Mini Essay Trial (Career choice info)

According to a research conducted by Wikipedia, an internationally acclaimed online encyclopaedia, there are over a million published writers across the globe, only 15% of them can earn a decent living, and, amazingly, less than a thousand of them – dead or alive – are bestselling authors which means, total book sales exceed one hundred million copies (for example: William Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, Leo Tolstoy...). Regardless, I’m going to try my luck at the writing game, attempt to become a published author, and – hey, might as well aim as high as possible while I’m at it, right? – become the planet’s most read writer of all time. However, until that day comes, I’d believe it would be interesting to share with you some obscure, yet enthralling facts from the world of words...(Please pardon me if that came off as pompous or cheesy)

            First and foremost, an unusual piece of information that some people tend to completely ignore, is that there are no educational prerequisites to become a published author. In fact, the world’s youngest author published is Jason Gaes, an eight year-old boy who wrote a 200-page novel called My Book For Kids With Cansur [sic]. This said, in addition to the lack of age prerequisites, there are no education level restrictions either. For example, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, was a high school dropout living a bit of a difficult life, surviving on low-income welfare checks…However, this is before she began writing and publishing her impressively popular novels, aimed at a rather youthful teenage audience. Although, even after shedding light on such rare situations, education and experience within the domain of literature and writing in general can do nothing but good when it comes to creating a book.

Not only that, but, although there are countless published authors across the globe today (be it from free press publishing or paid editing and publishing done by a specialized company), about 65% of these writers have not published more than one book: be it a play, a novel, a short story collection or a play; most of them abandon after their shot at success has been flung off the intended mark. This can also mean that one can publish over three-hundred novels in a single lifespan, yet still earn little to virtually no readers, even after death. On the other hand, an author with less than a dozen books published can still earn international recognition in a very little time span, from sheer sales, as well as critical praise. A good example would be Tolkien, creator of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: many only know him for his grand fantasy epic of The Fellowship of the Ring, The two Towers and The Return of the King, as well as the prelude to these adventures, The Hobbit.  However, he has actually published over twenty volumes of fiction based in middle-earth (the world in which Lord of the Rings takes place), prior and future to the trilogy’s publishing, including the Silmarillion, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and The Children of Hùrin. All things considered, success in the literary field can be attributed to luck, as well as skill and effort.

In addition, there exist authors who are considered downright revolutionary when it comes to their creative genius and enthralling imagination, yet only possess local acclaim for their work. For example, Gaston Miron is perhaps one of the most important poets in the province of Quebec’s history, earning the title of one of Quebec’s most important and crucial political supporters through his poetry alone, earning such a glorious title thanks to a single publication, a collection of poetry entitled L’homme Rapaillé (roughly translates to The reassembled man). However, his publications have only been partly translated into other languages, and sales or recognition from other countries has been minimal, even absent, with the sole possible exception of France. Another example, and possibly the best one to illustrate my point, is that of Mao Zhedong’s (The dictator of China) Little Red Book. It’s the number one best-seller in China…But it is solely sold in china, written in an older style of Mandarin. This of course can be seen as a sign that, no matter how good you are, sometimes, your name won’t fly as graciously when far from home.

In conclusion, though the world of writing and publishing is much less glamorous (and sometimes even a bit fickle) compared to one’s common expectations, and clearly indicate that, while important, sometimes talent just won’t cut it…Pft. Like I’m going to let that stop me. Keep an eye out for my name on a shelf if any of you ever go to a bookstore, you got that? I need a lot of fans!