The Business of Publishing

     Writing is an art form, publishing is a business. There is no business I know of where you get all of what you would like all the time. Even those in business for themselves must compromise with clients. If you want to write for money, if you want your writing to be read, you must compromise with editors, agents and the public. Nothing comes out right for even the best of us the first time around. Even Mark Twain had an editor.
     Writers must disengage emotionally and look at writing as a product. Otherwise, they'll be writing for themselves. You can do it all yourself, the writing, the editing, the publishing, the marketing, but I don't recommend it. The road will be longer for you because you will come up against reviewers and readers who won’t hesitate to tell you your work is unpolished and amateurish. It takes a lot more effort to change that image than it does to do it right from the beginning. Exposure to a critique group is much safer and easier than exposure to a reader or reviewer who has ordered your book online and feels compelled to shred it. Do yourself the favors of attending writing classes and conferences and finding people to meet with regularly who genuinely want constructive criticism, ie. a critique group. You won’t regret it.