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Originally Posted by gmw
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None of which changes the fact that anyone that takes up writing fiction expecting to make a living from it has obviously not done much research - like maybe five minutes with Google. Sure some people make it that far, but it's not something you can expect, just something you can try and see how it comes out - pretty much like anyone else that tries to run their own business.
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Yep, it's pretty much always been that way. The biggest difference now is that in the past, most would be authors were never published. Now they can self publish rather easily (yes, I know that vanity publishers have been around for a long while, but that was pretty expensive).
I suspect that what happens is people read the stories about authors making it big (either traditional or self published) and identifies with them rather than the 99% who sell books to their family and friends and that's about it. Not much different than the kids who think that they are going to make it in pro sports, or people who expect to win the lottery.
Not saying that people shouldn't go for it, especially if they enjoy writing, but as the advise to budding comedians goes - Don't give up your day job, at least not until you have a successful book or two.