Why professional writers get paid to write

Also, some writing advice from Colson Whitehead, Susan Sontag, and The New Yorker‘s editor-in-chief.

A Writer’s Credentials. What does it take to be a professional critic for a newspaper? Does the person need to have studied the topic he or she is critiquing, or done it in a professional manner? Should a film critic have a background in film—academic or professional—to write movie reviews. Not necessarily, according to Jonathan Landman, The New York Times‘ culture editor. “The credential that marks a great critic is great criticism,” he wrote this week in response to a reader, who asked that the paper cite the credentials of its critics.

As bloggers, copywriters, and ghostwriters, we’re rarely writing criticism. But in his response, Landman made a point that is bulletin-board worthy for the corporate communications profession.