the evolution of publishing

I thought, write a good book, send it off to the publisher in the Yellow Pages with the catchiest ad, wait a week or two for the phone call. Wait another week or two for a big fat cheque. Another week and the book hits the shelves, and another week or two for the royalty cheques to start rolling in, and finally that which all authors crave. The bigger, fatter cheque and the commission for five more books.

Easy.

Imagine my surprise that apparently it doesn't quite work that way. At least, not in the real world. Maybe it works that way for Paul Sheldon, but it seems very few authors have such an easy road.

Imagine my disappointment, too, then as it slowly became clear that:

even if your pitch to the publisher/agent gets read (highly unlikely) the chances are pretty high it will still go straight into the trash (electronic or actual);

even if the eighteenth publisher/agent to read your query is vaguley interested in your novel, the query will probably still go in the trash;

even if they are interested enough to actually contact you about your novel, it's highly unlikely they will actually be interested in your novel once they look at it;

even if they are interested enough to read the whole thing, the chances of it getting read and printed and marketed are pretty slim;

even if it gets read and printed and marketed (most of which you have to do yourself) the chances of getting big fat cheques are practically nil (17% of the shelf price is optimistic), and it's TWO YEARS between that first query and a launch;

and don't hold your breath on getting the bigger fatter cheques, or the commission.

So tell me again, why do we do it?