'One of the things no-one ever told me to expect as a professional writer was how many conversations about publishing are deeply Melancholy. We hear over and over again how X market is depressed, or Y just isn't selling any more, or how no-one's buying Z in this economy. Asking someone at an industry event how they are can be a fraught experience, because the state of the industry and the state of the individual get so frequently confused. "How are you going?' I remember casually asking someone at a professional conference once, to which I received the very un-casual reply, 'I'm a failed author - I can barely sell a single book.' (Foreword introduction)
