The availability of vanity publishing because of internet has killed the skilled art of literature.
Well that's it, anything else I have to say on the topic will be filler.
It frustrates me that while I have low self-esteem sufficient not to have published my work for profit at this stage in my thirty-five year career as a studious writer, those who have more self-esteem and zero talent are gaining prestige and income by publishing crap. This is not a jealousy rant. I truly don't care and good luck to them. The issue of contention is that the struggle of writers to become better craftsman seems redundant in a world where badly written first draft manuscripts are top of the marketing lists. Authors intent on producing quality and honing their abilities are sadly lacking.
The fear of a blow to self-esteem which would occur were I to release material through the same channels as penny dreadful novelists and drop off the bottom of the unwanted / unread lists instead of meteoric rise to stardom aspired to by so many younger, undeveloped and basically shit writers has been enough to prevent me from trying.
I give my work away for free to whoever can find their way to my websites where it is published. I have an average of two hundred readers a week on the one site, and no stats at all for the others. This is with zero marketing and very seldom the use of search tags. This small fan group keep me going, even when they are too tight to send me any donations and would drop me like a stone if I start charging money for my work. It's just about enough people I could send a christmas card to them individually if I knew who they are. Thank you everyone and Happy new Year 2018.
Today, Christmas Eve of 2017, I am going through some of the short sci-fi stories I have and have not published, some of which from way back in 2002. Seeing how they all fit together as a progression and most important, where they need improvement and how to do that. There is a cohesive continuity through them. I intend to put a couple of collections together for commerce, available in the new year. This is my exciting news.
So there you go.
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