Thanks for writing this. I am a published author who offers writing courses, but thankfully make no outlandish claims. I always tell authors that if anyone promises them a bestselling book that they're being scammed. Quite often it comes down to timing but equally, I do encourage my students to persevere. I teach my students how to write a book from start to finish. I encourage mindfulness and positivity as it's such a long hard road. But I would like to add balance and say that there are a lot of successful authors out there. These are the ones who don't fill out these surveys. I'm making a very good living from my writing and I know of many self published and trad authors who write for a living too. But I do think it's important to warn aspiring authors about potential scams. As an ex-police officer, I'm all over that too. You wrote a great article here. To anyone writing, my main advice would be just to keep going.