The debate about whether a person is an author or a writer seems to come up frequently. There are those who insist that there is a distinctive difference between the two, something that I have discussed before on my personal blog.
For those who can't be bothered to delve into the depths of my personal blog, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, a writer is one that writes (I still want to change that to one who writes, but we move on). Whereas, an author is one that originates or creates or is the writer of a literary work (as a book).
Based on these definitions, I'm stand strong by my belief that a writer is a person who writes. I despise the term aspiring writer, because there is no aspiring about it. You either write or you don't. It's that simple.
However, the transition to the author title is not as clear cut.
Exactly when does a writer become an author?
A discussion on Twitter from years ago
In 2018, I had a discussion on Twitter about this very topic. I had encountered a writer who on their bio had the following:
Your not a writer until your published.
Seeing this on someone’s bio makes me sad. I’m ignoring the grammatical errors. What I see is someone who doesn’t understand that a #writer is someone who writes. You DON’T need to be published to be a writer. I honestly hope this person comes to realise this soon. #authors pic.twitter.com/MBTGks6eeW
— Judy L Mohr (@JudyLMohr) July 29, 2018
For the moment, I want to ignore the grammar. I want you to focus on the underlying thoughts that went into that bio. From that bio alone, it is so obvious that the writer didn't view themselves as a writer, simply because they were pre-published.
I was saddened when I saw this, because it felt like the writer had given up before they had even started, but there were others who felt a little confused about this too.
At the time, Michael Mammy was getting ready to release his first novel Planetside. It was only weeks away from release, but according to the unfortunate bio listing, Mammy didn't have the right to call himself a writer let alone an author because his book had yet to be published, even though the release date was only weeks away.
Of course, as far as I was concerned, Michael Mammy was, and is, a writer, but as far as I saw it, he was an author too. The simple fact that he had the promise of publication, with a completed manuscript, made him an author. He was an author well and truly before he got that publication deal.
A matter of definition and law
Remember that the definition of an author is one that originates or creates or is the writer of a literary work (as a book). The way I interpret this, the moment you have completed a manuscript, putting it into a tangible form, you're an author.
And the law agrees with me.
Within copyright laws, the moment you put your ideas and thoughts to paper—or digital pixel form as is the case most often these days—you are covered under copyright laws as the author of that piece. This is even in the US, folks. You DO NOT need to have the registered piece of paper to own the copyright to a manuscript.
Within US law, the registration process gives you additional powers to sue a person for infringement. You still own the copyright without it. If this was not the case, then how could you swear that you own the copyright to say those short stories that you might submit to literary magazines?
You can do that because you wrote it, making you the author of that story and giving you the copyright, unless you sign your copyright over to another. But you're still the author!
So, if the law sees you as the author of a piece of writing, whether it is published or not, why does the purists within the writing circles insist that you're not an author until something is actually published?
And why do we have people who insist that you're not a writer until you're published?
Okay… We're just going to ignore the writer statement for the rest of this post and focus on the question of when a writer becomes an author.
What does it mean to be published?
The practical definition of published has become a little muddled, thanks to the digital age, but in simple terms, something is published when it has been disseminated to the public or produced and released for distribution.
(Yeah, if you haven't figured it out for yourself, that's the dictionary definition.)
But what does this mean practically?
I've written about this particular topic before. At the time, it was with the intent of warning writers that some publishers/magazines/agents consider sites like Wattpad as published. Hell, some even consider personal blogs as being published. Those carefully crafted words have been put somewhere where the public can access them. As such, if a person wishes to insist that you can't call yourself an author (or a writer) until something is published, then just post a blog post somewhere, and Bob's your uncle, you're an author. (You're a writer too, but hey…)
Do you see how silly this whole situation is?
Calling yourself author is a choice
For me, if you have written something that is in a form that you would be happy to share with others, then you are the author of that piece, whatever it is. Whether you chose to call yourself an author or not is entirely up to you. That is your choice.
(But dudes, you're still a writer because you're writing. Right?)
As for myself, I'm an author of particular pieces, nonfiction and fiction. If you are really that desperate to see my list of publications, by all means, go and bore yourself, because the list is filled with scientific papers bogged down with technical details. But that is not what I choose to focus on. I choose to concentrate my efforts and identity on the fact that I'm a writer and an editor.
I write every day, or at least I try to. And my training as an editor has allowed me to help other writers to take their writing to the next level.
In reality, titles such as author, writer and editor are just titles that only have meaning if we give it to them. It doesn't make you any less of a writer if you choose not to call yourself by the title of author even after you have a few publications under your belt. If you write, you have EVERY right to call yourself a writer. No one can take that away from you. But you can call yourself an author at any time.
Just remember that an author is not necessarily one who practices the art of writing.
Go on and tell me that you're a writer. That's what I want to hear.