UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
Author Zone - Readers Welcome!
>
When can you class yourself as a writer.
date
newest »
newest »
You can class yourself as a writer whenever you want, but you actually seem to be asking when other people can class you as a writer.Three years, two short story collections and a translated novel in, I've still only sold about 400 books and made much less in total earnings than I do in a single week at the day job. But if I choose to call myself a writer and someone takes issue with that, I have no hesitation in telling them to stick it in their ear.
It's an interesting question.If I build a wall, can I class myself as a builder?
Michael wrote: "It's an interesting question.If I build a wall, can I class myself as a builder?"
Some of the jokes you tell, you can't call yourself a comedian. ;)
Yeah, well, you smell of bum.
Call yourself whatever you want. We tend to live up (or down) to the labels we give ourselves.I'm a writer. I haven't sold many books yet, but that's the world's problem for not discovering me. Yet. One day, one day ...
If I called myself an amateur or a hobby writer or a scribbler or somesuch then the chances are that my books would feel as if they were written by an amateur. Because it's only a hobby, right?
Nope. It's a business. And like many businesses you have to invest time and effort before you start to see profit. It's about learning the craft.
You write. You're a writer.
I'm not a plumber, but I did a better job than the plumber who fitted my radiators when I moved them. I'm not a chef, but my cooking tastes better than most of the food I get in restaurants. I guess the point I'm making is a qualification/label/title is no measure of competence or quality. You either can do or you can't, the label is unimportant.
Michael wrote: "Yeah, well, you smell of bum."I see I'll have to keep you in at playtime again.
I class myself as a writer and I've written far less that you Jason. I also class myself as a teacher. I do both as often as I can, but don't have the luxury of doing either as a permanent day job at present. And yet, I would never say that teaching was my hobby.
You can call yourself a writer if you've written something. You can call yourself a published writer (this is probably what most people would think of when they hear the word "writer") when something you've written has been published. Whether you publish it yourself or someone else publishes it is a separate issue - there are certainly people who won't regard you as a "proper" writer unless some London-based company has skimmed 90% off the top of your potential earnings.
I didn't regard myself as a writer until I'd had articles published in a magazine. Effectively until somebody other than me had thought I was worth publishing.I didn't feel I'd reached a proper standard until somebody paid me for what I'd written.
But that's just me measuring myself against the canon
"Somebody I don't know bought something I wrote." I think that's a good standard.
"I could be watching telly, but I'm writing stuff instead." That'll do me.
"I could be writing, but I'm on the internet."Hmm, not so good.
I call myself the worlds greatest lover. As long as I don't give out customer satisfaction forms there are no statistics to suggest it isn't true.But seriously, I think you are entitled to call yourself a writer as soon as you believe you are one. Do you think it gives you more confidence or sets a standard for you to attain?
Does the world's greatest lover get teste-moanials?
I thinks it's too easy to label self published authors as desperate souls looking for recognition. Therefore they are not proper writers, just people with a pipe dream.
Tim wrote: "You can call yourself a writer if you've written something. You can call yourself a published writer (this is probably what most people would think of when they hear the word "writer") when somethi..."I think you've hit the nail on the head. When people learn I've got several books available they ask who publishes them, I reply I do it myself via amazon and I always note the change in their expression or tone. I'm not published by Random House etc, therefore it's not "proper".
That said, I often struggle to consider myself a proper writer as I tend to judge it in the same terms. I don't invest much time in it because it doesn't pay enough to warrant it. The day job pays all the bills etc so that get the time investment.
But the long and the short of it is I take far more pleasure from writing that the day job so I'd write even if I didn't sell any books.
I think the answer to the "who publishes your books?" question Jamie is to confidently respond "a small independent publisher"...
I think you can call yourself a writer if you write books, especially if people outside your circle of friends have bought, read and enjoyed your work.On the subject of publishers, you are entitled to say that you have been published by a small independent publisher.
I had 3 articles published in New Scientist back in the 1980s, when I wasn't a writer. I have now been a writer for 2 years and my income from this endeavour is inching towards 10% of what those 3 articles netted me (not allowing for inflation). So income is definitely not the measure of a writer; perhaps self-delusion is.
Will wrote: "Does the world's greatest lover get teste-moanials?"Groan
Lot of interesting answers here folks, thanks. As I have gone through life I have had all kinds of reactions when I say I write. Usually people say oh that's cute/nice you write.I usually get the best reaction when I hand people a copy of my books or show them on Amazon. They usually take me far more seriously.
