Would I stand a better chance at recognition and profit if I go to professional publishing?

Question

A year or two ago I was leaning towards self-publishing, mostly to have more creative freedom over my work, but with how the market is so over satuated with books, I feel deterred because I see no way that anything I put out would actually get noticed. Also, I have no way to advertise myself. I have no social life, and I'm not active on any social media account. And I really have no life in general.

Now I'm thinking going through a publisher may be a wiser idea. I have no way to draw notice to myself, but at the same time I don't know if I could even do that since well no one stands to get any significant profit out of this anyway. Do publishers even accept manuscripts anymore, when writing is worth pretty much nothing?

Note that I was registered to a writing forum a short time ago, that was full of trolls. They claimed there's no way to make even a penny on writing anymore, so you may as well just be doing it for free. I get you shouldn't be in this for the money, but in our modern world do you really think I have the time to waste doing something that will give me no profit in return? I do need to eat and pay taxes here. Even if its not enough to live off of, I don't see much point in wasting time on something when I could be spending that time keeping my fridge less empty.

Oh, and I was planning on writing a fantasy novel. The people on that forum told me that my exposure to tabletop games permanently corrupted me and therefore there was no way I could ever right anything decent, ever. Though honestly, I quit more because I see fantasy as horribly over done anyway. Besides, I've grown to see fantasy (or at least rpg fantasy settings like D&D, which I've never played funny enough) as racist anyway. Now I'm trying to write a superhero story, since well honestly I've read far more comics than I have fantasy novels. Besides, I was hoping that writing in a more niche genre like that could help at least get my stuff noticed. Though I hear there's a lot of other people doing the same thing, which makes it all kind of pointless.

I feel like this is all just a waste of time. And no, I don't really get joy out of writing. Or anything. Period. So don't tell me to go do something I actually enjoy. If I did only what I enjoyed, I would do nothing at all.

Answer 1

In general, there is no path to success in any field that doesn't require hard work, persistence and initiative. Successful self-publishers are usually wonderful self-promoters, which seems unlikely to be your particular strength just based on what you have told us.

Some people do very well as writers, but it definitely is not a career for people who want to sit back and watch the money roll in (if you discover that career, do let the rest of us know!). Some successful writers are insanely prolific, like Stephen King. Others, like Richard Florida, use their books as platforms for speaking engagements and consulting work. Others, like Richard Paul Evans, are relentlessly self promoting. And those whose work succeeds on its own sheer merits are generally those who have put their entire lives into their work, and have years of struggle and rejected manuscripts to show for it.

However, given your self-description as someone with "no life," what do you have to lose by devoting yourself wholeheartedly to something? Anything you succeed at will take hard work and sacrifice. If you enjoy fantasy, why not write it? You can live in your own fantasy world full-time... or at least part-time. You're arguably in a better place in life for the often intensely solitary work of writing than someone with a fuller social calendar or more responsibilities. As far as whether it's all been done before --it's ALL been done before, the question is can you do it in a new and better way?