Comment posted on Laughing Stalk by Erik Deckers.
I am also looking to move into a professional writing career in the Indianapolis market. Coming from a sales and marketing background in Terre Haute is making that difficult, so I am guilty of selling my talent for far less than it’s worth to facilitate that transition. That being said, I think you could earn a living and charge close to the going rates if you are a good writer AND a good salesperson – even without training. It all depends on talent.
My wife is a talented artist and graphic designer. I am good enough at graphic design that I could make a living at it, but if you look at some of my work and then compare hers, she just has a polish to her work that I don’t seem to be able to match. The converse is true with writing. She is a good writer, but I can take anything she has written, spend five minutes editing it, and make is sound significantly better.
I watched the movie Rudy over the weekend – for about the twentieth time. It’s a tremendous story about passion and determination carrying a young man to his dreams, but I couldn’t help but notice the counterpoint of how much harder Rudy had to work than everybody else on the team for that chance to dress out in just one game.
With the resources available on the Internet today, I think almost anyone can learn the mechanics to become a professional writer, but ‘almost anyone’ probably isn’t going to command the same rates as someone with the natural skills, and it certainly won’t be as easy.