I confess, I occasionally fantasize about writing a book which completely panders to an audience just for fame and money. However, will the Faustian bargain result in having to discard my personal pleasure in storytelling, can I have it both ways. We all know of big best selling books we consider crap and are perhaps a bit jealous. I jokingly threaten my family about “doing it” one day.

Well, upon reflection, there have been some wonderful and noted authors who began by writing ‘junk.’ Raymond Chandler and John O’hara come to mind. Even Jacqueline Susan and Harold Robbins, while not exactly respected, are acknowledged for writing some of the best guilty pleasures around.

I want to discuss the conflict between struggling as a starving artist and selling out. We writers who strive to be full-time authors must make decisions each day about how to develop our art and market our…