So. When do you start calling yourself “a writer?”, as in, “I’m a writer, please go easy on me with the bad news.”
When you finish a novel?
When you spend a certain amount of time doing it?
When you decide it’s what you want to do?
When you have an agent?
Upon publication of your first novel?
And what about “author?”
Stephan Alexander Scharnberg says
I considered myself a writer when I decided to sit down and write.
This was a hibernating wish and a slumbering seed since Grade 11 and Grade 12 Journalism class, editing the highschool newspaper and two consecutive yearbooks (1979-1980, 1980-1981). Since the early 1980s I wrote poetry sporadically (over 70 poems since then). Then I started on short stories and my travel book in early 2005 and took a Creative Writing course.
It starts with one day, then two, soon a week, a month, and a year. You continue every day, every free moment, becoming obsessed with it, impatiently waiting through two full-time jobs daily Monday to Friday, writing in the evenings. As I am serious about it, I consider it my third job–it is not a hobby. I do want to get published.
I find the label “author” to be suspect. An author is someone who writes to become famous (which is nice, but not the reason of being a writer, just the result of being successfully published and widely read and known–not self-published aka ‘printed’).
I write because I can not live without writing.
Tabitha says
Wow, there are a lot of people who consider a writer to be someone who puts words on a page. This surprises me, since I’d guess that most of the people here are either published or aspire to be published.
Tia Nevitt said “Anyone who writes is a writer. Just like anyone who draws is an artist, and anyone who plays sports is an athlete. It is a noun. It doesn’t describe talent or skill.”
Actually, it kind of does. The term ‘athlete’ refers to someone who plays sports for a living, and if they do that then they must be really good at it. Same with artist, though that is much looser.
I think what has happened with the term ‘writer’ is that there are many so people who do this for a hobby that it’s become one. It’s not really treated as a job title, except to those who have reached the published level and write to earn a living.
I prefer to look at the term Writer as a job title. Why? Well, why not? A computer programmer can go to school, interview with a bunch of companies, then get a job writing computer programs to earn his living. But what if he can’t get a job and he’s working at a local supermarket? Would he call himself a stock boy, or a Programmer? My guess goes to ‘Programmer’ because he’s gone to school for it, and making a living stocking shelves is only temporary.
I see the term Writer the same way. If you have been working toward honing your craft, treating your work and writing time as a job, and you consider your current means of income as temporary, then I think you’re considering yourself a Writer. As in, you’re treating yourself as a professional.
Wow. I guess I had a lot to say on the subject. Sorry if this was too long. 🙂
Joel Hoekstra asked if aspiring authors have business cards. If so, whether they say ‘writer’ or ‘author.’ I have business cards that say ‘Writer.” So I guess that means I consider an author to be a published writer. 🙂
Anonymous says
The definition of ‘printed’ is:
“A mark or impression made in or on a surface by pressure: the print of footsteps in the sand.
A device or implement, such as a stamp, die, or seal, used to press markings onto or into a surface.”
Why do people have such a block about self-publishing? It’s kind of elitist. Again, I am not self-published but see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Anonymous says
I have two children. When they are not at home I am still a mother. I don’t get paid for it, but the title cannot be removed. I am still a sister, a daughter. I am a reader. I am a a horse rider.I am a writer. I have finished two books; I am an author. And yes, I am a dancer when I dance. I am a cook. When I draw or paint I am an artist. The words missing here, and the only words that can be deleted are professional, paid, self-published, traditional published. When I leave my job, and go home at night, I am still an agent. No matter how we look at it the key words are what makes the difference, all the rest are just made up definitions of author and writer. I doubt there is one of you that would deny that a famous author was not a writer while they were working on their first book, but yet you do it to yourselves.
Vicky says
I’m an unpublished writer with an agent. UPW+A? Hmmm… strange acronym.
Worst designation prize goes to: Pre-pubbed.
I write. Therefore, I am.
Betty Atkins Dominguez says
I suppose I’m like everyone else here in that I ‘became’ a writer when I started doing it and realized I could actually do it. But I don’t think of myself as an author, yet. I will when I am published.
Betty Atkins Dominguez says
BTW, I like this new interface on the blog.
Cheryl says
You’re a writer the minute you pick up a pen or pencil or carving tool and jot or etch a sentence. You’re an AUTHOR when that sentence is published for all the world to read.
However, some think that self-published writers are not authors until they have an agent and cow-tow to the Publishing Establishment.
Cheryl
M Clement Hall says
By definition, a “writer” is a person who writes.
I would think you start to call yourself a writer when you have no better professional designation, as a kind of faute de mieux.
Steve Fuller says
When one writes.
