I don’t keep precise statistics on how many queries I receive each year, but it sure seems like there are more of them every week. I’m at 16,600+ e-mails sent this year, and the vast majority of those are responses to queries. Just about every stranger I meet who finds out what I do for a living has a book they want to talk about. Writers are filling chat rooms and discussion boards, discussing their work and trying to get a leg up.
Is it just me or are there more writers out there than ever before?
And if you agree with the premise that there are more people writing (me = guilty as well)…. why do you suppose that is? What’s behind it? I mean, it sure doesn’t seem like there are vastly more people reading books than before, and it’s never been more difficult to find a traditional publisher.
Is it the meteoric success of prominent authors hitting pay dirt? Is it the economy? Is it a cultural moment, kind of how everyone learned how to Swing dance in the 90s? Is it the Internet and computers and the new transparency of the publishing industry, where it’s easy to figure out who to query and who publishes what? Is it the self-publishing boom?
Very curious to see the responses.
Michael Broadway says
There is yet another possibility. Perhaps your growing popularity as an agent is cause for your e-mail box being full every day. Perhaps the fact that you respond so quickly, even if it's not always for a request for more copy, encourages writers to query you, thus increasing the traffic.
It may also be a cost issue. Sending an email query, including a complete manuscript as an attachment costs nothing. Compare that to the postage we used to pay and it might account for part of the increase. I'm wondering how your email traffic compares to that of agents who don't accept email queries. I think that would be an interesting statistic.
karen says
In high school English we were required to write our own obituaries. I don't remember anything I wrote except that after I raised my kids I would be a published author. For the most part I didn't write a thing except letters while my kids were growing up. Now they're raised and, although I sold while still in high school and I sold part way through their growing up years, it's my turn to seek fulfillment of my dreams. Am I already a published author? Yes. But not at the level I want to be so I'm still working on it.
Louise Uccio says
I can only speak of the authors in my area of the world, which is the family rights area. Many, such as myself and Dr. Amy Baker author of, "Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties that Bind" and, "I Don't Want to Choose!" How Middle School Kids Can Avoid Choosing One Parent Over the Other. Along with Mike Jeffries, author of "A Family's Heartbreak: A Parent's Introduction to Parental Alienation" have more to say than ever before, because our children or future, are being destroyed by our system. Which brings me to three other new authors, Alec Baldwin, author of "A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce" along with Stephen Baskerville, author of "Taken Into Custody" and Barbara Johnson, author of "Behind the Black Robes: Failed Justice."
So, it appears to me from where I stand that people really have more information that needs to be out there!
tjpfau says
They are bored Nathan.
They watch TV or scan the shelves and in every genre they see the same same twenty people each writing the same book over and over.
They're tired of that book.
But Publishing is a business and like business everywhere it is going big-box. Nothing else makes money reliably and in sufficient quantity.
So, they are trying to grow their own.
I live in a medium size city and it has at least twenty wrting groups in it. Each of them has people in it who are having fun and think they just might bring back the '50's when every book and short story was an unkown when you cracked the cover.
16,000 of them wrote to you hoping to find a wizard with the right incantations to get it done.
Kaitlyne says
I don't have time to read the comments, but I have heard that some of it at least has to do with the economy. People lose their jobs and have more time on their hands to finally write that book they've been getting around to.
I actually wonder, also, if the presence of fanfic sites, etc., contributes to this at all. I think for the most part people used to see writing as something done by a specific group of talented people. Now you can log on to any number of websites and see amateur writing, and I think people are more encouraged to try it themselves.
If you think about it, even just fifteen years ago it would have been nearly impossible to find amateur writing out there short of sharing stories with your best friend. Add to that the advent of feedback and fan followings and what not, and if you post your work online you're more like to also receive encouragement.
Anonymous says
Could it be that the world shrunk?
An earthquake in some far away land is known around the world in only seconds.
Travel is easier and faster making globe trotting available for the average bloke rather than only a few pioneers.
If you bought a set of encyclopedias today, they would already be out of date with the internet's availability of information at one or two clicks.
People today have more things, more money, and bigger dreams, easier living styles, and yet have more voids to be filled.
Responses to this topic are very interesting and if we put them all in one big pot, boiled it all down…..
….welcome to the information age.
