My own thoughts are that a writer/author is somebody who does this for a living because they are well established and can earn enough money doing it. As far as I can tell from 5 years and 10 books trying to do just this, is that the world and his wife are writers/authors with books on Amazon, but only a lucky few (usually with agents and big publishers) can earn a living from it. Therefore are we really writers/authors at all? I usually say at parties that I’m a medical secretary who writes novels for a hobby. I leave out the ‘writer/author’ bit, because it’s going to be a long time (if ever) before I can earn a living just from writing books.
Is there a difference?
I was inspired by author K.M. Allan’s post ’10 Signs You’ve Upgraded To Being A Serious Writer’ and began thinking about all the ways people who write label themselves and one another, especially on the internet.
If you’re reading this, chances are you like to write. Maybe you fancy yourself a “writer”, an “author”, or an “aspiring writer”? How many times have you read the words “aspiring writer” on the internet this week?
The way writers self-identify is fascinating to me. The way literary circles and internet marketing use these words as labels and identifiers is even more interesting.
Let’s take a look
Writer
- Someone who writes
- Someone who writes for a living (novelist, journalist, blogger)
- Someone who writes books (specifically)
- Someone who wants to sound cool at parties
Author
- Someone who writes
- Someone who writes a lot
- Someone who is the author of published book(s)
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Phil Huston said:
“all the ways people who write label themselves and one another, especially on the internet.” Well defined. And at parties. I was in the music biz for 40 years. Not as a drummer in a Holiday Inn cover band. Try saying “Electronic Musical Instrument or synthesizer product specialist” at a party. Of college professors or lawyers or ballet dancers and spouses. “You get paid for that?” “Hell yes, and breakfast with Van Halen to boot. At work it was “This is Phil, the (product x) guy.” “Hey, cool. Man, You the cat got Herbie one of those? How does this work?” Elsewhere? Like the writer thing. Only I DID get paid for the synth guy gig. It’s all relative. The ‘net is so full of half assed narcissists it’s hard to tell the people who deserve to get the smoke blown or the people who blow their own.
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Stevie Turner said:
Did you sell Jimmy Page his theremin?
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Phil Huston said:
Wouldn;t own it if I did. Did “sell” Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and “others” their GM road pianos, I worked with Bobby Styles at Sequential, the old manager of Argent’s Keyboard Shop. There’s some history there. Oww…giving away some age!
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Stevie Turner said:
Ha, I’m probably older than you anyway…
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Phil Huston said:
Actually…Not. I may be the world’s oldest survivng synth farts in space chill meister. Well, that’s not true. All the guys who built the stuff are older than me.
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Stevie Turner said:
I bet Brian Eno was a good customer?
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