A Reason For Why Authors Are Not Finding Success In Publishing

I wanted to call this a theory but I think I will stick to a hypothesis. Still, I do think there is a lot of merit for what I am about to say.

I recently read an article (again) and the decline in the publishing industry for authors. More and more "authors" (NOTE: I am using Authors in quotes because they call themselves this, not that they are authors) are struggling and more and more are finding that breaking into the business is, in their words, "nearly impossible." These authors go on and on about the business strategies of the publishers, the stupidity of the book sellers and the fact that agents are supposedly only the "gate-keepers" to this privileged world of publishing." While these ideas might have a couple of examples, I do not think that is the real issue.

I have written here that one factor I do argue about the sales decline stems from the lack of readership and the rise of binge watching on Netflix, Hulu and the sort. People just don't want to read. But that is not something that, I believe, is getting in the way of authors not making it into the business.

So what is it you ask?

Sorry to say this, but I do believe the intelligence of the author population is seriously declining.

Don't take this the wrong way. I do believe authors have a lot of great intentions, but the submissions I see (and other agents and editors are seeing) tend to show a serious lack of education in the business, the writing craft, or the basic skills of research and knowing how to submit projects.

Over the weekend, I played serious catch up of submissions and found that nearly 70%+ of the submissions were for projects that A) were not what I acquired; B) the premise would never even sell if self-published, or C) the proposals/stories/queries were far from market ready. We literally have a population of "authors" who have absolutely no clue what they are doing?

It seems that so many "authors" are just sitting down typing what they call a novel and attempt to sell it. And yet, these same authors find failure at every turn. Eventually, they think that the secret to publishing might be to join a writing group. Good start, but now they are with other authors who have found the same lack of success and proceed to share their "conspiracy theories" justifying why their brilliant stories were rejected. (Note: These stories were labeled "brilliant" by their families and best friends).

I have said this before and I will say it again. Being an author is a job. It is a business. It is just like any other career. Before we enter any career, we go to school, we become educated, we get a degree or two, we have internships, we apprentice, we take classes from "accredited" schools. The key is, we become educated BEFORE we dive into a career.

And I am sorry to say this, but the vast majority of "authors" will continue to find a lack of success until they choose the path of education.