Learning how to be a professional writer

By Dennis Mellersh

There is a distinct technical difference between learning (1) how to write professionally; (2) learning how to be a professional writer and (3) being or becoming a professional writer.

In the first case (1) you will be learning how to write as well as a professional writer; in the second example (2), you will be learning how to make money through your writing after you have learned to write well enough; and in the third example (3) you are earning money through your writing.

The novelist and poet Margaret Atwood compares the difference between a professional and non-professional artist to singing. Many people can sing songs in a pleasing manner, perhaps even sounding “professional” but they cannot call themselves professional singers unless people are paying money to hear them sing.

In the case of writing, you can learn to write well through a combination of formal writing courses, workshops, self-study, and a lot of practice. And, you can learn enough about the craft of writing (again with a lot of practice) to be able to write as well as a professional writer.

But you will not technically be a professional writer unless you can make a living or a portion of your living by means of your writing. To paraphrase Atwood, you will be a professional writer when "an informed audience" is reading your work and you are being paid for it.

Many of the people who earn their living through writing are journalists who work as employees of publishing companies. Others have developed their writing skills to the point where they can be independent professional writers and make money as freelance writers who are paid for individual writing assignments or projects.

In nearly all cases, writers who are employees of publishing companies are writing non-fiction.
In my own case, for example, for the first part of my writing career, I was an employee with a major national business-magazine publishing company and progressed through various stages of responsibility from writing articles and news stories to being the editor and editor/publisher of a number of magazines. In the second and current part of my life as a writer, I have worked independently as a freelance writer and editor and that is how I have earned my living to date.

Professional Fiction writers and poets (novels, short stories, poems) such as are discussed often on this website, are in virtually all cases, writing independently from an employer and are earning money through their fiction as independent authors. Similarly, in most cases, writers of non-fiction books are not employees of the companies that publish their work, but are independent authors.

As discussed earlier, you can learn to write professionally, in a professional manner, or as well as a professional writer, but technically speaking,  it is misleading to call yourself a professional writer unless you are making money with your writing.

However, don`t be surprised if you work hard at learning the craft of writing and also practice a lot, that at some point someone will tell you: “Your work is very professional.” If that person also pays you for your work, you are then entitled to call yourself a “professional writer.”

Regardless of these technical differences however, you can call yourself a “writer”, if you are seriously learning how to write fiction or non-fiction and are also actually writing a reasonable amount of fiction or non-fiction.