Recently, I read a discussion on one of my author loops about what a professional author is. There was a bit of debate on the difference between professional, as an adjective and professional, as a noun. Can one be a professional (noun) without being professional (adj)? Yes. Can you be professional (adj) without being a professional? Yes. But all the words aside, there’s the potential for this to become a very slippery slope that writers have skid down many times before. (And you know what — any professional author is at heart, always, a writer. You are never not a writer so this means all of us.) And one of the considered tenants of what makes an author a professional author prompted this post —because it seemed unfair.
Someone suggested that being a “professional” writer was based on how often you sit down to write. I don’t agree with that. At all. For some, writing every day is a must. For others, writing on weekends is all they can swing. For others, it’s write one week, skip the next week. Or maybe some binge write like others binge watch TV after they’ve pulled an all-nighter. There are as many ways to work at being a professional (adjective) writer as there are ways to commute to work. It’s all about choices, priorities. And there are a variety of choices and priorities that you can set your path while still earning you the right to call yourself a professional author.
In the sense of the adjective “professional”, one definition from dictionary.com is: following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain. Another: following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime. Here’s another one that talks about the time invested: making a business or constant practice of something not properly to be regarded as a business.
Being an author is about writing, but it’s about more than writing, as well. You are your own small business, with all the same concerns and considerations of any small business. Getting customers, establishing your brand, managing your finances, building your business, offering great products and aiming toward your business goals. The product we provide is an experience in book format. But the goals we set for our small business are what make us professional authors. We might be writing for fun, but we’re aiming to build a brand out of our writing, of our author’s name. Of our ability to provide the experience readers are looking for. So every minute spent running that business makes you a professional. It’s the balance of those things, plus timing, plus hard work that carve success. And to be honest, I’ve seen plenty of “professional” authors who aren’t very professional. I’ve also seen writers who might not have hit what they consider “professional author” status yet but they are as professional as they come when it comes to aiming at their goals and achievements.
Just like no one can tell me how to build my small business, I can’t tell another author how to build theirs —not what their measure of success is or what their priorities should be. I do believe that priorities are key in success. You have to measure what you’re willing to give up for what you hope to gain. The speed you achieve those gains will be reflected in the sacrifices you make to get there. There’s ALWAYS a sacrifice, be it time, ability, knowledge, speed of success, speed of accomplishments, etc. But that isn’t to say that only one path of sacrifices proves you’re professional.