Linda Zajac says
I believe that the general public likes to imitate celebrities–their hairstyles, their clothing, their causes. Everyone from Madonna to football heroes are pumping out books, lighting the torch for others to follow. I also believe that aging baby boomers are looking for rewarding career changes. The economy combined with the downfall of many newspapers has flushed more writers into the system.
Anonymous says
"When I started writing in 2002…Competition wasn't nearly as keen."
this is another common misconception in nearly every field, not just writing. "It's so much more competitive today!"
Really? People didn't really give a hoot in 2002? I find that hilarious!
Let me ask you this: Were you published in 2002, back when it was easy?
Anonymous says
Anyone else here remember the o' AOL Writer's Club chat room/msg boards circa 1997?
Same exact stuff as the blogs today. "So much harder today!"
"oooh, ebooks!"
"Great that we have so much writer support online!"
lol
Anonymous says
I'd be very curious to know how many of these people writing books right now will actually be writing books, or anything, ten years from now.
A writing career isn't vacation from the real world or something you do because you're at home with the kids, hoping and dreaming you'll make huge money. A writing career, for writers, IS the real world.
Cheryl Gower says
Maybe it's because people are thinking the world is soon to come to an end and they better get their two-cents in before Armageddon gets there first.
I think Mr. Pyles makes a good point about self-publishing and the easy access to see yourself in print–leave a mark on this earth for anyone surviving Armageddon. And his point about LUCK getting a traditional publisher–well, we all know there's a big helping of LUCK involved in that feat!
Ilana D. says
I agree with many of the previous comments re: the Internet and the ease of rewriting,.deleting, querying etc. plus the retiring of the boomers. But another thought:
Memoirs.
The publishing world has put out a huge spate of memoirs over the past 15 years by people who are not particularly famous but had a weird/traumatic/compelling personal story. Combine that with the Oprah-type talk show phenom, and everyone feels like they have a story to tell and that the publishing world is dying to hear it.
That spills out of the memoir niche into other kinds of writing such as novels.
I think we're also seeing a breakdown of professional credentials as a barrier for entry into many endeavors. You no longer need to be a trained journalist to write for community news sites or blogs; you don't even need to know where Russia is to be a vice presidential candidate. Knowing nothing about a subject is almost a plus in some circles.
Extend that to writing — maybe a decade or two ago, people might have discouraged themselves by saying, "I can't write a book, I never got an MFA." Or finished college. Or got an A in high school English. Or whatever. But now they don't see the lack of credentials as so much of a barrier.
Patricia says
I am one of those writers out there and just got my first novel published this year. and some of the response has been really good. If your interested of reading my work here is how to get it. PublishAmerica.com
pen name: Patty Boat
title of book: A Disappointing Homecoming
I hope someone likes it.
thoughtful1 says
Yup. It's the home computer, the internet, more people on the planet now, and the over the top successes of a couple of women, Rowling and Meyers. But I was fascinated by the successes of Dorothy Sayers and PD James decades ago. And in second grade my teacher told me I had a talent. This was followed by years of writing poetry, various teacher and professor acknowledgments, journal writing through the dark times, freelance news writing, and now again the constant putting of the pen to the paper so to speak. Maybe a generation of readers is now old enough to become writers. Maybe the readers of the children's classics such as E. Nesbit, Tolkien, T.H. White, Grimm Bros, etc., maybe we have brains that have been shaped by the wild imaginations of these and other authors. And since we were a boom of babies with minds that were affected, maybe we are producing a boom of writing as we settle into that comfortable time of life of feeling content and willing to try out our dreams. Forgive my grammar.
Livia says
Are you sure it's not just that your blog is getting more popular so you get more queries?
Jeannie says
I do think the economy, the war, etc., has something to do with it; but not in the way most people might believe. It's natural in times when the world seems uncertain to want to assert control, to organize your own world and arrange all the events in it to get the ending you feel is right.
Writing is absolutely the perfect form of control on an abstract level: you create the world, you create the people, and you control everything that happens. It's escapism, but it's also escapism that dangles publication like a lotto prize in front of the writer's nose. And if I'm right about the control issue, might not that be part of the reason for such angst over rejections and edits? The person who was all in charge–now isn't.
Paul Neuhardt says
In my case, I had wanted to write a book for years, but I never did it.
Then I became engaged to a wonderful, supportive woman who pointed out that if I was a writer (good, bad or indifferent didn't matter) if I wanted to be, and it was time to get on with the writing already.
So, I'm writing.
siebendach says
I'd like to think this trend was something as temporary as the state of the economy, or an age-specific phase of a certain generation.
