Driven by passion, you have been a writer for the past few years. Of course, your articles have also been published in a number of national and international magazines, both in the print and online format. But you have not  been a complete writer, since you have not been writing in all genres. You have been more at ease only in a few genres of writing in the non-fiction category, in which you have written articles, essays, columns and tabloids etc. Above all you have been a niche writer focusing your attention in the area of your expertise.

About a year ago, you had a Midas touch in everything you had ventured and submitted in your writing career;you had a very good response for all your queries sent by you;almost all your articles have been accepted by various magazines.So far You have been lucky, because, you have not had any experience of rejection of your articles till date.

However, of late, you have not had enough response for your queries quickly; from some quarters you have not so far had any response at all for your queries. So your income from your writings has diminished significantly. However, you are yet to make up your mind, whether you have to entirely rely upon your writing career to eke out your livelihood or not; but some extraneous factors, which are beyond your control,have forced you to think over seriously about your writing career.You are also aware that times are changing.

Now you are seriously considering the question, ‘Is it safe to be a professional writer?’ In other words, whether you have to entirely rely upon your writing career.It is time for introspection. Considering your limitations as a writer, it is more appropriate also.

Before taking a final decision on the issue ‘To be or not to be a professional writer,’ or what you call as ‘full time writer’, it is very important to consider the following question in detail :

Whether the English speaking world provides a congenial atmosphere for your writing aspirations as a professional writer or a full time writer?

Though you are hailing from India, You are writing only in English language. When you began your writing career as a freelancer, you were actually impressed and inspired by the writing opportunities that were available in plenty throughout the world in the English speaking countries like US, UK, Canada, Australia, India as well as in the non-English speaking countries. But all the English speaking countries, especially in the US, where you could get more than enough compensation for your writing assignments, the situation has changed. Of late, US has been gradually closing the doors for non-US writers, as a policy of protectionism to save its own country men from recession and being rendered jobless. Besides, being a niche writer your scope for writing in the area of your expertise has somewhat got diminished, further shrinked and got localized.

For example, at Helium.com one of the best freelancing web sites that has hitherto been providing multifarious writing opportunities like market place, writing contests, upfront payments, bonus payments etc for your articles, has recently closed its doors to writers from other countries other than US. Being a web site based in the Andover, Massachusetts, US, you cannot find fault with their policy of protectionism, since US has been going under a lean phase due to the worst economic crisis and recession suffered by it that has rendered millions of peoples jobless.

Another paying website, Associatedcontent.com, based in the US, has been paying upfront payments only to the US writers;writers from countries other than US are paid for their articles based on their article views only. Therefore, you are definitely at a disadvantageous position comparing with the writers from the US.

From the beginning Triond has been making payment to the writers irrespective of their nationalities based on the revenue generated by their articles submitted by them.

Premier site like ezinearticles.com, another US based web site, which has a heavy traffic does not make any payment to your articles except the credential that you are an expert author in the site.

Therefore, the scope of earning through your writings has been narrowed much;your only source of  income is from the revenue generated by  the viewership of your articles;considering your limited prowess for writing,you never know how much you will earn from your articles.

Therefore,it is needless to say that in the present day context, competition is rampant in the writers’ world and you are like a pin in a hay stock.

Therefore, at present, as a writer, you are not assured of a fixed and steady income, so that you can have your both ends meet and pay your bills without any default. Unless or otherwise you are an extraordinary writer like Salman Rushdie or Arunthathi Rai from India, who were worthy of winning their booker prizes, you cannot thrive as a professional writer, with your mediocre ability.

However, still you may say that you have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge; still passionate about writing and you cannot give up writing as a career.

Then you have no other go except to consider and  follow these steps,while proceeding with your writing career:

1. Let writing be your part-time career;
2. Write as much as possible and choose your topics that are catchy and trendy;
3. Provide links to your article as much as possible to increase the viewership and thereby your revenue;
4. Let your writing stand out among others to beat their competition and turn the readers’ attention towards your article;
5. Be a voracious reader and equip yourself for writing in more genres, because nothing is impossible;besides where there is will, there is a way;
6. Keep yourself abreast of the current trends that prevail in the writing world;
7. Above all let your passion for writing glow as bright as ever undiminished!!

If you scrupulously follow the above mentioned points, who knows, your writing may even beat Salman Rushdie’s one day !!