You can't be admitted to the ranks of writers of importance unless you have sales.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
People have expectations of what you are as a writer. And writers, on the whole, don't like to be classified.
Look at the scope of writers who sell stuff. I'm at the very top of the power curve in terms of sales.
A writer can't afford to just focus on writing and leave marketing aside in today's competitive market.
Quite a lot is required of writers these days in terms of, if not promoting the work, then being a representative of the work. It's a difficult thing, really.
But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing.
Writing careers are short. For every 100 writers, 99 never get published. Of those who do, only one in every hundred gets a career out of it, so I count myself as immensely privileged.
You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer.
Writers are so important.
All writers I know are readers first and foremost, and that's why you become a writer.
Writers are essential. Readers are essential. Publishers are not.