Not that I know anything at all about this subject, mind you.
Just watched (for the umpteenth time) Julie & Julia, and it is like picking a scab: Gee, since it's so easy to get an agent /slash/ book contract, why doesn't everybody start a clever blog? The first time I saw the movie, my mother's elbow made a permanent impression on my rib cage when all the offers started coming in from people interested in Julie's blog - "See, that's all you have to do."
But honestly, most film treatments of the writer's life are like this. They're fairy tales, dressed up in modern clothing. As I've said before, the writing is easier than the selling. And the writing takes years (if you have to have a day job)...and the selling takes longer, unless you are incredibly lucky.
I say lucky because I don't think talent has much to do with it. I think that the publishing industry is just as susceptible to fads (mob behavior) as the general public. Maybe more so, even. For a period of several years, the only literary fiction being published was that written by people with a definite ethnic perspective. And then we went through a phase where everything (even fiction) was a memoir. Or wait, was it the memoirs that were fiction? Hard to keep track - but harder still to try and sell a mainstream novel. And don't get me started on vampires and zombies.
It's hard, folks. And I guess that's the way it is...but while the publishing industry goes through some seismic changes, let's not forget that companies such as iuniverse help the starving artist get her work out in the marketplace. Now if only an agent would take a look at it...
