Recently I’ve been reading emails from long-time writers who are stepping back from writing. Their reasons vary. Some, like me, simply haven’t come up with a new idea that makes them want to spend hours/days/sometimes years writing a story. Some have health problems that are preventing them from sitting at a computer for hours. Some have family problems that require their time.

Many of these writers are people I’ve known for years, and maybe that’s part of the problem…we’re getting old. At least older. We’ve been around when publishers did most of the promotion, set up book tours, and gave their authors gifts. I still have the glass apple Harlequin sent to promote their NEW Temptation line. (My romance First Impressions was the giveaway book for that line.)  We were being published when there were lots of small, independent bookstores, stores we could visit or send promotional material to. There used to be 30 distributors across the country. Authors wooed them with goodies and visits so the drivers knew them personally. Now there are two National distributors. There were five major publishers and numerous midsize publishers. Now, I think the number is down to three major publishing houses with many of those midsize publishers now under the umbrella of the big three. Back then traditional publishing was the only way you wanted to be published. Book stores and libraries didn’t want to handle self-published books, and writers didn’t want to pay the pay-to-publish companies.

Self-publishing has been wonderful for writers, it’s given an outlet to many who write books that don’t fit neatly into the categories the major publishing houses are looking for, but self-publishing has also created an avalanche of new books. According to Michael Castleman’s article in the Spring-Summer issue of The Authors Guild Bulletin book releases now average 2 million annually. In Castleman’s article, he states that Fordham University professor Albert Greco estimates that “79 percent of new releases—four out of five—sell fewer than 100 copies. Only 6 percent sell 1,000.”

If you thought writing (and publishing) a book would make you rich, think again.

I’m going to miss seeing new releases from writers I’ve read for years, but if they’re like me, even if they think they’ve stopped writing, the ideas will keep popping up, teasing them to write something down. If I see or hear something on the TV that catches my interest, the ideas simply flow. What if? Those thoughts lead to possible plots, interesting characters, or situations. I’m hoping, once whatever has caused my long-time favorite writer to stop writing is resolved and I’ll again hear she or he has a new book out. If that doesn’t happen, I thank them for all the wonderful books they have written.