I've always felt writing is an art. Publishing is a business. I felt strongly if I was going to write, I would write what I wanted to, and if the 'market' didn't respond, there was nothing I could really do about it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I want my writing to reach people. I don't write for a market. I write from my heart, something that appeals to me. The marketing, segmenting etc., can be done by your publisher, not you.
A writer can't afford to just focus on writing and leave marketing aside in today's competitive market.
If you want to be a writer, you write. Everybody wants to get published. You gotta play your long game.
Publishing in a way doesn't have a lot to do with writing, and writing doesn't have a lot to do with publishing.
I really think that if there's any one enemy to human creativity, especially creative writing, its self-consciousness. And if you have one eye on the mirror to see how you're doing, you're not doing it as well as you can. Don't think about publishing, don't think about editors, don't think about marketplace.
Writing wasn't about making money. I wanted to find fulfillment in writing and telling stories, and that's what's driven me.
Writing is work. It takes a lot of contemplation, concentration, and out-and-out sweat. People tend to romanticize it, that somehow your work appears by benefit of some mystical external force. In reality, to be a writer, you have to sit down and write. It's work, and often it's hard work.
I feel that if you made your writing too contrived to meet the market, it wouldn't be any good.
Writing is my job. I don't think of it as art.
I enjoy writing. Publishing... not so much. I've been lucky to work with some very talented people in the publishing world, and the print industry has allowed me to write full time.