The necessity of a skilled writer is indisputable, but you must realize that the games posted on an Indie dev site such as this simply cannot afford these rates. I've seen "teams" of only three or two people, where writing is rarely a present talent and never the specialized one. The effort and budget falls on that which is mandatory to include; coding, sound, and some form of visuals. Seeing as most all of us know how to communicate in flawless English, writing is seen as a secondary skill that just about anyone can provide in a pinch.
Look, I know it's a nuanced art, and that it's not that easy to produce a compelling piece. With that said, a visual novel can reach word counts in the tens of thousands. Charging a penny per word would be a lot considering the main question the teams generally care about is "Is it finished or not?" They tend not to appreciate the finer aspects this early on in their career when we're all hobbyists, amateurs, novices.