When you think about it, how does any enterprise expect to make a go of it, basing its business plan on the assumption that input costs are free or nearly free? It's like expecting to make a living scrounging for bottles at the side of the road. At what point do you realize that there are only so many bottles to be found, their availability a function of the disregard shown by those who toss them away, and not nearly enough in number to feed a family and pay the rent? Could you imagine getting a bank loan for that business plan? (I suspect that far too many loans are given on the basis of such business plans, obfuscated by marketing bafflegab.) If you expect to build a business recycling bottles, sooner rather than later you'll need to pay people to find your raw materials or, better yet, pay reasonable rates to get reliable suppliers from among businesses that create your raw materials. (Publishers offering absurdly low rates to writers really do remind me of homeless people wandering the ditches to eke out a living.)

It's a matter of finding those markets and upgrading our skills/knowledge so we are marketable.

And let's just stop accepting those low-paying jobs, for heaven's sake!

I know of the Writers Union. Also, I belong to a LinkedIn group called Certified Professional Writers Association and while we've yet to set rates, we have certainly banded together to encourage fair pay for honest work.

But in a way, doesn't it reflect the declining value that society places on words?? We don't seem to value the importance of a word fitly spoken anymore… and I guess it translates to our treatment of those who have mastered the art of skilfully manipulating words.

Sad.

They get what they pay for; they'll keep going out of business, as will the new ones, while we find and keep jobs with legitimate, high-quality companies that value our work.