Ok, people, it is time for me to stand on my crate and speak about issues that bother me.
This time I want to talk about the state of things regarding genre literary writing. The fact is I keep running into new writers and I've found there are two types of new writers. One type is the unfortunate writer who comes into writing thinking they can make a killing writing because all you have to do is write stories. Yeah, that is being completely ignorant and delusional. Writing is a lot of mind numbing work that is for the most part thankless in so many ways.
Publishing houses only want what they want at the moment. Also, you only get one chance. Mainline publishing houses don't accept resubmissions. So, before independent publishing and self publishing writers would spend their time writing books, a good number of them actually brilliant, only to have publishing houses say, "We really like your book but it's not what we're currently looking for right now." Then that is it. You can submit it to another publishing house but you got a 90 percent chance you'll get the same answer. Only one out of a hundred books submitted to mainline publishers get accepted.
Of course then you can submit to independent publishers, which are usually made up of writers who have gotten tired of dealing with mainline publishers. Because of this you have a far better chance of getting published with them. Thing is for the many of these publishers you need to actually pay to get your book published by these people. Independent publishing houses require for you to pay to get your manuscript exited and formatted. This can cost you up to $500 to do before these publishers accept. The problem with independent publishing house is it can take years for you to get your book published due to the fact that your book isn't a priority. Thing is your book could be stuck in limbo so long that trends my end and you might not have an audience when your book is actually published. Also, independent publishers are known for. Dealing contracts and pulling already published books at the drop of a hat for bullshit reasons. I had an independent publisher break eight contracts with me and pull all my books they published because a bunch of cyber stalkers said boo to them. Luckily the publisher returned my rights after, but it took me three years and me having to start my own label to get my books back on the market.
Which leads me to self publishing. Unless you like paying nearly a thousand dollars to publish and promote your book yourself this might not be for you. The truth is that you only have a 30 percent chance of either breaking even on expenses or making a small , and I mean small, profit.
On top of all that social political trends can mess with your ability to get you writing out in the world. Currently, do to the WOKE bullshit a lot of genres are now more gender and sex restrictive than before. The last four years of you are a heterosexual male you are having a near impossible time getting your books published in sci Fi and fantasy. These genre are pushing out males and heterosexual fiction for LGBQ and feminist writers.The last two years the sci Fi convention the puts on The Nova Awards have ignored male writers for awards and even panels at the convention.
So, just letting you know that if you are writing just for writing and don't expect publishing contracts, awards, or money you do fine. But if you want more than coffee money then good luck there. Just giving you the hard truth.