Unfortunately, the Internet has given fiction books a LOT more competition for the general public's "eyeball time", which translates into more competition for the general public's entertainment dollar. Supply skyrockets, demand goes through the floor, and you have a situation where selling fiction is almost impossible for most people.
New work is not only threatened with drowning in a sea of bad prose. It's also being judged by scales of "salability" that are more and more unyielding.
Jason Pinter said it: "Millions of new authors on Kindle, making about $30 a year".
Any agent who maintains a career MUST be a good salesperson — and must, by definition, love writing. (If they were in it for the money, they'd sell software or medical supplies.) So I believe they'd like to change things — but there just aren't enough of them to make a difference against the tsunami of mediocrity.
You can't stop the primal forces of supply and demand. But it's inspiring watching so many people fight the good fight.
Anonymous says
I feel lucky that I sold my debut last year to a small press for an advance. Fiction is impossible for an unknown writer to sell, everyone told me. But I did. Not to a major house, true, but I got real money for stuff I made up out of my head and type out on a computer. Crazy, huh!
Of course that was a year ago. Would it still happen in THIS MARKET?! I don't know. But I've got another one ready to shoot out the ol' pike, so we'll see.
that's the thing–you think of the unpubbed newbs as being the competition, but boy, once a writer gets a taste of some success–THAT writer ain't NEVER gonna stop! Those are the ones who are your real competition.
Anonymous says
Oh, man! Just seeing these hundreds of comments tells me I got no bizniz trying to get published…unless I can vet the system like Meyers did. What? You actually think she didn't have an inside track?
Anonymous says
Democratization of publishing. The gate keepers are changing, and that's not necessarily good. Sometimes less is more.
Anonymous says
I don’t know how many query letters literary agents receive from high school and college students, but another demographic change in recent years are the number of Advanced Placement (AP) college-level courses offered in high schools and the number of magnet high schools. Many students are now graduating from those programs with credentials and projects – including completed novels – once accomplished primarily in adulthood, somewhere beyond even the college years.
Anonymous says
"Many students are now graduating from those programs with credentials and projects – including completed novels – once accomplished primarily in adulthood, somewhere beyond even the college years."
Uh, I took AP English in 1986 and, while maybe things have changed, the focus of the class isn't writing genre ficiton but analyzing classic literature and writing essays on it.
I was the guy sittingin the back reading Day of the Jackal tucked behind my Shakespeare.
I don't think it's younger people providing the glut of subs today–I think it's the retired baby Boomers.
Mallory says
Mostly, I think it's a cultural thing. Our society has become much more empowered about their self-expression, and the belief that we all not only have a story to tell but that other people would be interested in it has become fairly widespread. Between the accessibility of tools such as online journals, video hosting, and social networking sites, and the scattered success stories of books from blogs and movie deals from YouTube, production of creative material abounds. Unfortunately, I think as production increases consumption will decrease and the market will be tougher to break into.
Pam says
I agree with all the posts regarding baby boomers. I recently attended a writing conference in NYC and was suprised that the majority of the attendees were 50 or older, many of them much older.
Maybe, on some level, we baby boomers are the most determined of all that books (which have been an integral part of our lives) will not become obsolete. I think most of us can accept that the hardcover will be extinct in a few years, and in a few more years books in print altogether. But for the written word to disappear? That breaks most of our hearts.
On the other hand, the YA market has surged recently due to Rowling, Meyer, etc. But unfortunately, I, like many people, predict that the YA market is doomed to failure in the future. Like it or not, kids just do not read like we baby boomers did. They read sporadically at best. But once they escape the vampire stage, etc., they won't be reading different styles of fiction. And these kids' kids — well, it will be a miracle if anyone but the elderly are reading by that time. The Dummying Down of America Movement is strong, folks.
The times they are a-changin'.
Anonymous says
It's true that some writers may not even WANT to write the kind of thing that the average book buyer will find entertaining a few years fom now. We're talking virtual video games in prose form, delivered in easily digestable nuggets designed to be put down while answering an IM and picked back up again until the cell rings. Action-movie scripts fleshed out with character backstories.
Ulysses says
Not enough video games.
joeinlosangeles says
The main reason there are more books is because technology makes it easier to fill up 400 pages with words.
My script agent told me that he was getting 20 times more scripts than he did 10 years ago — but the number of good scripts hadn't increased by 20 times. There are the same number of good scripts, just a lot more bad scripts.
