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[Flying Dice]

That's massively based on an opinion, Asea.

Not particularly. All you need to be able to do to get published is write one of the following:

Spoiler: In which Flying Dice fucking hates that these incompetent assholes get published (click to show/hide)

1. Smut. Dirty, filthy, poorly-written smut to fill up supermarkets and the romance section.

2. "Urban fantasy" to WASTE ALL THE GORRAM SHELF SPACE IN SF/F and bait in teenagers who are hot for more vampire-on-werewolf-on-ghost-on-zombie-on-ghoul-on-whatthefuckever action but don't want to read out and out smut.

3. Yet another fucking terrible knockoff of the Zombie Survival Guide or World War Z. As if those were particularly remarkable for anything other than being new.

4. Travel back in time to the '40s and write for a pulp magazine. Don't matter which one, any of them will print anything.

5. A tie-in novel. Either another shit Star Trek thing, another shit Star Wars thing, or another shit 40K thing.

6. Anything for the "humor" section. You haven't known success until your book is sitting between a twenty year old Garfield flipbook and yet another toilet-sitting factbook full of misinformation.

7. Mil-SF. Start with deep and abiding buttlust admiration for 'Murrican independent men what don't need no gubbment liberals, toss in some evil aliums, add a few worshipful friendly-but-inferior aliums who need their dose of HFY, and spice with power armor. If you go two scenes without anything being shot or any strawmen political you're doing it wrong.

8. Be like Brandon Sanderson and write the same book two dozen times, pausing only to change the conceit of the magic system and the names of the male lead, female lead, and ebul male villain.

9. Anything about steampunk (just glue some gears on it).

10. Any bland fantasy with the cover art done by that one guy who does the mostly-photorealistic people, who are inevitably either Dude In Black Hooded Cloak With Knives or Half-Naked Woman Walking Through A Place.

11. Be like Terry Goodkind and write tens of thousands of words of ethical manifesto and then paint rough outlines of characters over the top.

12. Any grimderp shit "inspired" by 40K or Warhammer Fantasy, especially if it has cover art by that one guy who does a bunch of characters which are either Dramatically Posed Grimdark People Fightan in Power Armor or Dramatically Posed Grimdark People Fightan in Armor.

13. Anything based on D&D. Especially if it's got a fucking Sue in it. R.A. Salvatore gets a pass because he did it first.

14. Anything that has cover art done by that one guy who did all of the covers for the nice Ender book reprints or that one guy's whole series of cash-ins after Old Man's War. Seriously, just goes to show that you can get hired in the industry for drawing like shit as well as writing like shit.

15. Anything which, if opened to a random page, will have at least eight place/thing names or words on that page which are not plain English and require you to read the book to understand.

16. Anything which can be summarized in the blurb on the back as something roughly equivalent to a hastily assembled TTRP campaign but isn't actually a novelized campaign transcript.

17. I could go on...No, seriously, that was literally just shit that I see in SF&F during casual browsing.

I don't just read so much fanfiction because it's about series I know I like, or because it's free ($8.00 for a crappy paperback that falls apart after a couple years, though, because damn), but also because if you're a tiny bit discerning the quality both mechanical and in terms of plotting and characterization is about on par with what is published, and it's considerably easier to find the authors who are a joy to read.

[Aseaheru]

That's massively based on an opinion, Asea.

Everything is an opinion.
For instance, some people are of the opinion that things like Twilight and 50 Shades are amazingly good.

Also, Dice, there are a few good examples of 7, but this was one of the bad ones... The really bad ones.

[Putnam]

does r.a. salvatore really get a pass though

[Orange Wizard]

...

I actually enjoyed Terry Goodkind's books.

I was ~twelve at the time, though, so draw your own conclusions.

[Yoink]

I have the same thing with Raymond Feist's books.
When I was a kid I loved 'em, then when I got older and kept religiously reading everything he put out I thought, 'hang on, isn't this basically the same plot as the last book? And the book before that?' And then I kinda got tired of him.

