Do You Want to Become an Author or a Writer? Excuse Me, Are You An Author?

Do you want to become an author or do you want to become a writer? Some time ago, a guy outside a coffee shop walked up to me and said this.

“excuse me I’ve seen you on Instagram, are you an author?”

I replied, “Yes”

He said "cool I have always wanted to speak to an author can I ask you some questions?”

And then we had a conversation based on how do I get my book published?"

The publishing conversation is a conversation I have a lot but I enjoyed the chat and enjoyed the young guy's company.

It went like this.

He told me that he had written a book just over four years ago. The book had been edited, written, written, and edited time and time again. In fact, he told me he was editing his book once again.

I say book but actually what he has is a manuscript in the draft. A book is surely the finished manuscript presented in the form of a book.

And that is the part after four years he still has been able to do.

He told me he had tried everything.

Kindle,  self-publishing, and even spent some cash trying to print a single book but it proved to be too timely, expensive, and confusing for him.

Here is what I told him.

Do you really want to become an author?

He told me yes.

I told him that first, you must believe that you are a writer an author a person that can communicate through words and words that people would want to read.

Second, you have to take the business of publishing seriously if you want to move into a new level of being a writer and author. This simply means for him that he needs to stop pretending he can do everything himself plus juggle his job with both hands.

And I also told him that a manuscript on a computer isn't a book. It is a collection of words that aren't published. It's an unfinished project.

Yes, I told him again I am a published author but it has taken a long time to become that author and writer. It has also taken a lot of investment yet it’s easy to forget the things we really want in life take investment.

That investment might be time, it might be cash or it might be more from your own mind. Either way, it's a commitment.

Writing a manuscript is easy.
Getting published is the next level from writer to author.

There is no need to make it a struggle that carries on for years.

How to get your book published – let’s talk.

Please subscribe to our newsletter here where we share more details on the world of writing a book, becoming a writer, becoming an author and publishing books.