#Publishing Keeps Getting Tougher

When I first started querying publishers and agents in 2001 about 5% of them accepted email or online submissions.

• Nowadays about 5% of them only accept snail-mail submissions . 

When I sold my first book to a small publisher, you could find a couple dozen of them.

• Now, there are a several hundred.

When I found a publisher for my next book, the thought of even considering self-publishing was the biggest no-no an author could do to their career.

• These days, if you don't have a self-published book or backlist novel, you're in the minority.

When I first began networking with other authors and writers...you know, way back during the mySpace and LiveJournal days I was lucky if I could make a new writer friend once a week.

• Today, every other person is an "author". 

Despite it all seeming easier, because the internet makes most things possible, those of us who have been in the trenches from the earlier days of online publishing and didn't break through to the mass market type audiences, are still struggling. Now we're being hidden on places like Amazon and Facebook because 1. we can't afford to pay for constant promotion and/or 2. are lost in the sea of free and .99c ebooks, a big chunk of which are self-published and...sorry to say this, crap.

I'm not the type to be mean on purpose and crush someone's dream, but when you're writing Sasquatch or DinoPorn romances, those of us who take writing seriously never get seen because 18 of your crap books are hogging up the category ranks and getting all the fancy algorithm recommendations. 

Still, I'm invested enough in myself and my writing to keep plugging away no matter how hard it gets. One of my books will catch one. Someone, somewhere will read Lucky or Tiva or whatever comes next and give me a big huge shout out and help me sell some books. Then, maybe then, I can get rid of the day job and focus on writing full time.

Ah, to dream. 

What are we if we don't?