Last week publisher Broadman and Holman announced a vast restructuring of their fiction department. Read the announcement here. Basically, they’ll only be publishing fiction with tie-ins to movies or other events.

What it means to me personally is not a whole lot. I have a few friends who are were published by B&H and I’m sure they’re shocked and wondering what in the sweet name of heaven are they going to do now.

What it means to me as a wanna-be published writer is one less place I can hope to place my manuscript.

What it means to you is even less defined but no less real. Fewer publishers means fewer spots available and just a little harder for a good story to get some attention in an already crowded marketplace. Perhaps that book that was going to change your life is now stuck in publishing purgatory.

Yes, that’s probably more than a little overly melodramatic.

Makes the self-publishing option more attractive. But talk about a crowded field there. It’s nearly impossible to get noticed in the pages and pages of self-pubbed offerings.

Just when I’d made my peace with the new odds came the announcement of the semi-finalists of a contest I’d entered. My name wasn’t on the list. Go ahead. Kick me when I’m down.

What’s next? Target going out of business?

It’s enough to make a girl shut down the computer and go pour a glass of wine cup of highly caffeinated coffee.

Going to drown my sorrows in a latte.