Anonymous says
I started calling myself a writer when I became serious about writing, when I was getting ready to submit my work to agents and publishers. I started calling myself a writer when I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
An author is something I hope one day to be (published and making a little money too!). But I will never stop being a writer.
Anonymous says
When you learn correct punctuation? 🙂
Question mark goes outside the quotation mark in your sentences.
For example, When do you call yourself an “author”? (not “author?”
Nathan Bransford says
Sheesh, anon…
Anonymous says
A writer writes–just as a walker walks and a quilter quilts. No quality judgement there. But there’s a suggestion of habitual activity.
Lea says
I call myself a ‘writer’ when I spend quality time penning words to paper, researching or reading books and studying famous authors.
I call myself an ‘author’ once my writing project is complete.
Stephanie says
Does it really matter? Because anytime you tell someone you are a writer, the next word out of that person’s mouth is, “Oh…so where have you been published?” If you call yourself a writer, you’d better be prepared for that next question.
Anonymous says
I was wondering who the guilty party was. I was worried it was me. Glad it was you, Nathan. LOL That was even funnier than Vegas Linda Lou’s comments yesterday.
denese says
Nathan, what do YOU think?
Anonymous says
I think this is the blog hotspot! 🙂
Alan Baxter says
Does it really matter what you call yourself?
What other people call you is more important.
If you write, you know you’re an writer. If you’re published, self-published, pre-published, whatever, then people will refer to you as a writer or an author or a hack, depending on their impressions.
Call yourself whatever you want to be and wait for everyone else to catch up.
V L Smith says
I used to think you weren’t a writer until you published something (an article, a short story, etc.) But there are talented people whose work will never grace the walls of a museum or linger in the air of a concert hall but they are still painters and musicians. So why can’t we be writers?
And you don’t have to paid for your stories and articles in order to be called a writer. There are attorneys who offer free legal aid. Does this mean they aren’t lawyers?
But you’re not an author until you publish a book. For me, the word “author” conjures up an image of someone who has risen above the level of writer.
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
I have to agree with Mira:
“Personally, I don’t see what being published has to do with it. All publishing means is someone liked your writing. They liked it so much they thought they could sell it to other people and make money off of it. That’s just business, which has nothing to do with art.”
I would love to elaborate but can’t at the moment.
J.L. Finnell says
A “writer,” having writ, moves on. But an “author” is contractually stuck.
Theophagous Monkey says
I don’t tell people I’m a writer. I’ve published a few stories and written a couple of unpublishable novels. I write most every day, though, and so when people ask the question, What do you do? I sometimes tell them that I write a bit. In a former life I practiced law, and before that I played music in a variety of settings. Even back then I never said, I’m a musician, or I’m a lawyer. I said, I practice law, or, I play music. I’ve always felt that the point at which you become a ‘this’ or a ‘that’ is coterminous with the point at which people start calling you a this or a that, whatever it is, and at that point it’s time to evaluate whether you’re still setting your own course or just drifting with the wind.
Mason Dixon says
When one gets published in the New Yorker (which seems to have become all but impossible for the unknown author in the past few years).
Anonymous says
I can bake a cake… doesn’t make me a baker. I can slap together a table… doesn’t make me a carpenter. I can sketch out plans for my remodel… doesn’t make me an architect or an interior designer. I don’t think putting pen to paper makes one a writer, and I don’t think self-publishing makes one an author (unless as someone above said, the self-published book sells a LOT of copies, proving that it’s more than 99% of the self-published dreck).
HOWEVER all that said, there is no “label” police. There is no certifying body who is going to swoop down and arrest people for falsely claiming to be a writer or author. Anyone can call themselves a writer or author, and frankly, it’s up to individuals to decide if someone meets their definition of the terms.
So what if someone doesn’t meet my definition? It’s not like I run around jumping on people who self-publish, screaming to whoever will hear that they are not published. If someone asks, I give an honest opinion. If you have a different opinion, we can discuss/debate, or we can let it go as a difference of opinion. No biggie.
If someone wants to believe that because they have self-published, they are as “published” as someone who went the traditional route, let them. I won’t agree with them, but why do they need my approval? Now, if they need my approval to feel validated, tough noogies to them. I worked hard to get traditionally published, and I had the same roadblocks as everyone else. Boo hoo hoo if you took a shortcut and now aren’t getting the respect you feel you deserve.
denese says
Tell me something. Why do you allow posts by anonymous writers/posters, Nathan? Isn’t this a cowardly way to communicate? I just don’t understand it. If you have something to say, take ownership.
