Post History

I'll offer more rambling thoughts, today being two years down the road from my previous answer.

I still participate in the critique groups I belonged to two years ago, and I still find them valuable. However, each one has its own tone and style. I've tried out half a dozen in the area. Some I will not touch again, but others now define my core group of writerly colleagues. 

So, my answer is: I believe good in-person groups still exist. However, with that said:

I know people who prefer to post their work on Instagram. I know writers who prefer to post their content elsewhere online, their own server, and use Patreon to generate cash flow for their art. Some authors use Radish and Wattpad and so on, to grow a following. Some tell stories one line at a time on Twitter.

Basically, storytelling media change and if the past is any indication, there will be new kinds of opportunities every year. 

A thought about querying: My experience with querying lines up nicely with one of the agented writers on this site: **Agents want what they can sell, period.** Enough agents share their numbers to make this point clear. They're barely scraping by, at least the newer ones. Some have abysmal sales. They might sign dozens of authors and sell nothing. If bringing a piece of work 'up to publishable standard' was no more than a qualitative judgment, some of these books should be sellable at some point. But as one writer here said some months back, "I listened to the agents, wrote what they wanted, and the doors flew open." In other words, to publish traditionally, one might need to write to market and a critique group doesn't usually address that angle. I know plenty of local writers writing vampire and shifter stories--these are not currently 'to market.' But the writing is good. 

I doubt self-publishing has led to a decline in critique groups. 

In my experience, novice writers come to critique groups and they either learn, or they leave. I learned a tremendous amount. I'm now one of the more senior members in the group and some of the amateur work (what mine was two years ago) is painful to read. You don't know where to start to help the person. The next issue is that you can only learn so much from the same group. You hit a point where you know that Joe is going to say your piece is too purple and Beth is going to say she can't follow the dialog and Syd is going to say it's great. Every week. And Joe's work is going to *still* be too gratuitously violent, and Beth is going to *still* be telling not showing, and Syd is going to bring a piece of poetry that is... well, poetry. One guy was high every time he showed up. Another guy, I think he was homeless and schizophrenic, occasionally sat at our table and started telling us (orally) about his life story, and we were all very confused by it.

But, there are other ways to get critique. **On-line groups are fantastic.** The size of these groups, and the ability to connect with people from vastly different cultures and perspectives, is tremendously valuable. If I don't attend an in-person group one week, it is in part because I am looking for fresh feedback on my work. So yes, checkmark this one: Online groups may contribute to a decline in attendance to in-person groups.

**Hiring professionals:** I doubt this really impacts attendance at in-person groups. In my experience, people who hire professionals want the best finished product they can make. They won't cut any corners. 

You didn't mention it, but what about **craft books**? Agents often write these; authors write these. Or, for that matter, **blogs on writing.**  The best advice I ever received on immersion into viewpoint was from a blog. "Voice," best advice was from a random comment on twitter. Effective description, best advice was reading great authors.

There are master classes. There are you-tube classes. There are contests to win mentorship and the like. There are dozens of ways to improve one's writing. 

I am skeptical that any decrease in in-person groups boils down to self-publishing. It seems more likely that your new neighborhood just doesn't have a good group yet.