I recently stumbled upon a blog where the content talked about distinguishing between “writer” and “author.” The creator of the post wanted a more definitive way to determine QUALITY of book. In this age of “click here and you’re published!”, readers are wary about what is actually good. Self-published books are looked down on. Traditionally published writers are seen as throwing their money away.
So is there a way to determine a difference?
The blog suggested 3 categories: 1) A writer, which is anyone who writes anything. 2) An author, which is anyone who has published anything, no matter what method used to publish and 3) a professional author, which is anyone who makes a living off of their books.
In his mind, making money from sales, not the sales number, determines professionalism, as in, “writing is my career, therefore I’m a professional author”.
Others say that quantity determines success. If an author sells 100,000 copies at $0.99, (minus fees and taxes), they may only make $30,000 a year. Is that enough? If you sell 10,000 copies at $9.99, does that count the same? Or is the 100,000 automatically better because it’s more books?
Then there are places that won’t consider you unless you have a website following, FB page likes, and email list devotees. But in an age when you can pay FB for ads, where authors just exchange likes whether they care about another’s books or not, and where you can hire reviewers for good reviews, are those numbers even legit anymore?
What do you think? Would you put more stock in someone who makes money from their writing? Would you prefer if you could check number of sales? Are reviews and FB page likes a determining factor?