I just read another blog by someone who said she was embarrassed to tell people she was a writer because she hadn’t published a book.

That’s absolute nonsense.

Plenty of outstanding writers never write books.

I had been writing professionally for about five years when I got my first book contract—and I wasn’t looking for it. I was happily earning a comfortable living freelancing for magazines and writing newsletters for businesses. I was already a writer—I didn’t become one when that first book was published.

Several years later, I attended a presentation a friend of mine gave at church about a book he’d written. Afterward, as people lined up to buy autographed copies of his book, someone said to me, “When are you going to write a book?”

At the time, I’d written twelve books (I’m now up to forty-five). Some were ghostwritten and released by major publishing houses (my name wasn’t on the cover, but it was on the check). Others were part of Entrepreneur Media’s Start-Up Basics series—they were books that were never going to hit a bestseller list or make me a household name, but they gave people valuable information and I enjoyed researching and writing them.

I think the person who asked me when I was going to write a book was actually trying to be encouraging, but he didn’t know much about me or the business of writing so it didn't quite come across that way. But I digress.

My point is: If you write, you are a writer.

It doesn’t matter what you write—books, blogs, marketing content, product instructions, or notes to your kids—if you write, you’re a writer.

Own the label. Say it proudly.

If someone asks about your book and you don’t have one, don’t apologize. If you want to talk about what you’re working on, book or otherwise, do it. If you don’t, change the subject. Or ask, “What do you like to read?”

Writer or author?

Don’t get tied up in knots about whether you’re an author or writer. Some people use the terms interchangeably. Some people insist that authors have published books whereas mere writers have not.

More than once, when I’ve answered the “what do you do?” question with, “I’m a writer,” the response has been, “Are you an author?” Most of the time, the person is trying to learn more about what I do. I consider it an invitation to explain in more detail—unless I’m feeling cranky, and then I’m likely to say (as patronizingly as I can), “I’m the author of what I write.”

Here’s what came up when I Googled the terms:

Author: (noun) a writer of a book, article, or report; (verb) be the author of (a book or piece of writing)

Writer: (noun) a person who has written a particular text; a person who writes books, stories, or articles as a job or regular occupation

You are the author of what you write, whatever it is.

And if you write, you’re a writer.

Jacquelyn Lynn
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