kiddie preen

"Charles Dickens Costume" from: Victorian School

"Over the past five years, print-on-demand technology and a growing number of self-publishing companies whose books can be sold online have inspired writers of all ages to bypass the traditional gatekeeping system for determining who can call himself a 'published author.'
     They include hundreds of children and teenagers who are self-publishing books each year — a growing corner of the book world that raises as many questions about parenting as it does about publishing.
     Critics say it is wonderful to start writing at a young age, but worry that self-publishing sends the wrong message. [...]
     'What’s next?' asked the novelist Tom Robbins. 'Kiddie architects, juvenile dentists, 11-year-old rocket scientists? Any parent who thinks that the crafting of engrossing, meaningful, publishable fiction requires less talent and experience than designing a house, extracting a wisdom tooth, or supervising a lunar probe is, frankly, delusional. There are no prodigies in literature,' Mr. Robbins said. 'Literature requires experience, in a way that mathematics and music do not.'"
— Elissa Gootman, The New York Times
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