Not really a writer

A writer is a writer as soon as they put word to paper or screen.

An author is published.

All kinds of people with all kinds of experience and all kinds of education have to do push carts at Wal-Mart.

Cyia has it right, but of course in practice non-writers don't usually delineate between "writer" and "author."

I think most people don't lend much credence to the title "writer" unless somebody who doesn't know you personally has paid real, actual money for your writing. So somebody who has never had work published before isn't likely to be seen as more than a hobbyist by the world at large. Somebody who self-publishes and has only sold copies to friends and family isn't likely to be seen as more than a hobbyist by the world at large.

But so what? While he was alive, Vincent Van Gogh wasn't seen as much more than a hobbyist by the world at large.

You can be a paid writer, and still consider it a hobby.
You can be a full-time writer, and still not consider it a "job."

It's all subjective.

The only money I've made from writing was fifty quid about ten years ago. I haven't been paid since and I haven't stopped writing since.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm a writer with or without that fifty quid.

The way I look at it, "writer" is a description of identity more than anything else. I mean, if you love to dance, and study it and practice it all the time, you are a dancer. You may not be a professional dancer (author) and only dance in your spare time, but you're still self-identified as a "dancer." The same is true of writers.

Also, attitude (as with everything) is important. If you tell people "I'm a writer" like you believe it yourself, they'll believe you too even if they know nothing you've written is published (yet). If you hedge and seem unsure about whether you're a Really Real Writer(tm) then they'll always assume that isn't who you really are, even after you're published. JMHO.

I make most of my money from writing/editing but I've yet to make money from fiction. What does that make me? (Other than pretty lucky, not unemployed and not broke.)

Cyia said:

A writer is a writer as soon as they put word to paper or screen.

An author is published.

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By this definition, everyone old enough/able to put a pen to paper, or type on a keyboard is a writer. It dilutes the word down to insignificance. By strict dictionary definition, it holds true--a writer is anyone who writes and what they write, whether it be a grocery list, an email, or a story, doesn't matter.

But I think the phrase "I'm a writer," implies a level of professionalism to many if not most people in our society today (at least those who don't define themselves as a writer), one that goes above and beyond the phrase "I write." "I'm a writer," is an evolving definition.

I think most people who are writing with the hope of publication define themselves as a writer. But I also think many in the public at large ascribe more importance to the title and equate "I'm a writer," with "I'm published (a definition that is also shifting daily it seems) and make money from my writing."

It's easy to succumb to the prestige and romance that goes along with saying, "I'm a writer," and very few make the distinction between professional and amateur when referring to themselves. The end result is a lot of confusion.

Beth

I meant to add that the term "author" to many simply means "the creator of," and doesn't necessarily imply publication.

Beth

I know of one girl who makes a living from her art and she still has trouble convincing people it's a 'real job'. People just don't understand how hard artists work. It's insulting when people react with 'Oh, you wrote a book? I'm going to write one too some day.' And you just know they never will because they don't understand it's actual work.

rickee said:

To a lot of people, a writer isn't really a writer unless they're making money at it; otherwise they consider it to be just a hobby for you, despite years of education and effort. What they don't seem to realize is that a lot of writers and others with college degrees have to push carts at Wal-Mart.

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To me, if someone says "I'm a writer" with no caveats then I assume this is their chosen career path and one which they are actively following.

If they're writing in their spare time and not making any money at it, then I do think that description is a little odd. It would be like me saying to somebody, "I'm a violinist," when in fact I play occasionally for fun. I had lessons, one-to-one, weekly, for over a decade, and practices daily for pretty much the entire time. What's that, if not years of education and effort? I still wouldn't consider using a term for myself which implies I'm a successful paid professional.

If you're not making money at it and you are spending most of your time working at a different job altogether then I'm afraid I would consider it just a hobby for you. Not supposed to be an insult. I'm not making any money at it, I'm just writing in my free time, and it's just a hobby for me too. Isn't that what hobbies are?

If someone asks me what I do? I'm a computer programmer. I'd only start coming out with "I'm a writer" and "I'm a violinist" if they specifically asked me what I did in my spare time. What you wish you were isn't the same as what you are.

cwfgal said:

By this definition, everyone old enough/able to put a pen to paper, or type on a keyboard is a writer. It dilutes the word down to insignificance. By strict dictionary definition, it holds true--a writer is anyone who writes and what they write, whether it be a grocery list, an email, or a story, doesn't matter.

But I think the phrase "I'm a writer," implies a level of professionalism to many if not most people in our society today (at least those who don't define themselves as a writer), one that goes above and beyond the phrase "I write." "I'm a writer," is an evolving definition.

I think most people who are writing with the hope of publication define themselves as a writer. But I also think many in the public at large ascribe more importance to the title and equate "I'm a writer," with "I'm published (a definition that is also shifting daily it seems) and make money from my writing."

It's easy to succumb to the prestige and romance that goes along with saying, "I'm a writer," and very few make the distinction between professional and amateur when referring to themselves. The end result is a lot of confusion.

Beth

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I agree with Beth - to define a writer as anyone who can put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard dilutes the term to insignificance.

Also I think that most people wouldn't distinquish the difference between a writer and an author - they would say the words are equivalent.

There are hundreds of thousands aspiring writers - those who would like to see their words in print and make a living doing so but only a very few who actually do. Even many "professional writers" have to suplement their income with a "day job" as even having six or seven books produced by major trade pressess still nets them only a few thousand a year.

