All is Fair in Love and HTML: Does blogging make you a writer?
At first glance, it seems the internet levels the writing playing field. The predictions: With a click of a button, equal access is born.
Readers can connect (follow, update, tweet) with writers, editors, publishers, agents; query letters are replaced by blogs; intent is replaced by content; publishing is replaced by self-publishing.
All is fair in html.
Or is it?
I agree, anyone can write, publish, print, blog. If you have something to say, there is someone who wants to read it.
And if you are willing to write for free, well you are willing to be read for free. If you love to write and write for the sake of writing, the internet is an spiritual goldmine.
Pop up any Craig’s List Writer’s Wanted Ad in most major cities and you will open a link to the unpaid writing opportunity of a LIFETIME. Editors and publishers are eager to read and publish your free content to promote you on their soon-to-be discovered site.
But, for free I can write on the topic of my choice and publish it on my own yet-to-be discovered blog.
And, I do.
Still, I write, submit and wait to be published in traditional media as well.
It’s my marker, how I define my success. Blogging provides me the freedom to write what I want to write, to take responsibility for my words and to publish them anyway. As someone who endeavors to be paid for what I write, submitting and publishing is validation and more.
While it's certainly not this cut and dry, if I write for nothing, I get nothing. If I write with intent to publish, I get read.
So, does blogging make you a writer?
Writing makes you a writer; blogging makes you a blogger.
Maybe the difference is intent. Maybe the difference is content. And maybe, there isn't a difference at all.
