Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
If calling yourself a published author can be done with credibility depends.
If you're writing fiction, you don't have to answer to anybody: it's your story, you can make up anything you want, and if you self-publish it and even one person buys it, you're a published author, IMHO.
On the other hand, if you write a (technical) manual or other scientific paper and publish it, I want some credentials. Are you Prof. Dr. Mr. Ph.D. or something? Has this work been verified by people who have already obtained credibility in the field? If not, then I can't take the work seriously yet, but as soon as it is verified, I will consider you a published author.
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Doesn't "published in the field" in the context I think we're talking about usually imply in a reputable scientific journal--not a non-fiction book? In other words--it's been checked or the experiments repeated by someone else? I could be wrong and it's probably just like fiction--different authors take liberty with the words and hope readers imply the highest possible standard.
Much like authors using the term 'best selling' because they have hit Amazon's 10th spot in Fiction/cozy mystery/underwater basket weaving or whathaveyou. I'm not sure it carries more weight in non-fiction because it's probably misconstrued there as well. We indies are no different that trad published or non-fiction authors. Many people period are going to try to use words to their advantage and it has nothing to do with whether we are "true" authors.
And honestly, I'm not trying to split hairs. If someone has published a non-fiction title, I consider them an author. That does not mean I believe everything in the book--the credentials are still required for that sort of thing, but it's fine if they said, 'I'm the author of such and such non-fiction title and an expert on the subject." The proof isn't in the fact they wrote a book; it's in whether they actually have experience/degrees/etc.
There are advantages to having labels and some of us depend on them more than others. If you are sorting books and only want to read hardback published authors, that's a particular criteria. Trying to define the word author...becomes kind of a personal thing at that point.