Why do people who hardly read books think they can be authors?

[hunter]

7. Anyone can write and I don't think that's a bad thing.

The greater problem today is finding authors I enjoy reading, even from established publishers. Maybe especially from established publishers.

Sometimes it seems I'm as likely to find fiction I enjoy on a fan site as I am on a New York Times best seller list. I've found enjoyable books here on DU, free epubs and amazon books recommended by friends of the authors.

Before computers and word processing my mom was a world-class typist and proofreader. She's also a published author. Writing books was never her day job, which was usually advertising, but she can write.

My mom is a little old retired lady now, living with my dad in one of the world's remote places. Her arthritis has slowed her down a bit, but sometimes she'll work for friends. When I was a kid I remember my mom transcribing audio tapes without much pause. She could turn chicken scratches on a yellow pad into polished manuscripts. People would pay her well for this work but most of the writing she worked with was crap. Crappy Hollywood scripts, crappy autobiographies, crappy pornographic novels, crappy academic papers for crappy academic journals...

Theodore Sturgeon was right.

My personal perspective is that writing ought to be encouraged. As with many arts it's an activity with low environmental impacts. With a generous welfare system, with free education, we will discover those artists who are truly brilliant while keeping the hacks out of trouble.

The problem today is not terrible writers, the creators of crap, the problem today is sorting the gems from the bullshit, and keeping the starving artists out of trouble.