Are there too many writers in the world?

Question

The problem in publishing is there's too much stuff being sent to publishers. Most people can call themselves writers, because, for example, most people have written at least a poem. Then, they may also believe that immortality beckons if they get published.

Alternatively, what is a writer? Does being published make you a writer?

Answer 1

I used to be a writer. I got published a little, and tried to live off of the proceeds of my work. I did nothing else to earn money. After a while I lived in my car and nearly starved. I was a writer.

These days I am an engineer, and writing is my hobby. I get published a couple of times a year, but I do not need to live off of the money that I make writing. Does getting published make me a writer today? No, it is a part of my hobby.

The biggest difference (besides my waistline) is that I no longer eat, drink, sleep, breathe...live for writing. I used to always run dialog through my head. I took notes of things I saw that might give me inspiration. I made haiku instead of raging at other drivers on the road. I wrote whether I was inspired to do so or not.

Now I write when I have time. I write when the muse hits me over the head with a sledgehammer (she may speak softly at times, but I seldom listen for her.) I subscribe to writing magazines that I could never afford while I called myself a writer. I talk about writing...but I am not a writer. No amount of publishing right now will make me a writer...that has to come from within.

Answer 2

Being published doesn't make you a writer. It only means you have been published. For that matter, you can self-publish and there is a whole, vast industry, referred to as 'vanity press' just waiting to publish anything you have written -- but they will charge you a hefty fee for doing it.
Reputable publishers are swamped with manuscripts. That's why a whole new level of employment has evolved. Sandwiched in between the publisher and the writer is the agent. Originally, agents would place books with the most appropriate publisher. But you had to be a published author to get an agent. Today, the literary agents act as a screen between the publisher and the author, and they will not submit poorly written or unsaleable manuscripts, because their credibility rests on the type of mss they submit.
There are many fine writers who never publish. Never even want to publish. They are happy simply writing. There are writers' groups who gather on a regular basis to read and critique each other's work. Many of these groups include fine writers, but for whatever reason, they never submit their work for publication and it remains known to only a few. Which is a pity, as there is so much dreck on the book shelves today.
Sorry, didn't mean to ramble, but you posed a very interesting question.

Answer 3

The publishing world does indeed get WAY TOO MANY manuscripts (hundreds of thousands every year) and can publish only a small amount. To be a writer requires that you have a vast portfolio of PUBLISHED works, and not, like you said, to have written some little poem. Being publlished does not make you a writer, it just makes you published. It is a difficult field to get into and most never become best-selling authors. Only a handful, if that.

Answer 4

Being published does not make you a writer. You are either a writer or you are not. It's a talent that not everyone has. Some people just aren't good judges of their own writing. I edited a book manuscript for an author who just couldn't write well. Editing is always touchy when you don't know how an author will react. In this case, he was not able to write well, but he did recognize good writing when he saw it. The book was published quite awhile ago.

Answer 5

There probably too many writers out there. Think of the poor trees.

You don't have to be published to be a writer, but you do need to write more than just one poem (which by the way makes you a poet). You need to be writing a lot of the time and thinking about it when you're not.

Answer 6

There can never be too many writers: people need information, facts, tuition, or just plain entertainment. The written word allows this for it is a form of communication, rather like your question and the answers you receive to it.

A writer knows him/herself what they are, like an actor or a musician would know. It is about having a passion for something, and doing something with that passion regardless of public recognition and/or fame.

Those that have written a piece of fiction from their own imagination, be it one page or one line, a poem or a novel, have done so because they feel the need to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

Does writing that question make you a writer? How many cigarettes must one smoke to be tagged a smoker? How many rounds played to be a golfer?

Classifying a person as “something” does not need public recognition or money changing hands.
There is a difference in what you do for a living, and who you are as a person.

I write daily. I would not make a career out of writing, even if published, because I write for myself. As such, I do not care if my work goes unpublished, but I am a writer.

Answer 7

It dosent matter how many writers there are out there only the good ones can become authors. Its like on the X factor, lots of people think they have tallent but very few do. I dont think work is rejected because there is too much being sent to publishers, its rejected because most of it isnt very good! Its just reality.Publishing houses want to make money and they wont by publishing amature scribbles.

Answer 8

How can there be too much creativity in the world? Being a writer is a state of mind, you don't need to be published to be one. That's just a material attitude. Writing isn't always about meeting a demand. It is a form of expression and you can never have too much of that.

Answer 9

No. There's more published writing than people will ever read, and more unpublished writing than editors would ever have time to read, and there are too many people who are poor thinkers and observors who write, but there could never be too many writers to suit me.

In fact, the opposite seems to be true! There are all too many people, including college graduates, who can't say what they mean in plain, simple, rational sentences, tracing more to lack of thinking skills and lack of real effort to communicate their meaning than lack of any "writing gift"! As for poetry and other creative writing, there are those who do it for their own satisfaction and to share with friends, with little concern for publication.

A writer is somebody who has learned how to research, creatively imagine and/or think, and to write clearly with a definite goal in mind, whether to convince, inform, or entertain. Being a good writer doesn't necessarily get you published, and obviously much mediocre or downright incompetent writing gets published.

Answer 10

writing a book (in fact, writing anything) makes u a writer. publishing it only means you have other plans apart from just writing and there cant be too many writers in the world. take for instance, if everybody in the world right now should write a book... would u call that "too much?"