/lit/ - Literature

>>21979185
I think a big factor is that the publishing industry is dying because it can't keep up with the internet. Readership is "high" but the only books being published are fantasy novels and the same generic novels written by POC authors about issues in their community boring cover impact font title non-offensive anything. Why would you even want to become a published author these days?

You give:
>100% of the effort in writing a book, entirely in your free time, completely unpaid
You get:
>An extremely rigorous selection process for what gets published (AKA not you)
>10-20% of the profits of the book (not enough to live off of with the economy's current state)
>No marketing (you have to do this yourself)
>The publishing company owns your name (if your book bombs, you can never publish another book anywhere else)

I have a friend who writes fairly eloquently with interesting topics, constantly rejected. I had an English professor when I was in college in her mid-40's bragging about how after ten years of applications she was finally getting her first book published.

Meanwhile, you go on the internet, there is such a plethora of literature to read for free, with much better avenue streams for the authors. You lose out on the "prestige" of being in a bookstore with a published book, but in exchange, you have writer freedom. The next great novel might already exist. It's just probably buried somewhere within Amazon Marketplace, AO3, Royal Road, as a self published novel that got overlooked.