Professional scribes everywhere are wringing their hands over the fact that free content, especially proffered through the Internet, is driving the perceived value of the written word to practically, ZERO.

"How can you compete against that?" is the question du jour.

You can't.

"But I'm a GREAT writer!" you counter. "That has to be worth something!"

It isn't, except perhaps to academics and to other writers that might revel in your literary treatments.

You've heard the adage that information wants to be free. Writing, as a medium through which information is conveyed, wants to be free, as well.

You'll spare yourself much distress if you simply accept the fact that writing is a cheapening commodity, much like silicon chips or computer memory or bandwidth.

Your competitive advantage will not be found in becoming a great writer, in turning a better phrase.

In other words, as I asserted in a recent international keynote speech, "Marshall McLuhan was wrong. The medium is NOT the message."

Media are proliferating and are cheap and increasingly free.

Competitive advantage, and just making a decent living will not be found in clutching your favorite medium, whether that is the spoken or written word, Facebook, Twitter, TV, Radio, DVD's, vacuum tubes, transistors, or LinkedIn.

The thrill of the superficially new, the medium, wears off quickly. And just as Bill Gates saw that the better and longer-term money was in software and not in manufacturing the boxes that ran it, you should wake up to the fact that your fealty to the written word is misplaced.

You write, and so? Today, that's akin to saying you breathe. We assume as much.

The key to writing profitably, if that is your goal, is to focus on crafting a unique message that is appealing and truly new, or at least delivers that impression.

I commend an article to you that will explain the economic forces at work that are making "free" ubiquitous, while writing for a "fee" is becoming rarer. Search Google, using "FREE" and "Wired" and you'll find it, right away.