The best defense is a good story.
I'm an amateur, so I read what's interesting to me.
The importance to the world of what we scribblers write is in doubt, I would think.
Stephen King has the exact ability that Charles Dickens had. To get to his readers in spite of or despite anything the reviews say.
I read a lot of poetry. I read some history.
First-book novelists and storywriters haven't yet failed and so it's easier to publish them - you can gamble on a success. Whereas someone who has written four books that are highly literary and demanding and require you as a reader. They may not be republished.