Writing novels equals box-office poison?

I admit I'm case-hardened to the strange ways of book publishing. Over the years - 30 some - I've kept the best of my rejection letters for several novels. Before computers, these were well-formed letters by snail mail that often offered helpful suggestions along with the rejection. As time went on, I realized that I would just have to write the books I wanted to. Why spend years hunched in a small room typing hundreds of pages unless you really want to do it? I was lucky to discover dozens of brilliant writers via Penguin and Virago Press - they revived so many terrific women novelists' works - and others; yet how many people know of H.E. Bates, Elizabeth Howard, Joyce Cary, for instance? Not many. Still, they lived and worked when it was possible to get published, polish a literary reputation and not sell hugely.
Well, nowadays when I meet people in the publishing biz they actually cringe, or look at the floor, when I mention I'm writing a novel again. I've got two literary fiction books out there, a bunch of biographies, but all that matters is that novels don't sell. I'm still going to write them, and I love doing it.