On 18th Century Writing
Inland Empress has posted the following comments on writing in the past:

I can assure you that early essayists and diarists -- and there were many -- would've been thrilled to reach a few hundred people at a time. Most people with access to a newfangled printing press died in obscurity. We remember Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin because they beat the publishing game even then -- which was mainly to avoid being jailed.