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Not exactly. I have some voracious readers in my family, but none of them ever tried to publish themselves (despite, in my sister's case, winning an award for a novella written as schoolwork).

The thing is that we want to read the same books. And it's not just about quality. It sucks to be the only one to enjoy a great book, to stand there feeling like you're a Star Trek nerd trying to explain your obsession to a group of rural Siberians.

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That’s the problem. Literary culture requires nucleation—for shared discussion and to finance projects. But the real talent differences are not steep enough to justify it. I I said my offline identity there is a chance you would recognize me and, while obscure, I actually am a top 1% writer. But there have to be thousands of obscure figures who are just as good and who are even more invisible.

Meanwhile, the talentless jokers who run the industry continue to promote mediocrity, and the world slowly loses readers.

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