Nathan Bransford says
denese-
90% of the time the anonymous comments are productive, and sometimes people don’t feel like disagreeing with agents (such as this one) publicly, which I’m fine with. I’d hate to lose that just to keep out some bad apples.
Megoblocks says
Sometimes I post anon cuz I’m just too lazy to log in 🙂
Linda says
You are a writer when you produce a body of work. Published or not, it’s the tangible evidence of words on paper that makes one a writer.
People who puff out their chests and proclaim themselves writers before they’ve actually written anything are abundant – and annoying. Suffer three years of a novel, or a chapbook or two, or even a damn good short that left you exhausted by the time you punched in THE END – THEN you are a writer.
Peace…
Anonymous says
Denese,
I am not that Anon 6:03. I wanted to tell you why I post Anon. Most of the time I am on my computer at work, which blocks me from signing in normally, plus a whole lot of other stuff (they go way over board). I do have to say that ANON 6:03’s comments are just their true feelings coming out, which sometimes I feel are actually helpful. It would stink to go into the real world with blinders on, thinking every one was as polite as they appeared, but then have them stab you from behind.
Anonymous says
Anon 6:03
Was the economy in this kind of shape when you were published the first time, and were the e-books as popular?
Anonymous says
Oh and ANON 6:03 baking a cake doesn’t make you a PROFESSIONAL baker, but you are still a baker, and it’s possible for you to be really good at it.
Melissa says
What do e-books have to do with the issue?
Ann Somerville says
Anon 6.03 – I’m pro-published *AND* self-published. If I took your attitude, I’d have to hate myself half the time. Fortunately…I don’t care about the opinions of people who slam self-pubbed writers without any idea what drives us. I’m the same person, with the same level of skill and committment, no matter how my books come before the public.
Pattie Garner says
Nathan, I think you ask these bizarre questions just to get a good laugh after a long days work!
Rick Daley says
Compensation doesn’t dictate the craft. Does a lawyer who practices pro bono forfeit their law degree?
Granted, the lawyer had a governing body that granted the degree in the first place, but I’m not changing my mind. If you don’t like it, find a pro bono lawyer and sue me 😉
Anonymous says
E-books can be self published making the need for agents and traditional publishers less the necessity. If the trend to continues to go towards e-books, as everyone predicts, the traditional route will be the old fashioned route. Also the economy suggests that it will be much harder to get a book printed by an old-fashioned publisher, and why the need with so much exposure with e-books and no distinctions. Suggesting you can only be an author the old fashioned way makes the standards far more difficult than they used to be to become an author. One day, according to some opinions here, they may even become extinct. So I seriously doubt ANON 6:03 is going through the same difficulties as the newbies to become an author.
Anonymous says
I’m Anon 6:03, and apparently I created a firestorm. I actually didn’t mean to.
First, my book was accepted by my publisher in mid-2001 and hit shelves in early 2003. That was our last recession — I know because I was one of the nearly 10% in our state who were out of work. I have no idea, however, how publishers fared during that time. That was before I was reading about publishing on the Web.
Second, I don’t harbor some burning hatred of self-published writers. I don’t walk down the street and spit on them, nor find their friends and family and try to discredit them. I don’t say a word to anyone who self-publishes unless they happen to ask my opinion. Even then, I ask for more details, such as how many copies have you sold? Or, how did you decide your book was of publishable quality? Even if I believe someone is “printed” rather than published, I’m polite about it. And I don’t mind at all if that person disagrees with me! It’s just my opinion, after all.
I also don’t paint all self-publishing with the same brush. I have a friend who was first traditionally published and then chose to self-publish her following books because she was writing for a sub-niche that she could market and distribute to herself. Each of her books has sold several thousand copies — I think that’s published by any definition!
As for e-books, I’m not sure I understand what their popularity has to do with anything. If they are more popular now, wouldn’t that give people MORE opportunities for traditional publishing? (I define traditional publishing by the process through which manuscripts are chosen and then edited.) Sorry if I’m misunderstanding something here!
I have a friend who kept a blog when she raised a litter of puppies. She included a lot of info of use to breeders, and she decided when she was done to publish it. She self-published. I have a copy of the book (signed even!). Does it meet my definition of “published”? Not even close. It’s not well-edited, it’s not well organized or especially well-written, and it hasn’t sold more than a handful of copies. But she’s proud of it — and I have NO PROBLEM with that. Why should I?
Even if she ran around claiming to be a published author I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Would I agree with her? Nope. So what? She didn’t ask me. And if she did, I’d be honest. Not cruel, but honest.
Anonymous says
Emily Dickinson only published a small handful of poems while she was alive. I don’t think anyone could read her later work and say it wasn’t written by a poet. Publishing gives one the title of the art, Author. One is born a writer. No, not all people who write are writers. I drive a car, but I’m not a chauffeur.
