just because you have written a book does not make you an author

[moonshot]

edited

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by moonshot

Am I being fair?

No.

Writing a book makes you an author. It may not be a very good book, and you may not be a very good author, but you are assuredly an author.

[fjtorres]

Seriously?

Tell that to these folks:

http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm

Deepak Chopra

Gertrude Stein

Zane Grey

Upton Sinclair

Carl Sandburg

Ezra Pound

Mark Twain

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Stephen Crane

Bernard Shaw

Anais Nin

Thomas Paine

Virginia Wolff

e.e. Cummings

Edgar Allen Poe

Rudyard Kipling

Henry David Thoreau

Benjamin Franklin

Walt Whitman

Alexandre Dumas

William E.B. DuBois

Beatrix Potter

Remembrance of things Past, by Marcel Proust

Ulysses, by James Joyce

The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

The Wealthy Barber, by David Chilton

The Bridges of Madison County

What Color is Your Parachute

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. (and his student E. B. White)

The Joy of Cooking

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

Life’s Little Instruction Book

Robert’s Rules of Order

John Grisham famously used a vanity press and ran around the country from bookstore to bookstore with boxes of his book trying (successfully) to get them into stores.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w...hcaj_wlFgC-AMA

A book is a book whether published on papyrus, dead tree pulp, or digital and an author is an author regardless of how the book is published. And for most of history books have been published by their authors. It is only in recent centuries that printers took control of the process away from the creator, an aberration that looks to be ending.

Like it or not, the indie publishing revolution is first and foremost about authors retaining control of their creation. Denigrating the books or the creators isn't going to stop that from happening.

[Jane Oldaker]

This page:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Seriously?

Tell that to these folks:

http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm...

has a link to this page:

http://www.examiner.com/article/30-f...-by-publishers

which contains some amazing statements from rejecting publishers

I also think that having written a book makes you an author. Being published in hard back makes you an author who has been published in hardback.

I don't know if you are fair or unfair but respectfully, I think your statement suggests a fairly narrow scope of perception as to what constitutes an author. I suspect your viewpoint has a limited shelf life also.

Did you post that request on Mobile Reads? I wouldn't have thought the self-recommendations you describe would have been permitted.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by moonshot

To me unless an author has had their book published in hardback they are not authors, they are people who have written a book.

Am I being fair?

It's not really a question of fairness. "Author" is not an honorific or a badge of achievement it's just a description.

But side-stepping an argument about definitions, ISTM that what you're really asking is "How can I find GOOD books?" and my answer would be: Same way(s) as always - reviews, favourite authors, trusted friends with a similar taste etc, and same as always, sometimes you'll end up with ones you don't enjoy. C'est la vie.

[moonshot]

Lots of people can sing but they are not all 'singers'.

Does someone who has written a story and put it in their desk draw deserve the title is author?

I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand so that we know who are the real authors.

Just because its easy to upload your written word, so that it can be downloaded to another machine does not make you an author, any more than me buying a stethoscope allows me to be called a doctor.

[QuantumIguana]

An author is someone who writes books. That's not an opinion, just a definition. There are no special qualifications to become an author. It would be absurd to say "Here is a book that was not written by an author," or to ask "Was this book written by an author?" To ask "Who write this book?" or "Who is the author of this book?" is to ask the same question. Of course, that doesn't mean that the book is a good book or that you will enjoy the book. Even bad books are written by authors. Bad artists are still artists, bad bakers are still bakers, bad janitors are still janitors. You asked for book recommendations, and people recommended their own book. That only demonstrates that authors would like you to read their books, and surely that doesn't strike you as a surprise!

Originally Posted by moonshot

Lots of people can sing but they are not all 'singers'.

Does someone who has written a story and put it in their desk draw deserve the title is author?

I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand so that we know who are the real authors; and just because its easy to upload your written word, so that it can be downloaded to another machine does not make you an author, any more than me buying a stethoscope allows me to be called a doctor.

