# Ethlie Ann Vare on Going From Gatekeepers to Algorithms

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-book-cover-737349/ethlie-ann-vare-on-going-from-gatekeepers-to-algorithms
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-book-cover-737349/ethlie-ann-vare-on-going-from-gatekeepers-to-algorithms.md
Podcast: [Behind the Book Cover](https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-book-cover-737349)
Published: 2026-01-13T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/27c89eaa
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/27c89eaa/202f6afb.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-book-cover-737349/episodes/ethlie-ann-vare-on-going-from-gatekeepers-to-algorithms
Duration seconds: 2730

## Resource

If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Ethlie Ann Vare has lived through every incarnation of the media machine—from the era when editors and agents were true gatekeepers to today’s age of algorithms and the “wisdom of the crowd.” A journalist, TV writer and author, Vare built a career on talent, timing and serendipity. She went from covering rock shows in 1980s Los Angeles to penning biographies of Stevie Nicks and Ozzy Osbourne then spent 15 years writing for television shows like Renegade , Silk Stalkings , Andromeda and CSI . In this episode, Vare reflects on how the publishing world she once knew—where publicists flew authors to The Today Show and books stayed in print for decades—has vanished, replaced by a firehose of content and a marketplace where visibility often trumps talent. She laments that authors are now the product, forced to become their own marketers and brands while readers drown in choice. A savvy observer of both life and the publishing industry, Vare has proven that good work finds its way. Her New York Times –noted Mothers of Invention and later Love Addict: Sex, Romance and Other Dangerous Drugs (which began as a Tumblr called Affection Deficit Disorder) both emerged from two respective subjects she cared deeply about—women inventors and the psychology of love addiction. Now throug…

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## Transcript

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