Doom and gloom articles about the economy are all over the Internet. How much of a recession—euphemism for depression—is manufactured by the greed our large corporations have demonstrated is hard to say, but this writer believes they are at the root of the problem. For instance, prescription drugs, which our drug companies sell to the public for a hundred or even two hundred dollars for a single month’s supply are manufactured for less than fifty cents. The markup on these things becomes mind-boggling.

    Our publishing industry, controlled by corporate leaders with similar mind-sets is cutting back on the numbers of newspapers it sells (this makes sense as people are tired of being lied to by the corporate media). I saw that Conde Nast is closing several of its magazines and that Fortune is cutting back its yearly publications from twenty-five to eighteen. Ebony may soon be up for sale. And every day, fewer of these corporate publications are willing to pay their writers a living wage.

    Some writers feel that this is because we are so independent we do not have the will necessary to make a strong union capable of successfully fighting any of this. The National Writer’s Union attempted to do that, however for every court battle they win, the publishing corporations have legislation passed that fully negated those victories, making it appear that most writers would be better off had the Writer’s Union did not attempt to fix the system that is heavily weighted against real people.

    Internet publishers are beginning to fill some of the publishing void, however when I compare the various sites out there, few of them look as thought hey are interested in promoting excellent writing, or in helping good writers earn a living at what they do best. It will be interesting to see what www.gregorivs.com does, as it evolves.

    For news junkies who want to know more of what is happening in the publishing industry, there are www.writenews.com and www.foliomag.com .Or, you can go to www.squidoo.com .This is a site that makes writing a book sound as though it is easy as, well as easy as falling off a log. Then there is www.fastpencil.com which has some nice interactive features on their website, and they are about as cheap as any of the self publishers out there—most of their services appear to be free. They do offer an editing/consulting service, which their writers pay for. However, they appear to make the bulk of their money from selling books. Amazing. This writer wants to explore that further, and she will let you know how that turns out.