This article proves what all of us semi-successful authors have been thinking for years: that the industrial-entertainment complex has gutted and spat upon the rotting corpse of the publishing industry. Jane Austen Doe, a comforting thought for you: I had my first play published when I was 18 years old by Samuel French; 16 years later my first novel is ranked 879,278 on Amazon. I have given up the dream of working as a playwright (or novelist) full time. You cannot survive at that game unless you are Nicholas "Romance Me Hard" Sparks. Happily, I have found a job that combines everything I love about writing and the arts. I will write my books and plays in my spare time. And these works will be completely untainted because I will not be tailoring them for shit-wit editors or venal publishers. Revel in your work. Take joy in your writing. Quit fighting the bastards. They'll be hoisted by their own petards.

-- Noble Smith

Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. The poor disgruntled midlist author who tells his/her story here doesn't know how lucky he/she is to be published by the mainstream for substantial advances. I have four books out -- one highly praised by the New York Times and one with three award nominations, winning one. I don't get advances. I'd drool over $3,000 in upfront money. My offer to your midlist author -- let's change places. Midlist? My neck is craning up.

-- G. Miki Hayden

I am an editor at a major New York publishing house (I work at one of the 15 imprints of the giant publishing conglomerate mentioned in the article). I have edited many authors like Jane Austen Doe. I have fallen in love with books and had my heart broken when they failed to earn out their advances or find the audience they deserved. I have sat through hours and hours of agonizing phone calls explaining why the books didn't sell, why Barnes & Noble didn't take more copies, why we aren't picking up the author's second book. As someone who has worked with many writers like Jane Austen Doe, I feel her pain. However, she is right to realize how lucky she is. Many talented writers will never get anywhere near the amount of advance money she does.

It should be noted that I have also launched the careers of "nobody" authors -- no agent, no "platform," no previous experience in publishing -- who have gone on to become very successful, including an author whose third book was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller last year. Publishing, like any other kind of artistic pursuit, is a crapshoot. Some geniuses are recognized in their lifetimes. Some are not. Some people of minimal talent will be rewarded because they have a certain something that appeals to readers. But of the dozens of authors I've published in my career, only about five of them live entirely on the money they earn by publishing their books. Everyone else freelances, has a day job, or has a spouse with a day job.

It is also worth noting, for the record, that throughout the history of the written word, only a very lucky few have earned their living by publishing alone. Most have day jobs or other sources of income. Chaucer worked as a civil servant. Shakespeare sought out patrons to support his writing, and acted and managed an acting company. Jane Austen, the Brontës and many other women writers may have earned money from their books, but they were primarily supported by their families. Dickens made a handsome living, but he wrote serials for a penny a word and was perhaps the most commercially minded author to ever pick up a pen. Faulkner and Fitzgerald paid the bills -- especially the ones from the liquor store -- by writing for Hollywood. And then there are the legions of gifted published authors who have teaching posts, are writers in residence at universities, write for movies or magazines or ad agencies, and otherwise support themselves by their creativity, but not by the advances they earn from publishers.

The very talented always feel that they should be paid accordingly -- big talent, big advance, big sales It would be nice if all writers could be Stephen King or Danielle Steel and could get rich by publishing. But that will never happen. Publishers don't get rich by publishing. Most authors, even the talented ones who get contracts from publishers, won't get rich by publishing. My advice to authors out there: Adjust your expectations accordingly.

And for God's sake, quit calling up your ranking on Amazon, and don't gnash your teeth over the Times Book Review. No matter what you do in life, someone else will be more successful than you, even if they don't deserve to be. Fretting about it won't push them down or lift you up.

-- The Editor Who Still Loves You

When Doe writes that she was paid less than $40K for "three years' work," are we to assume that she doesn't have another, concurrent form of employment? It can't have escaped her notice that many (if not most) of the great novels of the past century were written by authors who maintained a second profession: doctors, lawyers, teachers. God forbid a talented but uncommercial writer should have to dirty her hands with something like college teaching!

Particularly irritating was the "true life" anecdote about the poor midlist writer whose work wasn't recognized by a stranger on an airplane. I'm boggled. Is this story meant to pluck at our heartstrings? Raise our hackles? News flash, Doe: the fact that you and your self-obsessed friends are not as famous as you'd like to be is not a matter crying out for our concern. That's not to say that serious readers shouldn't be deeply concerned about the sorry state of independent bookselling in America. But readers value independent bookstores for the diversity of voices they allow -- not because they help to celebrate a different group of superstar authors.

If declining paychecks keep Doe from writing, that's her business. This article suggests to me that her voice is one I can do without.

-- John Updike Doe

Try being a recording artist. You need $75,000 just to make the record, and then try to find a label in 2004 who'll even begin to recoup that cost if you're not high rotation lap-dancing on MTV.

The last five artists using the studio where I last worked all re-mortgaged their houses to make their records. The Titanic has plenty of deck chairs to rearrange -- but the floor space to rearrange them on continues to shrink.

-- David Knopfler

As Kay Kyser once said, this article was "a beautiful thought, beautifully expressed." No modern snarkiness. Contained a therapeutic dose of self-pity but also a good amount of concern for other writers and writing in general. I wish Ms. Doe the best of fortune in writing more and fulfilling more of those dreams.

-- Matthew Rouge

In Jane Austen Doe's list of five things you can do to help midlist authors, I am amazed that she does not mention public libraries. I select all the adult books for a midsize public library system of 10 libraries and a bookmobile. And I buy midlist authors. Most if not all public libraries have a method by which customers can recommend titles for purchase. If you've read an author you like, ask your public library to consider buying that book. Or buy a copy and donate it -- then other people can discover the authors you love. Many public libraries are having their book budgets cut, which makes it even harder to keep midlist authors afloat. Lobby for an increased book budget at your local library! I firmly believe that public libraries are any author's best ally -- don't overlook us.

-- Terri Works

I work at a major publishing house, and I am outraged by your article -- not because it blew the lid off my company's practices, which I witness every day, but because you seem to place the blame for your situation squarely on the publishers. Our company is entirely beholden to mega-chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders. In fact, we consider canceling publication of a title if it isn't picked up by one or both of those retailers. It's commonplace for us to redesign book covers at the whim of a national-chain buyer. If they suggest they might buy a certain type of book, we rush it into press.

The kind of corporate consolidation you refer to is taking place in every industry, and the problem extends far beyond midlist authors and independent bookstores. The problem is capitalism. When decisions are dictated by the market, it's no wonder that most bestsellers are trash. I have yet to meet a person who feels good about publishing mass-market smut, but it allows us to finance books we feel passionate about, books that should be in the marketplace based on their literary merit alone. Books like yours.

-- Name withheld

There's so much wrong with Jane Austen Doe's assessment of the publishing industry that it's hard to know where to start. Let's start with the obvious: Here's a woman who deems her one modestly profitable and critically successful book a failure because it didn't give her the wealth she very clearly feels entitled to. That's the level of narcissism we're dealing with here.

So why should I care about Doe's problems? Because, according to Doe, having midlist authors around is good for the soul. Really? Last time I checked there were plenty of books around, and plenty of midlist authors too for that matter. Maybe they're not all asking for six-figure advances, and maybe they actually have to work an odd job or two to make ends meet, but they're out there. So I think my soul may just survive, with or without Doe's help. But preferably without, since I can't help but notice that in this scenario the health of my soul seems directly proportional to the size of her checking balance.

-- Roger Turnau

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