RE: Somewhat OT: Tech Writers vs. other writers

[MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

jenny_berger -at- fairfieldresidential -dot- com

> I'm generally of the opinion that the writers who primarily serve an 
> artistic community are the ones who don't make the "decent 
> money" however 
> one defines it. The writers who primarily serve a commercial 
> community 
> (e.g., tech writers, ad/sales writers, etc.) are generally in 
> a better 
> salary position, comparatively speaking. This is only 
> because, from what 
> I've seen, people don't put as much value on making people 
> feel better 
> with pretty things as they do on persuading people to hand over their 
> money. 


I think the situation is much like that in music and comedy 
and visual/plastic arts (painting, sculpture...).
There are lots of reasonably talented people in music and in 
comedy, making little or nothing, because mass media bring us 
the really top-of-the-line (whatever that means in their 
respective niche), so we are unwilling to pay for performances 
(live or recorded) from relatively ordinary folk when the 
superlative performances are constantly available for comparison.

Technical writing, on the other hand values writing ability and 
facility up to a point, but as we love to belabor, the "profession" 
and those who hire us value other capabilities and talents as much 
or more -- technical aptitude, curiosity and willingness to dig 
into things and ask questions, attention to detail, etc.

So, you can succeed to a decent degree in this career with only 
moderate talent, and almost no marketing support (either of your 
own making or from an artist's agent pushing your glories in a 
super-competitive market-place. . .  for 15%+). 

In other words, I'm making a point related to what Goober suggested.
Lot's of our not-writing talents and skills are of little use to 
somebody who is writing poetry, certain types of fiction, etc., 
but they are needed and rewarded for what we actually do all day...
just mostly not at the levels accorded to rock stars, movie stars, 
top-flight painters, etc.  It's a trade-off that ... er... some of 
us make, to go for the decent paycheque and not hold out for that 
"overnight success" as writing rock-stars.  Then, there are people 
like Asimov, but the point is that there are damn few of those.

/kevin

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