It is pointless to complain about the publishing industry. At best, people will just think it's sour grapes.

I'm writing something that I think is pretty good. I believe in a fair world it would be considered. As it happens, I actually have someone to send it to who will probably take a look at it.

Lucky, that.

My guess is that I'll have about three tries with this guy before I strike out, and I've already got one strike. But, really, if this book doesn't fit the bill, I'm not sure what will. It's at the higher limits of my capabilities.

The publishing industry as a whole contracted just as the tsunami of new books and authors struck. So the volume of books went elsewhere, to self-publishing, to Amazon, to smaller hybrid publishers. Which would be fine if it wasn't so bloody difficult to get noticed.

Weirdly, its the practical ease of writing and producing and communicating books that is mostly responsible for this in my eyes. When I was writing in the early '80's the physical process of writing a book was intimidating in itself, never mind the usual difficulty of creation. 

Anyway, I think it takes herculean effort, or pure luck, to stand out in this tsunami, but that most of us will just get washed away in the tide. Lots of advice out there on how to break through, in both the traditional and non-traditional avenues, but most of it is pure bullshit.

I just put blinders on and keep on trudging ahead, keep on writing, knowing that at the very least there is the ability to put my books online. Whether I want to try to scale the walls of traditional publishers, or even small indy publishers, is a future question for now. I've got two books coming out from publishers who have made the step into mass distribution. That will be 15 books that I've sold, to 5 different publishers.

Which sounds great, but it's a good thing I still own a bookstore if I want to eat.

I've done my part.

I'll probably publish "The Last Fedora" myself in the spring, and I've still got a couple shots at producing a thriller worth publishing.

If all this strikes out, I'm not going to be too hard on myself. It's just the way this industry has shaken out and it's no one's fault.