I was chatting with fellow writer Lawrence Schimel a couple of weeks ago about the crisis. Publishers are cutting jobs left and right, and everyone is in a panic. He's much more hooked into the news than I am, having published dozens of books and knowing practically everyone in the industry. He got his first professional publication while he was still in high school! Anyway, after exchanging grim tales of publishers cutting staff and bookstores going out of business, we changed the topic to our current and future projects.
It took me a minute to realize that the second part of our conversation was occuring like the first part hadn't happened. We were both still getting work, both pitching to publishers, and both getting paid. Perhaps we haven't felt the crisis yet because we are both established writers, but it seems to me that although publishers are firing staff, they are still buying product for the simple reason that they need something to sell. The freelancers may be in a better position than the clock punchers. I see no indication that I will get less work in the near future, but I do expect that my books may not be edited or laid out so carefully as the reduced staffs struggle to do the same amount of work with fewer people.
The result of our discussion was simple: both of us are writers, and we're not going to stop writing because the economy has taken a downturn. In fact, it may encourage us to write more just to assure our heads remain above water.
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