There are many other factors which determine the interaction of free and paid content. Culture plays an important role as do the law and technology. But as long as the field is not subject to a research agenda the best we can do is observe, collate - and guess.

Q: In this challenging economy, how can a writer best stay afloat? What can he or she do to get more paid work and exposure? Or is it a good time to consider a "survival job" until the ship comes in?

A: Balancing the mind and the heart is always a fine act. Whatever you do, keep writing. Allocate a time in the day - early morning, late evening, weekends - to keep your creative juices flowing. Practice makes happy. Regrettably, the industries that sustained us, the authors, have all collapsed simultaneously: the media, the Internet, and the publishing arena. But this is a temporary nadir. Perseverance is the foremost qualification in a writing career.

Make sure you get your work published - self-published if need be, on the Web if nowhere else. Feedback from your readers is an essential ingredient in honing your skills and maintaining your craft. Send letters to the editor, volunteer to do odd writing jobs, establish a discussion list, correspond - write, write, and then some.

Keep applying for jobs. There is still demand for corporate literature, stringers, or ghost writers. Granted, it is not as glamorous and as rewarding as you hoped it would turn out to be. Never mind. Being there is half the trick.

And when the wheel turns, you are bound to be rewarded with a better assignment. It is this inevitability that keeps all of us going. In my advanced age (42), I know that a happy end is guaranteed to those who endure the entire motion picture...

Q: What do you do to publicize you and your writing? Do you actively promote yourself to media, or use a publicist to do it for you? Or do you just leave it all to chance?

A: There are three keys to successful publicity: URI - utility, relevance, innovation. If your work helps people better their lives, if it is useful and beneficial, if it shows the way and warns of pitfalls, if it proffers advice and guidance - then it is bound to attract the media's interest. This is the utilitarian aspect of it.

If your work ties in neatly with current events, hot topics, recent themes, people in the news, and prevailing moods - in other words, if it is relevant - it will garner the attention it deserves. The media seeks out added content and added value to augment its news coverage. My topic is pathological narcissism. Thus, I get interviewed is when narcissists rob their companies, abuse their nearest and dearest, or go on a rampage of serial murder. I am able to shed new light on the disorder and its sad and antisocial consequences.

But you are unlikely to be sought if what you have to say is trite, hackneyed, and stale. Even the most pedestrian banalities can be refreshingly recast. Enlighten your readers by innovating, by providing new angles, by repackaging the tried and true. Sometimes, merely restating the obvious is sufficient to attract the media's attention.

next: Excerpts from the Archives of the Narcissism List Part 40