I really enjoyed this @ellegriffin and it's something I wrestled with about twelve years ago when I wrote my first novel. I had gotten some positive feedback from a few friends and started to wonder if it was "good enough to publish."
Luckily I moved very quickly from that question to "my" answer which was "no" and mirrors your thought:
> If I can spend two to three years writing a novel and my best case scenario is having it sell a couple hundred copies on Amazon, perhaps it’s time to face the music and realize that writing books—like knitting or playing the harp—is nothing more than a hobby. Something I can do for fun on the weekends but should never hope to earn a living from.
It seemed very obvious to me that I was neither a good enough writer nor a dedicated enough self-promoter to ever make it work. Twelve years and 16 novels later I am happily churning out 1-3 bad novels every year and loving every minute of it.
Luckily I moved very quickly from that question to "my" answer which was "no" and mirrors your thought:
> If I can spend two to three years writing a novel and my best case scenario is having it sell a couple hundred copies on Amazon, perhaps it’s time to face the music and realize that writing books—like knitting or playing the harp—is nothing more than a hobby. Something I can do for fun on the weekends but should never hope to earn a living from.
It seemed very obvious to me that I was neither a good enough writer nor a dedicated enough self-promoter to ever make it work. Twelve years and 16 novels later I am happily churning out 1-3 bad novels every year and loving every minute of it.
All the best as you continue to chase the dream!