LWC - we should change our name to "World's Greatest Writer's Group" - has been having much discussion lately about the state of the publishing industry, the new opportunities afforded authors through electronic and self publishing and pros and cons of self vs. traditional publishing.
I heard somewhere that the decision to self-publish or not has much to do with why people wanted to have their work published. Do they want to be famous, make money or simply have the personal accomplishment of having been published? It seems silly to ask if writers want their work to be read, but considering what kind of audience they are hoping to reach is important. Does genre have any impact on whether to self-publish or not?
I don't have answers to these questions, but one of my two main reasons for writing is that I enjoy reading stories and hope others will read my stories and enjoy them as well. My other main reason for writing is a quote from somewhere: "Writers write because they can't not write." That is so, so true.
While I think all writers feel that to some degree, many are happy not to ever be published or have their work read by anyone. That fascinates me. I don't want to be famous or rich (though I wouldn't mind being either) but I do want people read my work and enjoy it.
I was reading a book the other day (one of the latest in Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series) and one of the characters is a musician. He is part of a duo and he is considered the "second banana" to the more charismatic other half. The character says he never cared about that. Even if the other guy always got credit for all the lyrics or the music or the singing, it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that he was creating music and people listened to it.
I have to wonder: would I feel that way? Would you?
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