Tara says
As the baby boomers retire, the Harry Potter generation comes of age, and both are writing.
It also is– or seems– easier, with word processing and interwebs and all that jazz.
Christine H says
You know, I'm seeing a lot of comments that either criticize people for thinking they can write when they really can't, or criticize them for writing one book and then quitting.
You can't have it both ways! If you're going to criticize people for thinking they can write well, then don't also criticize them for being smart enough to realize they can't after they've tried and failed.
Heck, you should be glad when people quit! It means less competition for you (the writers who didn't quit yet) and fewer queries for the agents.
I'm just saying.
Literary Cowgirl says
A population with a higher level of education (more people going to college and university), word processors, the internet making information more accessable, and the grab for fame (the all american dream)in an arena where you don't have to look like Paris Hilton to make it (at least for the time being).
Anonymous says
Good point, too, that writing is kind of the entertainment of choice for poeple who don't look good enough for the screen. Kinda like you got a face for radio, kid.
Anonymous says
Still, as joeinLA says, it's likely that while the total # of subs in increasing, the # of commercially competitive subs is not increasing, but staying the same (as pre-web 2.0 levels). So there isn't really more competition for a new writer than there was earlier, but there are longer wait times, or else a shift in the way the industry handles its volume of subs.
Scott says
I can't say, but based on people I've talked to, I suspect it's because people think it's an easy way to get rich, and that all authors make tons of money.
An interesting, somewhat-related note: in my month or so on Authonomy, I think I've gotten a taste of what being an agent might be like. You read a bunch of pitches from people who ask you to look at their books, and a few actually look interesting. Then you look at the actual work, and there's a pang of disappointment. Sure, the talent might be evident and the story still looks good, but there are so many technical problems that you can't even make it through the first page before you know it's not ready. Even if you REALLY want to like it, you know it's just not good enough.
If you decide to give some constructive feedback, you risk a response explaining why it was done that way, or explaining that writing rules are meant for inferior writers, or maybe you get a sincere thank you and the author immediately dives back into the manuscript to fix it, only when he lets you know he's updated it with your suggestions, you look at it and you can barely tell something has changed, if at all.
The interesting thing, maybe my favorite thing about the site, is that it gives me a glimpse into the slush pile and how hard this business is. A few lucky writers get reviews from HarperCollins. These books that have been praised by enough readers to make it to the top of the site's 4,000 or so manuscripts are usually really good, and HC praises them, but this is still wrong, or that, or that other thing.
It's a very interesting experiment, and I'm glad to get the insights. I'm encouraged by the positive comments from readers, but at the same time, it's crystal clear that even the smallest flaw, like using a cliche such as "crystal clear" is enough to get a rejection. It's a tough business.
So all of these people who think they can write a book, bless them. Write on, people. But if you think it's easy money–scratching a lottery ticket is a lot less work and you might actually get a dollar or two. You have to have a better reason to write.
Orange Slushie says
i think it's to do with the way we construct our identities these days. a lot of value is placed on creativity. if people want a creative outlet but they can't draw and they can't play an instrument, for example (harder things to fake), they are usually at least literate – i.e. in possession of basic writing skills, talent aside.
i've come to divide wannabe writers into two categories: those who want to write (because they love it and/or have something they desperately want to say), and those who want to 'be writers'. In the latter case the desire for identity comes before the desire to write.
and, as others have sagely noted, technology makes it all so much easier.
Anonymous says
i think that those who can turn out a comemrcially viable manuscript are at a distinct ADVANTAGE in this market, simply because the web2/reality TV culture has stimulated such a goldrush mentality that most of what is submitted is not mass-market publishable. that makes the few publishable gems really shine through the pile of rubble.
In the old days when you had to lick a lotta stamps to have your subs considered, you only went though that when you were sure the ms. was the best it was gonna get. Now, I know that there are writers who just say, "It needs a little work, but let's just see what they think of it now" and they click Send. The mechanical ease of the submission process is deceptively alluring. Also, and this is reallyl insidious, but I personally know writers–some of them established, mass market authors– who have admitted to me that they sometimes use the agent slushpile as a screening grounds for testing new stories. In other words, they use a fake title and fake name, send 3 different story ideas (without having written any of them yet) to 20 different agents, and wait for the replies. After 30 days, they write the one that got the most favorable reply (and simply ignore the agent or politely reply that they are withdrawing the ms, from consideration).
