The International Herald Tribune published a piece back in early April on the life of professional bloggers. The article notes that some bloggers on professional sites can make $30K with the top bloggers up to $70K. But it comes with a cost; these bloggers are chained to their computers, constantly trying to scoop the rest of the blogosphere:

Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else's post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.

This a good piece to share with professional writing students. While being a paid, professional blogger might sound idyllic, the self-imposed "digital sweatshop" requires a certain type of writer ready for an always-on, stressful career. Makes me amazed that Dennis hasn't burned out by now given that he's been blogging longer than all but a very small majority of bloggers on the web (about 9 years).