The difference between being labeled a writer or an author, or so I’d always been told, was money: Anyone could be a writer, but you couldn’t call yourself an author until you’d sold your writing. No idea who first came up with that definition, but I’m pretty sure it was someone who’d either sold some writing or was in the business of buying someone else’s.
I just started a new job last week, and I suddenly found myself in the position of needing to make some tweaks to my professional labeling – and I found myself at a loss. I could technically fit under either the writer or author label, by the definitions I was accustomed to using, and I honestly wasn’t sure which one would be the best way to identify myself. So I went searching to find out how other people who do generally what I do were doing it, and what I found out was that there has apparently been a lot of ongoing discussion about Writer vs. Author in the writing world, what those labels mean and how they should be used. Not helpful! Then, however, I found it. A definition that made sense, wasn’t denigrating to anyone, and absolutely spoke to me.
Writers write with one eye on their audience – they write what they think their audience wants to read. Doesn’t mean they aren’t creative, or that they’re sell-outs. It just means a Writer’s focus is on using their talent to tell stories they already know someone wants to read, and then putting those stories in front of the audience that was asking for them.
Authors, on the other hand, pretty much don’t care what other people want them to write – they write what they want, when they want. Doesn’t mean they’re undisciplined, or that they don’t care about their audience. It just means an Author’s focus is on telling the story that’s already in their head, and then letting the audience come to them as it will.
Defined this way, the two labels indicate no difference in talent, success, or creativity, just a difference in approach: Writers spend more time focused outward and authors spend more time focused inward. ‘Writer’ and ‘Author’ aren’t designations for rungs on the writing ladder, they’re just two sides of the same coin.
And yes, I did end up changing my professional label, and here’s why: I may love my readers, but when I’m writing I’m telling the story I want to tell, not the story I think they want to read. I write what I want to write, when I want to write it – I may be inspired or even push myself if someone asks me for something, but if I’m really not feeling it? I won’t. Which means that at the end of the day, no matter what other labels I may fall under because of my job description, I am at heart and always have been an Author. And I probably always will be.