While a lot of gatekeeping for competitive, creative industries like publishing, acting, music etc. can sometimes feel brutally arbitrary and unfair, the hard truth of the matter is that there’s absolutely a reason why those gates exist, and yes they ARE necessary. There are too many people clamoring to enter these industries who fundamentally don’t understand JUST how much time, talent, and effort goes into producing a polished final product, how many pieces of the puzzle are required for a good outcome, nor how much behind-the-scenes work and training the few successful artists actually do in order to make it at the level that they do. I’ve worked with creative people who are absolutely convinced that their pet projects are “just as good” as the professional stuff and they completely lack the ability (either through ignorance, denial, or just plain lack of intelligence) to see the glaringly obvious gaps in quality between what they’ve made and what they’re comparing it to - and yet they’ll insist that there are none, they don’t need to do anything to improve, and the industry is the problem because it “just won’t give them a chance”. Dunning-Kruger is real and widespread and that’s why yeah, you DO actually need that agent, that editor, that producer, that publisher, that distributor, etc. if you really want your work to stand out and be successful. The more professionals and experts that have their eyes on it and their hand in helping you make it, the much better it is going to be. Bypass that at your own peril.