Pro vs. Amateur

“Which am I, a professional writer or an amateur, and which is better?”

If you’re a writer, these are probably questions you’ve asked yourself at one time or another. I know I have. Unfortunately, there’s no clean-cut yes-or-no answer I can give you. It depends on the individual more than anything else. Truthfully, I don’t believe you can separate writers into such broad categories as “amateur” and “professional”; there are many different aspects–or subcategories, if you prefer–of each.

The Amateur

The Fan-fiction Writer:

When someone mentions an amateur writer, most people probably conjure up an image of a pimply-faced teen plugging away at a work of fan-fiction. Well, although a good percentage of fan-fiction is written by teens, this is hardly a flattering description. In truth, people of all ages write fan-fiction (my favorite fan-fiction story was written by a thirty year old woman with a husband and daughter). Most fan-fiction writers are writing with the understanding that they will never have their fan work professionally published, although many fan authors post their work on FanFiction.net, LiveJournal communities, or their own websites. I know of very few instances in which fan-fiction has been professionally published.

In most cases, there is nothing wrong with fan-fiction. Most people have probably written a piece of fan-fiction at one time or another. There are several published authors who got their start with fan-fiction and later branched out to their own created worlds. However, there are other writers who write nothing but fan-fiction. Generally, these are people writing for the love alone, which brings us to:

The “For The Love” Writer:

As hard as it might be for some to imagine, there are writers who have no ambition to be published. They write stories–perhaps whole novels!–and never submit them, showing them only to a select group of family and/or friends. For most of these people, writing is its own reward.

However, some writers have severe self-esteem issues and do not believe that their work is good enough to be published. Alternately, they may hate their novel with a vengeance. Stephen King threw his first novel, Carrie, in the trash, convinced that it was no good. His wife rescued it and persuaded him to finish it. Carrie later became a best-seller, proving that authors are not the best judges of their own work. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Non-Paying/Semi-Pro Contributor:

This writer submits his stories only to magazines that either don’t pay or pay less than 1 cent/word, despite the fact that his work is eminently suited to a well-known pro-paying market. Now, the author may have a very good reason for submitting to the semi-pros; perhaps he knows the editor, or wants to help a fledgling market get a good start.

But there are many writers who submit to the semi-pros because they are positive they couldn’t get accepted at a pro-paying magazine. This isn’t to say that semi-pros are “bad” markets; there are some very good and very well-respected ones out there. However, the vast majority aren’t well-known and receive fewer submissions, so they might not have the same standards as a pro market. A writer can probably get lesser-quality work published at a non-paying/semi-pro market.

There’s a downside to this. Some writers get so stuck on being published, even with little or no payment, that they never take the chance of submitting to a professional market for fear of rejection. At this point, it’s ego-stroking and staying “safe” rather than taking chances.

The Professional

The Best-selling Author:

He’s on TV all the time, has had movies made out of his books, lives in a huge mansion, brings in an annual six-figure income, and is a household name. Everyone wants to be him (or her). We’ll leave it at that.

The Self-Supporting Professional:

Some writers actually make enough money from writing to support themselves. Although they’re usually not rich and famous, and rarely make the New York Times, these people have built up enough of a fan base or have done well enough financially to support themselves on writing alone. Only about 5% of all writers, not genre-specific, are able to support themselves on writing alone; it’s a great thing to aspire to, but don’t quit your day job the day you make your first sale.

The Paid Professional:

These are writers who’ve been published and paid for their work. Most of these authors work a second job, or perhaps more, because writing isn’t enough to live on (and face it, that’s the majority of writers, despite popular opinion). Sometimes these are short story writers, as well as novelists. Usually, these novelists haven’t had enough time to gain a fan base or else have been beat into the ground by chain ordering systems. Short story writers simply don’t earn enough money per story to support themselves.

There isn’t anything wrong with this; the majority of published authors fit into this category, and they like it. Some writers have another job that they love just as much as their writing and don’t want to write full-time. Others who want to write full-time keep plugging away and working towards a break out.

The Unpublished Professional:

How can someone who hasn’t been published be a professional? Professionalism in writing isn’t all about the money–after all, the market is so tight that plenty of competent writers can’t make it in. Rather, what I consider the unpublished professional is someone who follows standard manuscript formatting when submitting, follows publisher’s guidelines, and continually tries to better herself and her fiction. This is a true professional.
So, which is best? Amateur or pro, and which of the subcategories? That’s up to you. Some people are comfortable writing nothing but fan-fiction, and still others wouldn’t be happy until they hit Big Name Author status (though I want to warn you, it’ll be a long wait if all you’re writing for is fame and fortune). Most writers I know fall into the category of “Unpublished Professional,” striving for “Paid Professional,” and later “Self-Supporting Professional.”

It’s your choice. You decide what you want, and don’t let anyone stand in the way of your dreams.

Posted by Nonny under Uncategorized