Can you afford to write a novel?

I’ve been putting stuff I write in the public eye for more than ten years now. I’m unabashedly indie; the main reason is that I wouldn’t have been able to write so many books otherwise. I started out running the traditional publishing gauntlet, reaping over one thousand rejections from many agents, feeling elated when some asked to read a MS, feeling down after they sat on it for months only to say something like, “sorry, it’s just not for me,” and wondering what it took to get past these gat...