Anonymous says
E-books give more opportunity to self-publish without the public noticing the difference between them and the traditional publishing route. If traditional publishing is hard to get in to because of the economy then you will see more and more very good authors/writers going that direction.
Your friend didn’t start the blog with the intent of publishing, it was an after thought, which is different. And is it worth the hurt you may cause her by disagreeing with her, especially when the definition agrees with her?
As for the years 2000 to 2003, I don’t recall financial difficulties anything like they are now. They were totally different times.
Anonymous says
Um, when you’re out of work, and your industry isn’t hiring, financial difficulties are pretty much financial difficulties.
Alps says
I won’t claim to be a writer or an author until I can make a little money doing it. Until then, I’ll say I have a writing hobby.
BT says
I write, therefore I am.
I don’t remember where I heard/read that, but it’s true.
An author is someone with a published book. A writer who has published short fiction, is a published writer, who no doubt feels good about themselves and is probably striving hard to become an author.
Good luck to everyone who fits, or aspires to fit, into any of these categories.
Laura D says
I am constantly inspired by the world around me and driven to write impressions and/or stories around what I experience. In fact, I can be so taken with an idea that it becomes a need to pour it out of me. To me, that means I am compelled to write and am therefore, a writer. When I am finished, I have a work that I have authored because I wrote it.
other lisa says
When I got an agent and when I lost my other job. I mean, I gotta call myself something, beyond “prematurely retired.”
Dick Margulis says
Damn! I only refresh my RSS feeds every twelve hours. Here I am in my self-proclaimed area of expertise, and there are already 200 damn comments.
Okay, listen up folks. These are my definitions and I’m sticking with them.
An author is a person with authority, someone with a story to tell or knowledge to share, or a belief to express…someone with content, in other words. But an author is not necessarily skilled in the use of language.
A writer is someone who can make the language sing, who can shape content whether it comes from within or from an author who is not a writer. There are good writers and there are not-so-good writers, some of whom are trying to become good writers.
A professional writer is one who, regardless of skill level, can step back from the text–which may well represent the writer’s blood on the paper–and work unemotionally with an editor to improve the reader’s experience. Professionalism can begin on day one of a writer’s working life, or it may never come.
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
RE: Self-publishing and “Boo hoo hoo if you took a shortcut and now aren’t getting the respect you feel you deserve.”
Two writers who self-published are Anna Akhmatova (Russian poet) and Virginia Woolf (Woolf actually owned a printing press!) From https://orlando.jp.org/VWWARC/vwlife.html –
“1917 The Woolfs buy a secondhand printing press, and set up the Hogarth Press in the basement. Later, the press will publish T.S.Eliot, Katherine Mansfield, Freud, Gorky and all of Woolf’s novels and writings.”
The Impressionists mounted their own show, frustrated they weren’t being accepted by the official French Academy of Art.
Also in repressive Soviet-era Russia there was the whole tradition of self-publishing called “samizdat” –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat
Better get the same pro bono lawyer to sue me for going to Wikipedia, but I’m tired at the moment 🙂
Also in the US (and globally I’m pretty sure?) there is the whole “girlzine” movement – print up your magazine and distribute it for free or sell it cheap. Perfectly respectable and honorable (in a kick-ass feminist kind of way of course).
_____________________
Just as there is a history of publishing, there is a history of self-publishing…that isn’t just “vanity press” – if our favorite band self-published a book, it could be a collector’s item, I’m think of Sam Roberts band and my new fav song + music video “67 Riot”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCi17SEPgpc
If they self-published a bunch of interviews, with artwork, lyrics that never made it into a CD, yeah, I’d buy it in a heartbeat!
Alright, digression….
Scott says
People get too caught up with labels. If you do a thing, you are a doer of that thing, whether compensated or not. I ran track for nine years. I never got paid. But I was a runner.
I’ve been a tech writer for 20 years, which means that I’ve been a writer for 20 years. As a tech writer, I’ve authored many books. Most haven’t had my name on them because they were works for hire, but that doesn’t change anything.
I’ll have an article in the May issue of The Writer, so that also makes me a writer.
But, with all that experience, I don’t consider myself any more or less a writer than the mom who writes while her kids nap and hopes to one day hear from somebody who reads what she writes and liked it, even a little bit.
Polenth says
I was a writer when I started writing stuff on a regular basis.
Author tends to be associated with being published, even though the dictionary lets you use it more widely. Technically, I’m an author anytime I finish something. In reality, it sounds a little pretentious to sign ‘authored by Polenth Blake’ at the end of my shopping lists.