Media Piracy - Some Thoughts from Someone Who Creates Stuff

[MineralMan]

13. It depends. Both my wife and I worked as magazine journalists

for most of our lives. Both of us wrote for the big computer magazines of the 80s and 90s, and the pay was just fine for the work. At the peak, we were both getting $1 per word, and had regular columns and plenty of work from very successful publications. The books we did, too, paid well, if you worked on a contract basis, rather than on a royalty basis.

That all ended in about 2002, but we're still writing for a living. More words for less money these days, but we can still do OK, if we work at it, and we do.

She's still writing software reviews and other computer articles. I've switched to writing all of the content for complete new websites for small businesses, and work with a web designer and SEO specialist. We're very good at what we do, and our websites get the results the businesses expect, so we're kept fairly busy. My writing is essentially marketing writing, but I get to write about a wide range of businesses, and I find it rewarding and a good challenge. I've done sites for everything from a plastic surgery practice to a swimming pool builder, and everything in between. Fun.

Writing has always been a tough gig, but if you find the right niches and can produce effective writing, you can still make it as a writer. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, though. It's not easy to find those niches.