Many young (and adult) people like the idea of being an author. Many even write short stories, or novels, or movie scripts, in their spare time, sometimes publishing them online or in amateur publications, but when they come to the moment where they could chose to become a professional author, most don't dare to take that step. Some, because they realize that they don't want to put the pressure of having to earn their living on what is a pleasant pastime, thus destroying the fun of it. But most, simply because they don't know if they would succeed. There is not test for the ability to be an author, no assessment center to go through, that will tell you if you have what it takes to be successful at the job of writing.
So, without having to waste decades on a lost case, or, conversely, without wasting your life in a job you don't enjoy when you could have become the next John Grisham,
Sure, sheer luck and the unpredictable trends of the market play a huge role in wether or not a book or author will become bestselling, but probably there is something that all authors share that (a) enables them to do the job of writing every day for half a century, and (b) makes them reasonably successful at it for them to earn their living with it.
Beyond the basics of knowing how to read and write (well), how can you tell – without having to live to the end of your life and, looking back, think that that wasn't it?
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