I used to get a lot of negative comments when I first started out. You'll never get anywhere, you can barely write your own name let alone a book. I think the most odd one liner I have had is. 'You've written a book, are you stupid or something?'
Sitting down and writing 100,000 words is anything but stupid.
Hmm, I think this might be wrong question. Anyone who sits down and writes a book is a writer, the tricky transformation is when you become an author. Not to get too hung up on semantics, but I would say an author has a significant audience of people who have paid to read the work.No evidence can be offered for seting a number, but I would say that once you have shifted 1,000 paid units, regardless of price, you get to sew on the Author badge.
I might get tricky and say that since "everybody has a book in them" , you might want to double that up and say that you should sell a load of copies of your second book. That gets you a Merit badge.
Kindle has something like 3,000,000 titles available and probably 2,000,000 plus sell less than a dozen copies so that makes the author ranking pretty slim on this basis.
When I am asked about writing, I say that you should do it for the joy of creating something and the satisfaction of completing a big task. I would say that a reasonable moto is,"write, publish, forget about that one and write again." There is little you can do to really boost a book once it is out there; best focus on the next book and improving your craft.
Scott wrote: "Not to get too hung up on semantics, but I would say an author has a significant audience of people who have paid to read the work.No evidence can be offered for seting a number, but I would say that once you have shifted 1,000 paid units, regardless of price, you get to sew on the Author badge."
No.
You simply can't reduce creative endeavour to such crass and arbitrary commercial yardsticks.
Selling books is a bookseller's problem, not an author's. That many of us now find ourselves cast in the role of booksellers (as well as that of authors, publishers, marketers, artists, proofreaders, editors, designers and typesetters), it does not mean we shouldn't remain aware of the distinctions between the disciplines.
Andrew,Writers do it for the creaitive joy of fiishing something; authors do it for an audience.
Any one person can be a wrtiter, but it takes a readership to make an author. There is nothing crass about wanting to sell books and, come to think about out, nothing crass about commercialism. Many of the greatest authors in histroy were extremely intersted in their sales. I am thinking here of Orwell, Dickens, Stevenson, Lawrence.
If people are willing to dedicate both time and money to experiencing your books, it means that they are valued by the reader, no?
Scott wrote: "Andrew,Writers do it for the creaitive joy of fiishing something; authors do it for an audience.
Any one person can be a wrtiter, but it takes a readership to make an author. There is nothing cr..."
if you have a readership of one, does that make you an author?
I would assume that if I have one reader it's probably a family member, so no, I would aim a little higher. I would suggest that the first ten paying readers probably don't count.Any number is subjective, or course, but I would hazard a guess and put it in the hundreds.
I have exerted my moral right to be identified as the author of my books, therefore I must be an author. There's nothing in any law that says I have to have sold any copies to be recognised as the author.
Tim wrote: "I have exerted my moral right to be identified as the author of my books, therefore I must be an author. There's nothing in any law that says I have to have sold any copies to be recognised as the ..."Absolutely right.
Scott, you're wrong.The level of your wrongness is epic, and quite possibly biblical. For one thing, Orwell? Orwell? "There is only one way to make money at writing, and that is to marry a publisher's daughter." That Orwell? Away with you.
Jason, yes. Why not? Sales, and indeed reading, is a completely different process to that of authorship.
Cool. If it makes you happy then there is no reason not to do it.Orwell spent a lot of time talking to his publisher about sales and complaining about the royalties he was making, hence the quote. He was a thoroughly commercial author.
My point is that there is a line between writing as a creative joy and writing for a paying audience.
You can call yourself a writer whenever you want.Other people may not agree of course, but that doesn't matter. Especially as when you are a writer the majority of other people that you know are creations of your own imagination.
Me, I'm both a writer and the author of my own misfortune.
However, what if you are factory worker from South Wales who has penned two novels plus a short story series, can you honestly say that you are a writer. I recently read a letter in a UK writing magazine from a chap who says that he went to a career advisor and said he wanted to be a writer. The career advisor then turned around and said: Ah but writing is not a career it’s a hobby.
So my question is this: When can you class yourself as a writer? When you are earning a full time income from your writing. Or can you still be classed as a writer and still have a regular day job.