Besides blogging, I am published in an ATV magazine and write for an eZine… *cough* Suite101.com *cough* where I’m trying to build experience and a portfolio.

Regardless of the opinion that most writers are simply writing (which I tend to agree with), I consider myself to be more than just a decent writer, especially on subjects I’m passionate about.

I have to admit, though, often times getting the good work requires more than just great writing. Sometimes it requires knowing someone.

I generally find high-paying clients still want quality.

The online world might be a component of a “Minor League” for writers some day. I can’t tell if me 200 or so hits each day is enough to make my internet presence important. The problem is that we’re so terribly disorganized online, which means that potential readers probably can’t find what they want. I’d like to find cooperative ways to fix that problem, first.

As for making a living online, I really think that’s a difficult way to go. There’s so much other writing out there which pays better, but you have to have a reputation. Perhaps we can make this world a little easier on writers as well as readers while we’re at it.

“word of mouth (e-mail)” certainly does work well. I get much of my work without pitching, though sometimes I rely on such passive marketing too much.

Poor writers will never get out of low-paying, slave-type pay for their “writing,” if you can call what they do writing.

That is a fabulous article. Thanks for the link!

Erik, it looks like your cynicism is justified! LOL.

Someone remarked that “it’s too easy for anyone to become a ‘professional’ writer. I wish there was some kind of generally recognized certification, like you find with lawyers or doctors.”

I suggest that this might not be the best idea. Professional editors and agents, by a 17-1 ratio, didn’t recognize Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” with the title and author changed, but nothing else.

( http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/publishers-reject-austens-work-in-writers-prank-1039842.html )

My favorite of the lot was Penguin Books, whose rejection letter stated that “‘a really original and interesting read’ but not right for Penguin.” Penguin had re-published Pride and Prejudice that year.

I’m not sure that certification would be a good idea, if seasoned professionals like that lot were to decide who was, and wasn’t a good writer.

My inclination is to trust the ‘marketplace of ideas.’ SEO will only go so far to hold up a site: word of mouth, or, more precisely, word of email and online community, will, I think, spread the word about good writers.

At least, that’s what I’m counting on.

Thinking on the business side of things, I like having multiple income streams on multiple timelines. I know I have a few thousand dollars coming to me in October, November and December. That lets me worry less about the future.

But that seems to have not hurt its sales much. Nor have the issues some hold with Rowling’s writing style caused Harry Potter to fail.

It seems that most of the top-selling books, nowadays, have writing style issues enough to make people wince, with lesser-selling books often being even worse.

I’m well aware that no writing can be called perfect, but I this makes me wonder… What has happened to well-styled fiction that it seems to have vanished?

Good styles and good plots can be found, but rarely together—or if they can, typographical errors dot it.

:/

This is, of course, a generalization. But it still bothers me.

So true, and glad you didn’t pay too much for that “book.”

I recently read a somewhat dated book on George Blanda that had been my father’s. Hate to admit I bought it for him. I would have flunked any writing-related class I ever took for something like it.

Luckily, I didn’t pay much for the book, I got it at a closeout sale at a bookstore.

The best writers will, most often, get the best work, even if it takes a little time to establish oneself. And hopefully mediocre (or worse) writers actually learn something along the way and get better.

There’s room enough for us all, I think, so long as we continue to stand up for our rights regarding being paid appropriately and retaining certain rights to our pieces…this leads to a whole other discussion

That being said, this gives us the challenge of constantly trying to stand out against the crowd of mediochre writers. I like to put a positive spin on it… the “bigger pond” keeps this fish on her fins, uh, I mean toes.

Same as with any major news incident, so I’m not grumbling about speed. I’m grumbling about the loss of writing as an art.

As for press releases, I use them all the time in my TV blog because it doesn’t make sense to rewrite the facts in many cases. But my reviews and interviews are my own – so, a mix, I guess.

That’s nothing new. Newspapers have always had to deal with this in competing with radio and TV. The Internet is just an electronic medium on speed.

I wrote under fast deadline pressure for many years as a sportswriter. Presses ran at a certain time. Didn’t matter if the game went late, you were delayed getting back to the office, or whatever. Articles still had to make deadline.

We also had writers on deadline the day the Challenger blew up. The only time I ever actually saw presses actually stopped.

I do some daily deadline writing now, though not to the point that I once did, but there are times one has only an hour or two to write an article that includes some depth. A couple of days seems like a luxury.

So quality is important, but it has to be balanced with speed.

And, unfortunately, there are a majority of readers that don’t care that much about quality.

Anyone can get published — if you are willing to give your work away. I got over that thrill when I left high school. Some people never do — some are even willing to PAY to see their words published. That is why poetry.com prospers.

So God bless the authors who go after those content jobs. They are doing the work I won’t do. And don’t want to do. That lets me get done more of what I want to do.

It’s true that as a society, we are starting to value speed and quantity over quality. If you want your work to be read and appreciated, you don’t necessarily have to spell perfectly or use perfect grammar.

On the other hand, if the content isn’t entertaining and has no value whatsoever, it’s not gonna fly.

1 Person pasted the whole transcript on the website a few hours later and called that an “article” No editing.

1 Person reported “live” writing things like, “and so another reporter asked a question and he answered that it was a great experience.” Seriously?

1 Person (other than myself) took a day or two to write an actual narrative using appropriate quotes and facts from the event.

So what happened? The first two people scooped us with the story because they slapped up what they had, no thought required.

Is that journalism? Posting a transcript? The sad part is that readers don’t seem to care. I did an unofficial poll and most said they’d just as soon read an unedited transcript as something “filtered” through a reporter. Only one person said they preferred to read a well written article.

It saddens me and it makes me mad. I work hard to get to where I am as a writer, working with magazines, working with plenty of editors who didn’t pay, climbing the ladder. And now that I’m here I see all of these other people who didn’t work for it getting readers.

So do I go with the flow and start slapping up unedited transcripts, too or go for the art of writing and be the last person with the story on site?

Cyn