So I think it's not too terribly different form the old days. I sold my first ms, last year to a trad. pub.
Paul Neuhardt says
Having said I am writing because I want to write, let me add to my response. Why? Because of the "some people think they are going to get rich from this" thread.
I have not given up my day job, nor do I have plans too. Why?
Because I never expect to make nickle one from my writing. If I ever get published, it's a bonus.
Don't get me wrong: I'm going to write and revise my little fingers to bone in an attempt to get published. When I do get published, I intend to do everything I can to promote the ever living daylights out of my book in an attempt to sell as many copies as possible.
Sure, I would love to make money out of my writing. I just don't expect to. This way, any surprise I get is a happy one.
Orange Slushie says
nathan, on a different subject but inspired by one of the comments i read here today, have you ever posted/considered posting about the reasons agents/editors hardly ever provide feedback on individual mss when they reject them? i have some insights but i reckon it would make for interesting discussion.
Sharon says
As someone who just started writing books a year ago at age 43, I guess I'm part of this phenomenon. I can't say why so many others are writing but I can tell you why I am. I've been doing PR and freelance writing/editing for 20 years. While handling publicity for my state's book festival over the past three years, I discovered that authors are normal, everyday people… like me! I mentioned to a multi-published author that I would love to write a book, and she said, "Why not?" I posed all of the objections that had always kept me from trying: "I've never taken a fiction writing class! I've never even written a word of fiction before!" When she told me that she hadn't either, prior to her first book, it was like the clouds parted and a glorious ray of sunshine beamed down on me. I immersed myself in learning everything I could, then started writing, and it made me deliriously happy. I sat by a fire with my laptop all winter and wrote and wrote and wrote… fiction! Not press releases and talking points! Whoopie! Now I can't figure out why MORE people aren't writing books. It is the most fun I've ever had.
So, I think that as authors have become more accessible via blogs, websites, book festivals etc., we see that they are, in fact, human like the rest of us. And then we can actually imagine ourselves being authors, and so… we give it a try.
Nathan, blogs like yours are also a major factor in erasing the fear factor for newbie authors. You show us how to maneuver the strange new world of publishing and so we venture forth and query.
Steve says
Answering here before reading any other comments, this isn't even difficult. It's the Internet, duh!
The ability to set one's content cheaply before a (potential) worldwide audience of billions in unprecedented in human history. Although the practical impact of this development is substantial, the psychological impact vastly outstrips it, probably by an order of magnitude.
The Internet encourages the ordinary person to believe that they are empowered (occasionally this actually happens). So, believing that he or she can now easily find an audience, that the evil gatekeepers are truly vanquished, the musician plays and sings, the aspiring producer videos, and the writer writes. DIY is unleashed!
This in itself does not account for why so many newbie writers seek traditional publication. I think those can probably be viewed as spillover from the larger internet mania.
Note that this mood shift is replicated even in the traditional centralized media. "Reality TV" has created a cult of the "ordinary Joe" (or Jane) as the next superstar.
The resentment against gatekeepers has been building up for at least a generation. The advent of the Internet has mobilized the great mass of the unheard, saying now is the time for the final assault on the no longer defended gates guarding the halls of fame.
If you infer from my tone that I think much iof this is illusion, you have much to go on. But, it's not ALL ilusion.
Curious to know if there was a similar upsurge when movable type was invented.
-Steve
P.S. It's also the case that the physical tools of content creation are vastly cheaper and easier to use than ever before. I recently bought a no-name digital cam with video, having pretty nice specs, on clearance for $50. And, on the writing side, there's no comparison between a work processing program and a typewriter. I can be reasonably proliific on a computer – I was never even able to insert paper straight in a typewriter, or type even two linnes before making a typo that would make me have to start over. (Type correction was always a mystery to me, and remains so.) And, don't even get me started on music production software 🙂
Remember the two guys from nowhere that won the Frito Lay ad contest, and the superbowl "best of" award on a shoestring? More of the sam ephenomenon!
Jess Anastasi says
When people see authors like JK Rowling (who is apparently richer than the queen) and Stephanie Meyer, its like an advertisement for winning the lotto.
Let's face it, its the dream. Fame, fortune and being viewed as a creative genius. Who wouldn't want that? Just like the chances of actually winning the lotto are a bazillion to one, it doesn't stop millions of people buying tickets every week.
