How hard is it to break into the writing industry?

It is hard. It is like trying to get into a public restroom at a Hindu religious ceremony in India, or find a free parking space in Santa Fe.

First thing to do is work on your craft, your art, your skills of writing. Get good, damn good.

Then, get out there. Get your name known however you can. Meet people, make an impact somehow. There's a million people just like you doing the same thing, trying to get the same job, and there is only room for five.

Start getting published by submitting your writing to college publications. Many universities have annual collections of fiction, non-fiction, etc., that they publish. But they get swarmed with submissions, so they take time to go for the best. If you get published there, then you stand a chance of being noticed elsewhere.

Be patient, and keep at it, and avoid the temptation of self-publishing, where you will be lost in the sea of muck on the Internet.

You can definitely become an author with some writing talent. Getting published is not as hard as it used to be. There are self publishing platforms now that allow you to upload your book and make a commission on sales like Amazon. My cousin decided to try in the fall and was very scared at first but now has gotten the hang of it and has published 13 children's books and is making a decent part time income. Just look up amazon kindle. I will provide a link below.