10 Zen Monkeys has a compelling piece on the interwebs and whether advances in communications technology is any good for writers. RU Sirius asks 10 writers to consider the question. Here are some bits of wisdom from one of the 10 writers, Mark Drey.
On writing as a commodity:
As someone who once survived (albeit barely) as a freelancer, I can say with some authority that the freelance writer is going the way of the Quagga. Well, at least one species of freelance writer: the public intellectual who writes for a well-educated, culturally literate reader whose historical memory doesn’t begin with Dawson’s Landing. A professor friend of mine, well-known for his/her incisive cultural criticism, just landed a column for PopMatters.com. Now, a column is yeoman’s work and it doesn’t pay squat. But s/he was happy to get the gig because she wanted to burnish her brand, presumably, and besides, as she noted, “Who does, these days?” (Pay, that is.)
On breaking through the clutter:
We’re drowning in yak, and it’s getting harder and harder to hear the insightful voices through all the media cacophony. Oscar Wilde would be just another forlorn blogger out on the media asteroid belt in our day, constantly checking his SiteMeter’s Average Hits Per Day and Average Visit Length.
I also like what Paul Krassner has to say:
I have become as much in awe of Technology as I am of Nature. And although I blog for free, occasional paid assignments have fallen into my lap as a result.
Better than lapdancing.