Make money doing the work you believe in
Yowzas.
There is so much content out there about why publishing is struggling and things are hard for writers right now.
AI slop and a gazillion books produced each year, making it even harder for good books to stand out (see Marius du Plessis’s latest piece on this).
The intense criteria for selection and limited ability of publishers to publish all the books that are actually of publishable quality each year (see Tanya Meeson on this).
The fact that even books that get agents aren’t necessarily going to get a book deal (piece below).
Most published authors don’t even make enough money to make a living off their writing (see Hao Nguyen’s pieces on how writers actually make money).
The many many many many rejections that you have to weather before even landing an agent (in many cases) (see the The Shit About Writing Team)
It’s definitely looking like being a published author is something that you’d have to do alongside other things to make a living in the near future.
My takeaway is that you need to write, first and foremost, for yourself. You need to have fun in the creative practice so that you don’t lose your mind trying to write for a publication trend that could be gone before you’ve even submitted. You need to like (if not love) your story.
Wishing that for all writers today.