jeriendhal | Ms. Hogarth makes a point (Reply)

haikujaguar has something to say about the rewards of self-publishing compared to traditional benchmarks defining a "real" writer, such as having a book contract or getting a "real" review.

We're both hobbyists ultimately (professional in the sense we get paid for our work, but hobbyists from almost every other POV.) Though, I think she's a bit less of a hobbyist than I am for certain. I'm still waiting to break the triple digit mark for my sales.

But as she points out, there are rewards other than money for doing what we do. I haven't quite hit all the points on her bulleted list, but I've had fanart made of my stories, fanfic written by the original author based off of something I've wrote, reviews of my work posted Amazon...

...but most important to me is that I have made people laugh/cry/be uplifted. I've made emotional connections to people through my work. My art.

So in the most important sense to me, I am a writer.