A PSEUDONYMOUS “Jane Austen Doe” has supplied Salon with a rather standard complaint about the trying times facing authors of non-bestseller books. It’s nothing I haven’t heard all my adult life; yet I’m re-entering the book biz this month.

Why? (Besides the whole quixotic bravery/foolishness of it all)?

Because I believe things don’t have do be as darned bleak as Doe says they are.

I believe in independent publishing. I believe in the success (within ups and downs) of Fantagraphics, McSweeney’s, Cometbus, and the like. So-called “midlist” books perhaps shouldn’t be marketed by conglomerate publishers, if the conglomerate publishers no longer know how to market them. They should be marketed by those who know how to nurture and build niche audiences for them.