Why do so many people try to get books published?

Ditto. Very small. Nonetheless some are talented writers and have a real chance, especially with small publishing houses. Talented writers are usually noticed by university professors and are encouraged to write. In this day and age of personal computers, publishers are inundated with books and book proposals.So much that they now only pay attention to writers with literary agents. Landing a literary agent also is a tough task with the odds way against any writer, even the good ones.

Sometimes you've got people who are really talented (eg writing, painting, acting...) That's what we call an artist. I think it's true that if you can show your emotions in a way like that, you experience life and everything that has to do with it, totally different than others. And when you want to be writer, you write down your feelings. You can't help it, you have this urge to write down everything that matters to you at that moment. And if you've written a book that way, then I'm pretty sure you're going to try to get it published. You've showed everyone your deepest thoughts, your hopes, your dreams! Your personal 'you' is somewhere hidden in the story you wrote. Then you want to people to read the ideas that you wrote down. You're beyond thinking with your brain, you're thinking with your heart. And your heart feels like everyone has to know what you wrote about. So publishing (or trying to) is an option then...

You might as well ask why people buy lottery tickets, because the chances there are far smaller and people buy their tickets every week, twice a week. It's to do with hope and having a dream or ambition to do something a bit special, to achieve something beyond the humdrum daily life.

And in any case, those who start out not knowing how small the chances of success are, soon find out.

Some people actually have the talent for it. It's easy to publish.

You never know if you don't try.