Current WTF: 8 shots and I finally feel ready to leave the house. Either this liquor is weaker than usual, my alcohol tolerance has increased somewhat, or the place I live in is just really fucking scary. Especially in this outfit.

[Skyrunner]

But I liked the original 3 Starcraft tie-in novels..

(Liberty Manifesto and Speed of Darkness. Not so much Shadow of the Xel'Naga)

also, wouldn't Tolkein's books technically have 8 words you would need to have read the book to understand on one page? Or the Culture series?

[Putnam]

From the Progress Quest backstory:

Since time before time the Vorlak had held the Crosshutch at Thraeskamp. The ancient reckoning held that the Five Skrelkampi (and their Truebine) would return when the great Trond-feast could be held anew and the Belnap reunited. But this legend became lost to all but the Papperboxen at Horbug. One of their own was Yallow the Speldrig, who found an unlikely pupil in Torbole Understeady, the discarded illigitimate waif of Wainthane Topknox, whom Yallow renamed Grumdrig and began to school as a boar-pulmet's apprentice. ...And, as it was said by some, in aberdoxy.
As our story opens young Grumdrig has returned to Horbug following a trying stint in Spilwaer Spond where his laconic disposition and fertile mind bred a series of misadventures which had landed him outside the good graces of the Jordref there, Welham, who had secretly begun a long term course of slow but disaccomodating illpeel in the lad's morning fanwael. Meanwhile, though scarce a tuft of mansefur had yet made its appearance on the boy's manssach, a number of visiting Roilwachhs have begun to exhibit a discreet and seemingly inexplicable interest in the boy. Strange indeed, as he would not reach his krouchensterm for another harvest or more. And when Grumdrig's resiliant compatriot Paedri appears at Grumdrig's lochnotat with a Scrolstamp from the old Speldrig, a woozy foreboding feeling rises from his young gut...

[Darvi]

does r.a. salvatore really get a pass though

He played reverse-edgy drow rangers before it was cool!

I also happened to like the Dark Elf Trilogy, but since I  certifiably have no taste that means nothing.

[Tiruin]

Picked up a book, read the first page, and realized that I write better crap than a apparently best selling author.
[...]

Err, 'best selling' = 'sells a lot', to put it really bluntly. It does not necessarily reflect on the quality of what you're reading (because in that case, it should...at least how I see it, actually give that idea instead of having it implied...which was what I originally inferred with 'bestsellers' :I)
I mean, 50 Shades was a best seller. *cough* >_>

There are books which, selling quantity aside, have very great degrees of quality in them but are not receiving enough love by the populace. 'Gem in the rough' and all...err pertaining to selling instead of unpolished quality.

Edit: This is my related WTF.

[Jopax]

So after the whole destroying shit in a museum ISIS has managed to top themselves again. This time they looted and the bulldozed the remains of Nimrud, a city some 3k years old, built by the Assyrians.

It's like they want to get bombed by everyone on earth.

[Xantalos]

Given that they've declared a state of war on ... everyone, they kinda are.

[Lightningfalcon]

Picked up a book, read the first page, and realized that I write better crap than a apparently best selling author.
[...]

Err, 'best selling' = 'sells a lot', to put it really bluntly. It does not necessarily reflect on the quality of what you're reading (because in that case, it should...at least how I see it, actually give that idea instead of having it implied...which was what I originally inferred with 'bestsellers' :I)
I mean, 50 Shades was a best seller. *cough* >_>

Lately I'm been reading almost nothing but fanfiction.  I recently tried to get back into actual literature.  WTF is wrong with the world when random stories on the internet have better grammar, pacing, and character development then published stuff. 

[Dutchling]

are you saying good fanfiction is better than bad not fanfiction

i fail to see how that is weird

[Sergarr]

Today I learned from an American Nuclear Physicist that Americans are forced to beg for Russian/Indians/Chinese to test their theories in practice because apparently USA has shut down all its research nuclear reactors.

Wat.

[Lightningfalcon]

More that fanfiction has raised my standard of quality for literature.  Despite the general opinion being that it lowers it.