing because it was something I could do. I’d been posting consistently for years. It brought in a little cash. And when every other door slammed shut, it was the only thing still open. I didn’t choose to build my own platform. I got rejected into it.

Looking back, I should have seen it coming. I’ve never had much luck asking others to give me opportunities. Editors don’t return emails. Publications ignore pitches. The traditional gatekeepers weren’t interested in what I had to say. You reach a point where you have two choices: keep begging or build your own stage.I had always had my own stage and so I kept going and tried to find a way to make this work. I started The Cameron Journal Academy and launched the Cameron Journal Executive Contributor Program.

The Grinding Reality Nobody Talks About

Here’s what building your own platform actually looks like. You answer every email. You handle finances, legal, operations. You’re the editor, the producer, the business manager, the marketing department. When something breaks, you fix it. When content needs to ship, you ship it. I’ve published over 300 podcast episodes. I produce a weekly newsletter. I create video content for the Newshour. I’ve been doing this since 2019, and every year I’ve managed to double traffic and grow the audience.

It’s been 7 years for The Cameron Journal in its current form and I’m still burnt out. People see the output and assume there’s a team behind it. There isn’t. It’s me, an occasional video editor, and AI tools that help me move faster than I could alone. The algorithmic reality of modern media is brutal. Ten years ago, you could post one thing and reach thousands of people. Now you need to produce 10x the content to reach the same audience. And because media is balkanized across text, audio, and video, you can’t just pick one format and win. You have to show up everywhere, consistently, or the algorithm forgets you and your content.

Living in the Tension

I follow what I call the Gary Vee approach: publish until you reach the audience. Make enough content to give the algorithm something to latch onto. No single piece has been the breakout hit for me. Some videos do really well. The newsletter has grown. The podcast reaches different people than the written content. It’s the cumulative effect of showing up that builds momentum. But here’s the tension I live in every day when I check the overnight numbers on all my platforms and see how things are growing.

The pace required to compete is unsustainable. You need volume to break through, but volume burns you out. AI tools help. Strategic prioritization helps. But the underlying reality doesn’t change.If you want to compete in this space, you have to produce content constantly. And if you’re in the growth phase like I am, it’s a slog.I’ve built what I call a minimum viable content schedule. If I can pull off the Newshour, an interview, and the newsletter each week, we’re doing well. Anything beyond that is bonus.

Some weeks I cancel things. I’m more comfortable with that now than I used to be. But the pressure to keep producing never goes away.

Why It Took So Long to Monetize

For years, I kept everything free. People assumed it was some noble philosophical stance about open access. It wasn’t. I was trying to grow the brand first. I had major issues getting traction.You can’t monetize an audience that doesn’t exist yet. I’m only now reaching the stage where subscriptions make sense. I’m pushing them on Substack for The Cameron Journal and The Living Joke. I’m building CameronJournal+ memberships. I’ve launched the Executive Contributor Program and writing courses through The Cameron Journal Academy.

The monetization is happening now because I finally have the traction to make it work. It took way longer than I expected. But that’s the reality of building your own platform. The timeline is unpredictable. The growth is uneven. You put in years of work before you see returns.

The Editorial Filter That Keeps Me Sane

As someone who reads thousands of tweets a day and dozens of news articles, need a filter or you drown in noise. Mine is simple: Am I adding to the conversation or just adding to the noise? If someone else could say it the same way, it doesn’t belong on The Cameron Journal. If I’m just repeating what everyone else is saying, I’m wasting your time and mine. I have to feel like I can add something to the conversation before I even set finger to keyboard.

I try to work in the gap between narrative and reality. News is a story we tell about events. Often the disagreement isn’t about the issue itself but about how we talk about the issue. That’s where Donald Trump’s strategy works so well—he controls the conversation about the conversation.

My job is to provide clarity. To acknowledge the messy reality without getting lost in it. To exist in the space between what happened and how we’re talking about what happened. That’s what curation means. My editorial focus is about taste, perspective, and editorial judgment. the marketplace is almost devoid of it now.

What I’d Tell Someone Starting Now

If you’re waiting for someone to give you permission, you’ll wait forever. Editors won’t return your emails. Publications will ignore your pitches. The gatekeepers have their own priorities, and you’re not on the list. You can spend years begging for opportunities, or you can build your own stage. Building your own platform is hard. It’s unsustainable at times. You’ll live in tension between the volume you need to produce and the pace you can actually maintain.

But here’s what I know after years of doing this: The people who ship imperfect content tend to move faster than the people waiting for perfect. It’s like a writing a book, you can’t fix what isn’t on the page. So put words on the page first. Building a platform is similar. You have to get something out there and grow from that.

You need a strong story. You need a strategy. You need a plan, or you’ll get lost in the algorithmic chaos. But more than anything, you need to start publishing. Not when you’re ready. Not when you have permission. Not when the conditions are perfect. You publish because nobody else is going to do it for you.

That’s how The Cameron Journal started. Not with a grand vision, but with a simple reality: doors closed, and I kept publishing anyway.Sometimes the only honest path forward is the one you build yourself.