Not long ago, journalist and satirist P.J. O’Rourke said that after holding the title of “writer” for 40 years, he’s suddenly being referred to as a “content producer.”

Sound familiar? Your boss or your client doesn’t want you to write a blog post or contributed article, they want content, lots of it.

The trend toward “content,” and the legions of volunteers willing to produce it online, could lead to the end of the writing profession, according to a report in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

To wit:

”From the heights of the literary pantheon to the lowest trenches of hackery, where contributors to digital ‘content farms’ are paid as little as 10 cents for every 1,000 times readers click on their submissions, writers of every stature are experiencing the same pressure. Authors are losing income as sales shift to heavily discounted, royalty-poor and easily pirated ebooks. Journalists are suffering pay cuts and job losses as advertising revenue withers. Floods of amateurs willing to work for nothing are chasing freelance writers out of the trade. And all are scrambling to salvage their livelihoods as the revolutionary doctrine of ‘free culture’ obliterates old definitions of copyright.”

British writer Ewan Morrison told the Globe and Mail: “There will be no more professional writers in the future.”

Read the full story here.