Sure they are. A singer is still a singer no matter how badly they sing. There is music that makes me wish I were deaf, but some people like it. There are no entrance requirements to be a singer and no entrance requirements to be an author. There are, however, entrance requirements to be a doctor. A doctor isn't at all analogous to an author. If you go to an unqualified doctor, you might very will die. If you read a book that's not very good, the only consequence is that you might not enjoy the book. A doctor is required to graduate from college and medical school and finish a residency. As much as you might wish there to be similar requirement to be an author, there is not and well not me.

The great thing about drawing lines in the sand is that it is so easy to erase it. Who decides who is a "real" author? Do I decide? Do you? Does some committee decide for us? All I really care about is whether or not I enjoy a book. I don't need to have some committee pick my books any more than I need to have my food cut up for me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by moonshot

Lots of people can sing but they are not all 'singers'.

A "singer" is someone who sings. A "professional singer" is someone who makes a living from singing. There are plenty of people who sing in the bath: they are singers but not professional singers.

Same with authors. An author is simply someone who writes, and says nothing about how good they are, or whether or not they make a living from it. To claim that someone who writes a book is not an author is ludicrous.

[fjtorres]

The is just another spin on the tired "volcano of crap" / "lemon market" meme the traditionalists have been floating around for the past few months.

As if the distribution process used to get the book to market had anything to say about the content of the book.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by moonshot

It's easy for any budding author to publish their writing to Amazon or Kobo in the form of an eBook.

But, how do we determine what is a 'proper book' by a professional author?

I asked a question about a recommendation for books in the first person and quite a few replies were from eBook authors suggesting I look at their books.

To me unless an author has had their book published in hardback they are not authors, they are people who have written a book.

Am I being fair?

Then you must have asked that question on another forum. We don't allow spam or spammers on this site.

(Also, I see you have NEVER posted in the Recommendations forum. In fact, you have never posted outside of the General Discussion Forum.)

[HomeInMyShoes]

@fjtorresIt does have something to say about what some people think will sell, but that is all. I agree with your statement.

"During his entire lifetime, Herman Melville's timeless classic, Moby Dick, sold only 3,715 copies." Which probably means a publisher would have made a business mistake in publishing it.

Publishing is a business. It is not the keeper of all that is good and proper in writing. It is a means to make profit by putting out what they think will sell.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by moonshot

Lots of people can sing but they are not all 'singers'.

Does someone who has written a story and put it in their desk draw deserve the title is author?

I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand so that we know who are the real authors.

Just because its easy to upload your written word, so that it can be downloaded to another machine does not make you an author, any more than me buying a stethoscope allows me to be called a doctor.

I'd probably nix the example of someone calling themselves a doctor, since that's a whole different thing entirely. In most places, you can't legally call yourself a doctor or a physician until you've met some minimum requirements. There's no minimum requirements to call yourself an author, anyone can do it if they'd like.

I understand what you're saying though. You want the word "author" to be a title that carries some weight behind it, like "lawyer" or (the not nearly as good) "doctor". Unfortunately, the word "author" isn't that. It's not a guarantee that the person with that title has some level of schooling or writing experience, and it doesn't need to.

- Ninjalawyer, professional author

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by moonshot

It's easy for any budding author to publish their writing to Amazon or Kobo in the form of an eBook.

But, how do we determine what is a 'proper book' by a professional author?

I asked a question about a recommendation for books in the first person and quite a few replies were from eBook authors suggesting I look at their books.

To me unless an author has had their book published in hardback they are not authors, they are people who have written a book.

Am I being fair?

So was Louis L'Amour not an author? (While his books would eventually get published in hardback, they first came out as cheap paperbacks (most of them))

E.E. Smith PHD? (Publish initally in pulp magazines)

H. P Lovecraft? (DItto)

Robert E. Howard? (DItto)

Henry Kuttner and Cathine L. Moore?

The Doc Savage and The Shadow novels? (The vast majority have never seen hardback publication.)

(and on...and on...)

[Apache]

It sounds like you want people to be certified as an author before they can use the title.
Apache

[Grace Elliot]

Interesting discussion.
Hard back books represent a small proportion of book sales. So does a 'true author' have to been professionally published but not sell in best-seller quantities? If a HB author had a hit, does their credibility plummet?