Back in the Game

Not that I was ever really out of the game, but by way of a quick update, the manuscript that I've been chronicling the production of here has not only been completed, but is now in the hands of beta readers and editors alike.  In addition, I've been preparing to begin writing a new book, my fourth, and it's a novel that will mark a certain departure for me stylistically.  This new one is completely under wraps, however, and probably won't get mentioned here again for quite some time.  Shhh!

But this puts me in the first-time position of being in both post and pre-production on two separate novels, and when I factor in the calendar event of my two-year sober point back on the 9^th of this month, never before have I felt so back in the game.  My first two books had been written, re-written, and then re-written again and again by the time I made the haphazard decision of self-publishing.  Once again, I don't recommend it, even though back when I did it -- and I'm only going back to 2001 on the first novel -- self-publishing meant that a publisher would actually print your book cover to cover on a "print-on-demand" basis.  Nowadays, eBook publishing has put a nice little dent in the business model for both vanity presses and traditional publishers alike, being that it seems that self-published eBooks are actually making money for their authors.  I really don't know that this new trend has loosened the grip on the very secured route of traditional publishing.  That is, has the process for getting a manuscript through the system, from editor to agent to publisher gotten any easier simply because of competition with the growing online industry?

I suppose I'm going to find out, because the thought of self-publishing online or in any other format again is an absolute last resort for me at this stage of the game.  It's all or nothing.  Either way, someone has to write the books, right?