The headline How you can make a million writing your own e-book is irresistible. Just how do these writers do it?

I admit it is tempting to side step the agony of approaching an agent and to avoid the pain of rejection letters. At least, that’s what successful e-book authors tell us. They bash out a book in a couple of weeks, having picked a popular genre such as crime thriller or chick lit, get an eye-catching cover designed, and then sell it for a few pence online.

As someone who has laboured over every sentence of her novel, and still hasn’t finished it five years on, I do find it hard to understand how people can write books so quickly and sell them so cheaply. Quality of writing would be my main concern, though that doesn’t seem to trouble the millions of people who download e-books for some escapism on their Kindle on their commute home from work.

I may still look wistfully at Waterstones window, trying to picture my own novel pristinely published and proudly promoted, and feel reluctant to accept that maybe the days of traditional publishing are dwindling.

But if any author wants the chance of their books being read, then surely those millions of e-book readers can’t be wrong…?