Richard, I share your amusement at the legions of people who will pay others to help them with their writing. I suppose it's harmless. If the aspiring writer is only doing it for their own enjoyment, no harm in that. But the odds of even a very good and industrious writer making anything approaching a living from their writing are exceedingly slim now. It was never easy, and it's much tougher now. A friend who has sold hundreds of pieces to the New York Times and has 2 commercially published (and very well-reviewed) books can not, these days, even get an agent, much less a book contract.
Yes, things are awful now in all of the traditional channels. I know writers whose books I see on bookstores shelves who cling to their day jobs. The most successful writer I know well recommends self-publishing.
Only a tiny percentage of self-published books are profitable. It requires a writer to set up what is essentially a separate business, traveling and hauling books around the country to sell at their speaking engagements, and/ or setting up online businesses to sell related services and information products
Correct. The point he was making was that even that tiny percentage, which he acknowledged as he was ranting at me about the publishing industry, is more likely to be fruitful these days.
Richard, I share your amusement at the legions of people who will pay others to help them with their writing. I suppose it's harmless. If the aspiring writer is only doing it for their own enjoyment, no harm in that. But the odds of even a very good and industrious writer making anything approaching a living from their writing are exceedingly slim now. It was never easy, and it's much tougher now. A friend who has sold hundreds of pieces to the New York Times and has 2 commercially published (and very well-reviewed) books can not, these days, even get an agent, much less a book contract.
Yes, things are awful now in all of the traditional channels. I know writers whose books I see on bookstores shelves who cling to their day jobs. The most successful writer I know well recommends self-publishing.
Only a tiny percentage of self-published books are profitable. It requires a writer to set up what is essentially a separate business, traveling and hauling books around the country to sell at their speaking engagements, and/ or setting up online businesses to sell related services and information products
Correct. The point he was making was that even that tiny percentage, which he acknowledged as he was ranting at me about the publishing industry, is more likely to be fruitful these days.
I should mention that none of his books are self-published and we were deep into a bottle of bourbon at this point. Also, he has no idea that I write.