My status as an author is I am a self-published independent (or "indie") author. I still use Kindle Direct Publishing and Draft2Digital to try to get my work published online.
As soon as you get paid for anything you write writing is then your profession - or at least one of them. Sure, you can mend shoes for a living, too, but that would only make you a professional writer who also repairs shoes.
Making a million bucks doesn't make one more of a writer than the guy who was paid $10.00 to draft a resume - it just makes the former more of a financially successful writer.
I would like to ask you, though, do you ever work with an editor?
Unless one has had some very lengthy journalistic training, writers tend to make mistakes - if only a dropped comma. We're not talking a submissions editor but just someone with enough linguistic savvy to point out slips in grammar, syntax, punctuation, and so on - and will help you 'polish' what you write.
Professional editors will actually charge a fee (obviously
) but that depending on the length of your work.
Quite often the credibility of an unedited writer is undermined because of a dropped word or careless construction.
Depends what you are writing, and where, of course.
Here, in this forum, we tend to write rather more casually to prevent stilted or too formal discussion, and we make many slips and they are glossed over, but if you are writing a piece that is attacking a very serious subject then the expressiveness calls for a different presentation.
The How-to-for-Dummies series was a great example in breaking the mold (when it came to serious instruction) but the structure of the language used and the presentation of ideas professional enough to be taken seriously.
Also - a million copies sold begins with that first sale. Competition is fierce not because the competition is fierce - but because there is so much out there not everybody gets to see everything right away. Patience - and keep going. 👍
_______________________
Okay, writers - final quiz for the year - what is the OEDs Word of the Year?
Actually . . . that's a trick question.
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/11/word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/
Well, damn you, Google. There's no ignorance left with you around.
The other 'legal' words (yup, 'they' is now popularly legitimate again in that context):
ad blocker, noun: A piece of software designed to prevent advertisements from appearing on a web page.
Brexit, noun: A term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, from
British +
exit.
Dark Web, noun: The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.
on fleek, adjectival phrase: Extremely good, attractive, or stylish.
lumbersexual, noun: A young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress (typified by a beard and check shirt) suggestive of a rugged outdoor lifestyle.
refugee, noun: A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
sharing economy, noun: An economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either for free or for a fee, typically by means of the Internet.
they (singular), pronoun: Used to refer to a person of unspecified sex.
