Have you been writing sentences, verses, songs, letters, love poems – on pieces of paper, in a note book or on your computer?

Do you keep a diary where you write your inner most thoughts of sadness, happiness, and secret worries…and about the ever-increasing prices of butter, cheese and lard?
“Settled then! You are a writer!”
“Not me!” I hear you say.

WHO THEN IS A WRITER? WHO IS AN AUTHOR?

According to the dictionary, a writer is “a person who has written something.”
Think back to your childhood days, (not that long ago, I hope). We all had to write something – an essay on Christmas; make up a poem about the wind. (I still remember the days of slate and chalk!) What about that resume/cv we wrote when we were applying for that job. Bet you remember how long that took to formulate.
We have all written something, in our time, haven’t we? We can safely take the chance and say that we are all writers.

WRITING JOBS

Some of us took on writing, paying jobs and have been writing for magazines, newspapers and other forms of publications, hence the result of: travel writers, food writers, medical writers, business writers, copywriters, journalists, non-fiction writers, the academic writers who write for scientific journals and other university publications. My sister writes for one such journal called: “The Journal Of English Language And Literature.” The list goes on. These writers use facts and the ideas of other people.

THE BOX UNDER YOUR BED

Then there are the writers who write for pure fun, amassing tons of pieces that are stored in a box under the bed. I once visited a friend who was cleaning out his old stuff. He sat among the pile and read a piece he had written in school. When he was finished, he looked up at me, sadly and said, “I was a good writer in school.” And that’s where we left our writing – in school or in a box under the bed. These days, it is left on our computers with all those hundreds of photographs we take and never use.

NO MORE! Are you a writer or an author? It’s time to unleash the author in you.

Are You The Next Stephen King, J.K. Rowling or Andrew Reynolds?

WHO IS AN AUTHOR?

Difference Between.net notes that an author comes up with his own ideas, plots and content. Additionally, you “…must get your work published.” This, seems more suited to fiction writers. There is no confusion where to place, Stephen King – he came up with his own ideas, plotted and created the content, selling more than 350 million copies of his books. Another well-known example is J.K. Rowling who created her own content and went on to sell, collectively, more than 500 million copies of Harry Potter since the release of “The Philosopher’s Stone” in 1997. Writers who have earned – THE AUTHOR TITLE.

But what about non-fiction writers? Where do they fall on the spectrum of writer-author? They too must come up with fresh ideas of their own and cleverly craft their content so that their writing appeals to their readers.

See, here is the MISTAKE WE’VE BEEN MAKING!
We narrowly think that authors must write fiction and when we can’t create a character to replace Harry Potter we give up.
Many of us live interesting enough lives that we can use to start writing about.
Become the character in your book.

Take Andrew Reynolds for instance, is he a writer or an author? HE WAS THE CHARACTER in his non-fiction book, “Copy This Idea.”

Andrew Reynolds, was asked by Wiley and Sons to write a book. He did not write a traditional business book that was “…full of charts and graphs, … full of cutesy business phrases and pseudo-intellectual theoretical nonsense.” Guess what he did? He wrote about himself. That’s right! He wrote a book that detailed his journey “… from start up, to banking over £50 Million.”
When “Copy This Idea” was first launched it went straight to the Sunday Times Business Best Seller’s List. It also became WH Smiths’ number one on the Non-Fiction and Business Charts.
STEVE JOB’S BIOGRAPHY WAS KNOCKED OFF the NUMBER ONE SPOT!
Now there is something to consider.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

Come on! What’s your story? There’s a book inside of you waiting to be published! A book waiting to see the light of  day! Is it fiction? Non-fiction? Or a little of both?

What’s the common factor among Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and Andrew Reynolds, you ask? They are authors who are writers; all of them have not stopped writing. These authors have diversified their writing and gone on to win several awards. Stephen even collaborated with other writers. The JK story we all know well.  And Andrew Reynolds? Has he stopped writing? Certainly NOT! I haven’t seen another book as yet but I have seen several of his other pieces of writing.  He is the author of the Home Study Course, “Cash On Demand” as well as the very informative “Copy These Ideas” Monthly Newsletters. He also has a blog and writes the scripts for his training seminars.

Andrew Reynolds has demolished the theoretical barrier that existed between writer and author to earn his place as an author. Here is a writer who has seen beyond the narrow-author definition and has gone on to make millions from his writing.

What are you waiting for?
Where do you find yourself as you read this article? The Collection Under The Bed type or the I’M GONNA PUBLISH AND BECOME AN AUTHOR type?

I find myself in both categories. I have been writing and have loads in boxes under my bed as well as on my computer hard drive.  (Have moved up, you know, since my chalk and slate days). That makes me a writer! I have published a book called, “Do It Today: A Collection Of Poems.” That makes me an author! And Amazon agrees! Even has an Author Page for me. How cool is that?

THE BARRIERS ARE NOW CROSSED BETWEEN THE WRITER VERSUS AUTHOR FENCE

The barriers have been crossed between writer versus author and it is so much easier for us today. Yet, we wait for I know not what. (Myself included). Recently, I was asked to review some course materials that were authored by some experts in the financial field.  Note they are called authors of the course material. Technical writers in the field of aerospace, defence, energy, just to name a few, are calling themselves authors, these days. Software Engineer, Shawn Mc Clean, in a WhatsApp interview agreed that in the tech industry,

coders are calling themselves, “…artists, craftsmen and authors.”
Abigail Persaud Cheddie, University Lecturer and Scholar summarized it nicely by saying that “…a writer who writes  lengthy content and publishes it can be called an author.”

In this fast-changing world, I think that, the traditional definition of the word author needs updating to include all the writers who are writing more elaborate pieces for websites, e-books, e-courses etc.

Are you writing and storing under your bed or on your hard drive?  Or are you publishing on the many available platforms? You can be called an author, today.

Writer versus Author!
You decide!