And the small fact of its actually damn hard to get published isn't going to stop the wannabes who imagine whipping up a book will earn them a quick buck.
Christine H says
"based on people I've talked to, I suspect it's because people think it's an easy way to get rich, and that all authors make tons of money."
Really? Really? Like, people seriously think that?
I'm not being sarcastic.
I think this is one of the hardest businesses ever (second only, perhaps, to acting or singing) and am completing my manuscript with of fear and trembling. I never met anyone who thought it was easy.
I guess I'm hanging out with the wrong people.
I was musing over this as I did dishes tonight, and realized it's because a novel is just so deeply personal. There really is no comparison. Even sending your child to Kindergarten is not like this, because they are their own people after all and are going to grow up regardless. But a manuscript… well… that's different.
Scott says
Yup. I really know people who see it as a way to get rich. I know somebody who really should know better who thinks if he can finally get past chapter one and finish his book, he'll. At least one guy from a former writing group also believed his writing would make him rich.
I think a lot more people can find outlets for their acting or musical talents than for their writing, especially in fiction.
You CAN make a good, solid, steady living writing. I've done it for 20 years. But it hasn't been fiction or anything I ever dreamed of writing when I suffered the same delusions back in the day.
Leigh Lyons says
I get that too, it goes something like this:
Me: "I'm going to school for sexology, the psychology of how people relate to each other and such."
Other Person: "Really? Are you going to be a sex therapist?"
Me: "No, it's so I can write better characters."
OP: "oh…. hey, how come (something gross and/or embarrassing I didn't ever want to know about this person including but not limited to sexual dysfunction, bizarre fantasies etc.)?"
I think people are writing more because of our technology. There are so many writing guides on line not to mention things like NaNoWriMo and Absolute Write. Before, being a writer was almost like being an astronaut: Lots of people wanted to do it, but the process was so complicated that one could just forget about it.
Gordon Jerome says
gordon-
I deleted it because of your attitude, not because of your opinion.
My attitude? Now I don't have the correct attitude?
Seriously, Gordon, I hope you'll learn soon that there's no virtue in being horribly rude. Everyone is open to even unpopular opinions provided they're stated respectfully. You're not going to change anyone's mind unless you engage people respectfully and stop trying to tear down everything you personally dislike or disagree with.
I'm not horribly rude. I've never been horribly rude to you. I made a comment about the publishing industry, not about any person. I simply disagree. And yes, I will try to tear down that which I don't like and don't agree with–that's what you're supposed to do with things you don't like and don't agree with. You asked a question of the public in general in your public blog and I gave you an answer you didn't like. I get a feeling it might have had more to do with the anti-atheism I espoused more than the publishing industry comment. But we'll never really know, will we? Because you now say it's my attitude.
I don't come in here cowardly with anonymous posts. I take full responsibility for the things I say. I come in here with my face and my name. I'm sorry you can't have 250 posts all of them singing exactly the tune you want to here, but that's life.If you don't want public discourse and comments then don't have a public blog.
Moses says
I can think of a couple of people I know who are working on books, other than myself. Neither of them can figure out what they want to do with their careers, so they are writing.
But maybe that's how it's always been 🙂
Josin L. McQuein says
Gordon,
Try decaf.
Jessie Oliveros says
In each of our blogging circles we see so many successes. So many people we "know" that are getting agents and getting published. That's encouraging. You know, if they can do it, maybe I can too.
Gordon Jerome says
I completely agree that everyone should be encouraged to write, to express themselves artistically. Hopefully it will lead to the next Great Artist. This is the "wonderful" part I was referring to earlier.
I wish I could go back and get the name of the writer who wrote this, but the comment string is just too long. Nevertheless, I couldn't agree with her more. Well said.
Scobberlotcher says
I'll start by saying I am a published novelist. I don't get the literary equivalent of being hit on as much as agents, but I, too, have a experienced an increase in the number of people who tell me they are/are going to write a book, whether it be at a party or a school function. (Ex. the crossing guard at my kids' school flagged me down and told me she is writing a memoir and can I help her get an agent or get published and where does she start? I really just wanted to cross the street, thank you very much.) Naturally, I directed her to your blog for all the nuts and bolts. 🙂
I think writing a book is such an ideal goal for so many people. When people tell me they've written a book, they seem so hopeful. I guess it's the possiblity that it COULD happen that drives so many people.