I have read biographies of numerous poets and writers. Some, who were famous at one time, died in obscurity. Some examples are Herman Melville (of Moby Dick fame), Phyllis Wheatley, Delmore Schwartz, Zora Neale Hurston, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. One constant I discovered was that they went against the prevailing convention of the literature of their times.
There are millions of authors who never achieved fame or fortune and died unknown. Just because one isn't in the spot doesn't mean that they are not talents or don't have anything to convey. Melville felt that he was a failure as a writer. The man who penned Moby Dick and Typee had a second career as poet during the Civil War. Melville was a skillled story teller and yet never hit it off with the public or critics.
While I have nothing against fame and fortune, getting your work out to the public is more important. I would rather that some one's life be touched by a poem or story. When a person's heart is touched by author's words, you can't put a price on that.
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