Thanks for posting. I agree with everything you’ve written, and can only add an amen. I’m also doing some regular work for less than $1.00/word, but it is regular, it is legit and it’s not part of the mash-up world. In fact, I work with an honest-to-god editorial board. What a pleasure. So I’m happy, as well. Alas, he days of major magazines offering $2/word may be largely gone … as are major magazines. Things are changing. But we are still professionals and we still deserve to be respected as professionals. And that ultimately means only working with those who can tell the difference.

On Examiner.com as well. The only way to make any real money there is to send them referrals. Of course if you’ve been able to gain a huge following and write a weekly or even daily commentary I can see these “mills” becoming a good source of income, but the competition is HUGE and you’re also competing with a lot of so-called writers who only have a large following because they’ve learned how and have the time to use ALL the social networks available. Most writers would rather write.

Now, my full time job is writing for 2 trade publications at an actual office. One is a monthly trade for landscape contractors, the other is bi-monthly for Soil Erosion and Hydroseeding. I write at least 2 stories for each one, 2,000 words each while also doing research and writing short copy for the weekly newsletter and other sections of both magazines. If I were to tell you what I get paid to do ALL of this, you would probably be shocked, but I can say it’s a LOT LESS than $1.00/word.

But it’s a full-time gig and for a writer getting paid regularly isn’t such a bad thing.

In an age where 140 tweet characters and blogging is now considered “real” writing, it’s going to be much more difficult for anyone to make a decent living as a writer. No one seems to recall the devastating effect the writers guild strike had on the television industry a few years ago. Many series never recovered.

Writers get paid less, are respected less and are treated less than any other profession out there, yet without us…