Embrace Change

The publishing world changed when multi-national corporations started buying venerable publishing houses. There was a rift in the force that is still being felt. Now, book contract decisions are made as much by the bean counters as by editors who know good writing when they see it.

Bad For Writers

This is not good for writers, especially mid-list authors who compose the bulk of professional novelists. The Death Spiral has become a too-frequent event. The tiny fraction of best sellers who are that because of complex maneuvering behind the scenes, that most people know nothing about, are the ones that get all the money, exposure, etc.

We all still write even knowing that we'll probably never get into that stratosphere because none of us do it for money, not even Nora Roberts, Stephen King, and all the others on the bestseller lists. We do it because we have words in us that are trying to get out. If you have writing in your soul, you'll do it too regardless of how daunting the odds are of succeeding or of actually supporting yourself by writing.

Compromise

Ah, compromise! Thy name is writer. None of that will make any difference to you. You'll compensate by working another job or by writing anything you can write that pays in order to have the leisure to write what you love.

Takeaway Truth

Writers write. In print. Electronically. They write.