Years and years ago, I used to own a photography business. I had a license and everything (really). I knew what I was doing (not really), and I was on fire about making that business work (really). Eventually, I realized that everyone and their next door neighbor’s dog owns an SLR digital camera, and everyone and their next door neighbor’s dog wants to make money off their newfound photography skills. I did find that many people actually were making money off their legitimately professional skills, but sadly, many people I ran across were not quite making it. They were making a little money off their little businesses and providing decent products to their clients, but from what I could observe they were not anywhere near those big-league professional photographers with studios and paychecks to support themselves. I was one of those artists who wasn’t quite making it, and I gave up because I believed I’d never be a “real” photographer.
This brings me to writing because I feel that when I switched over from photography, which had been a brief respite in the long haul of my writing career, I was still an amateur in a business filled with truly legitimate professional writers and authors. Although I now get paid for my writing, I still feel small-league. But it’s fine. I’ve finally realized something very important — something I wish I’d realized back when I was doing photography (but I’m kind of glad I didn’t because then I probably wouldn’t be a writer right now). What I realized led me to these questions:
When should you call yourself a writer? What makes any writer a professional writer?
My answer to Question #1 is — If you make a conscious effort to sit your butt in a chair/sofa/bed/floor and write on a consistent basis, you are a writer. If you are consistently producing material, whether you are publishing it or not, you are a writer. If you’re taking a break from writing and you have plans for when you will begin again, you are a writer. If you don’t have any honest plans to write again … I’m afraid you are on a break from being a writer, as well. If you’ve completed writing projects in the past, or published projects in the past, and you are no longer writing, then you are only an author, not an author and a writer. I think there’s a big difference there.
My answer to Question #2 is — That’s a tricky one, isn’t it? What makes a writer a professional writer? I’d have to say it’s a combination of things, but no one person can tell you if you’re a professional writer or not. I think one qualification is if you’re making money off your writing and you are still writing and you’re treating that writing as a career, then you’re a professional writer — even if it’s a small amount of money. Nobody can start throwing out numbers for that, so in my opinion, as long as you’re making consistent money off what you produce, you’re likely a professional, whether or not you’re living off that income. If you’re no longer actively writing and you’re still making consistent money off past projects, then you’re an author who makes money off past projects, but you’re no longer a writer. If you’re not making money off your writing yet, and you’re aiming to do that at some point, I hope you don’t call yourself “just a hobby writer”. It’s not just a hobby if you’re genuinely aiming to make a career out of it!
These are, of course, just my opinions. I’ve heard many times that you are only a professional when you are making a living off your work. This is what I bought into when I was trying to make my photography business succeed. I was so far away from reaching that “professional” status that it drove me to quit altogether. I treat photography as a hobby now, and that’s okay. But my writing is currently not a hobby. It’s a real career for me, and I proudly call myself a writer, an author, and a professional. I won’t let labels drive me to quit this time! If you’re on a similar path as me, I sure hope you don’t either.