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Mogui,
Writing is quite the viable occupation. However, it's not necessarily the 'wealth-generating' occupation - for most authors - that it has been portrayed in so many movies and TV shows. If you ask John Ringo, David Weber and Eric Flint - all of whom have been writing pre-ebook and post-ebook - they'll tell you that while ebook sales haven't made them 'wealthy', having ebook versions out there *have* acted as advertisement for their printed works. Needless to say, all these authors have their works released sans DRM.
If you want to look for why authors haven't been getting rich from ebook sales, place the blame squarely where it belongs - on the backs of the same publishers who fail, time and again to fully market many of their mid-list authors and who, as far as ebooks are concerned, put more effort into making as difficult as possible for the end customers to enjoy the ebooks than into generating customer awareness of new releases.
Yet you take the side of the publishers with all this 'universal DRM' garbage - and wonder why writing isn't a 'viable vocation'. Hello! Free marketplace here to tell you that when your own publishers shaft you on marketing, product pricing and ease of access by your putative customers, you're going to have crappy sales figures.
And, as I have discovered for myself, (being a writer - but not a *published* novelist/author as only my non-fiction has reached print) readers want *interesting* stories, but with the plethora of works being released each *MONTH* it is hard for them to find out about *new* authors if they don't hear about them. Plus, as we're so often told in the job-seeking and dating processes - FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT! If I don't grab their attention with my very first novel, many readers won't come back for seconds.
Derek
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