As far as I know asongwriter who gets a cut receives a royalty of 9.1 cents per song pressed. The Publisher gets 50% that so if the artist presses 1000 CD's you get 50% of $90.10. If the song gets played on the radio you also get royalties.
The trick of course is getting your song to an artist. If you only write lyrics you need to develop relationships with folks who can help you bring the song to it;s completion, or demo.
You do that by networking, meeting people. Doak's is a good starting point for that. NSAI is another.

In a nutshell... Networking

Bill
http://www.soundclick.com/billrobinson
http://www.dreamqueststudio.com
Skype; bill.robinson12

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." --Thomas Jefferson didn't say it

http://voidnow.org/
http://www.americansworking.com/