Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
But this is how you choose a book. I'm asking how you define an author. Are you really saying that the word is basically meaningless? That when you hear someone claim to be an author, it means nothing?
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Yes, that's is exactly the case.
"I am an author" does not carry any meaning or status, because everybody can be an author whenever they want. There is no way to prevent someone from being an author.
If someone says to me "I am an author" without any other explanation, then I'm going to assume that he writes for work and makes money with it; that he is a professional author on the job, so to speak. If it then turns out that he isn't, and basically does cleaning for a day job, that person is still an author (an amateur), but he is inflating the designation.
To compare, anyone can reply: "I am a software engineer" or "I'm a singer", while the only software they write is used by themselves, and they only sing in the shower.
Yes, even if you do this stuff (writing, software engineering... anything, basically) for fun only, you're still an author/software engineer/anything, but you'd be wise not to mention it as your primary job or hint at it as your way of making a living if you cannot convincingly back it up. You'd be making a fool of yourself.