Have you any idea how much trouble I have to go to, just to get my work published? Ignore the toil I have to go to afterwards, once I physically have books, I’m talking about the process that starts with a completed manuscript and ends with a pile of nicely printed books.

Take my last venture. Between ourselves it did occur to me that prose should be easier to publish than poetry. Let us be brutally frank, one publishes poetry because at some point it has to be done. To be a poet one has to point to some published work. Without this badge of accomplishment, the poet is merely another entertainer. Indeed you are distinguished solely by the fact you appeal to the snobbery of those who would doubtless prefer to listen to some under-dressed young lady singing, or to applaud an overly familiar ‘gentleman’ telling fart jokes.

But…