Call yourself what you like. But for purposes of my posts when I refer to a "writer" I mean someone who can earn $45,000+ a year or more from writing. Which will disqualify all but a few (I think).

rickee said:

It oftentimes goes like this: you're standing with a group of people and someone asks "What do you do for a living?" Your meek response: "I'm, a, uh, writer." They then ask: "Oh, what have you written?" You try to stave off embarrassment by saying "Oh, mostly fiction." Naturally they'll prod further with "No, I mean what books do you have in print?"

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It's no different than someone who's currently waiting tables saying "I'm an actor" when asked what they do. It goes with the territory.

To me a "writer" is someone who writes. That's all. If you want to distinguish yourself then you can say you are a "published author" or a "professional writer" or a "non-fiction writer" or "best-selling author" or "whatever." But I'm not too hung up on titles. When people ask what I do I say "I write." Not even "writer" or "author." Let them think what they want. People who know me well know I'm an aspiring-yet-currently-still-unpublished-epic-political-fantasy-writer. But why make a big deal of it.

a writer writes.

I won't consider myself a writer, author, or successful either one until I'm comfortably published because that's the bar I set for myself, but I think it is reasonable to say anyone who writes regularly can call themselves a writer.

Now some coffee-shop douchebag who types a few paragraphs a month because mostly he's looking over his espresso trying to see who might be watching him descend from the heavens and bring witness upon his keyboard with prose that would make Jesus weep and spends all his tim talking about how clever he is instead of actually writing, well, that's just a douchebag who talks a lot.

I'm a douchebag who writes a lot

I'm also an author

rickee said:

To a lot of people, a writer isn't really a writer unless they're making money at it; otherwise they consider it to be just a hobby for you, despite years of education and effort. What they don't seem to realize is that a lot of writers and others with college degrees have to push carts at Wal-Mart.

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So?

Why does it matter if they think it's a hobby? If you're not making a living at it or making enough that you can consider it steady part-time work, by definition it is a hobby. That doesn't mean you don't take it damn seriously.

Don't worry about labels. You'll be happier for it.

Shelley

skylark said:

If you're not making money at it and you are spending most of your time working at a different job altogether then I'm afraid I would consider it just a hobby for you. Not supposed to be an insult. I'm not making any money at it, I'm just writing in my free time, and it's just a hobby for me too. Isn't that what hobbies are?

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I have lots of friends starting businesses in their spare time after their day job, but no one calls them "hobbyists". I don't think the word is insulting, I just don't think - for me -it's applicable. My hobbies are baking, running, and playing soccer, things for which I know there will be no monetary reward. I don't get up at 5am to write before I go to my day job for a hobby, I do it because I think I have a real chance of making some money!

rickee said:

To a lot of people, a writer isn't really a writer unless they're making money at it; otherwise they consider it to be just a hobby for you, despite years of education and effort. What they don't seem to realize is that a lot of writers and others with college degrees have to push carts at Wal-Mart.

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Yes, many with college degrees have to push carts at Wal-Mart. But it sure as heck isn't because they're successful in whatever field their degree is in. It's because they aren't successful at whatever field their degree is in.

Fine, just writing makes you a writer, but when you use the word "writer" in this way, what meaning does it have?

This is one of the biggest changes I've seen since I first started writing. Used to be, back in the stone age, that new writers said, "I'm trying to be a writer." Or even used that now dreadful and politically incorrect phrase, "I'm a wannabe writer."

Those who manged to sell a bit here and there, but who weren't making any real money said, "I'm a struggling writer."

Now we're all writers just because we waste paper or fill a screen with words. We don't have to actually be any good, but we're never horrible, and we never fail, of course. We can't fail because we all know that the only true failure is not trying. We don't have to accomplish anything, we never have to write anything that people all over Reader Land love, we just have to sit down and do something that school kids all over the world can do. Something that literally anyone who isn't totally illiterate can do. We try, so we are. We try, so we're automatically writers.

Maybe so, but I still see no meaning in the word when used this way. Tell a dozen strangers you're an electrician, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or an auto mechanic, or whatever, and the words will stick in your throat, even if you're studying hard to be one of these things.

But tell them you're a writer, and you believe it, so the words come out just fine. Maybe a bit hollow, but still nice and smooth. They won't take it the same way you mean it, but you'll say it just fine.

But, fine, we're all writers. Now what?

It seems that now everyone who's put any old thing up on Amazon has a "John Doe, Author" page on Facebook.

"Author" doesn't have any special cachet anymore, apparently.

Cyia said:

A writer is a writer as soon as they put word to paper or screen.

An author is published.

Click to expand...

I make a living as a writer. It's my only income. When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a writer. (Though with a couple, I did say "professional writer," because I knew what would be coming otherwise.)

Most will then ask what I've written. When I explain that the stuff that pays the bills isn't in a bookstore, and no they've probably never read anything I've written unless they read a lot of business articles and such, they still look at me like I'm telling tales. I must not really be a writer.

So don't get hung up on labels, OP, because some people will think you must be some kind of failure if you're not working for an employer 9 to 5. You can't escape that, and you can't please everybody, so please yourself.

In my mind, I distinguish between writer and professional writer. I consider myself a professional writer, because that's what I do professionally and get paid for.

Shelley

You ain't a writer until somebody else says you are, you understand.

I have a college degree, and I drive a school bus. I'm also a writer. Maybe someday, I will be a published author. Fiction has been a love of mine since I told my first lie. When I could write those lies down...Glory. Whether you make money from writing, or you simply love to write, you are a writer. It goes deeper in some capacity than just jotting down words. That is my opinion, anyway.