GeekDavid
Auror
This is getting way off topic. If you two kind gentlemen want to discuss this further with an eye to helping start such a group, I think it'd be best to move this to its own thread.
-
Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!
What is a "published author?"
- Thread starter Steerpike
- Start date
This is getting way off topic. If you two kind gentlemen want to discuss this further with an eye to helping start such a group, I think it'd be best to move this to its own thread.
C Hollis
Troubadour
From my perspective, it seems the term "published author" has always been a loose term, based solely upon the viewpoint of the person using it.
By one interpretation, one would be a published author when their Creative Writing 101 project gets published in the college anthology.
By another, one would become a published author when their first short story showed up in a magazine.
One perspective is you become a published author when your first book is published by someone other than the author.
For many, you are only a published author when one of the major publishers print your book.
Regardless, I consider myself an independent author. I have two short stories (soon to be a third) and one novel (a second coming in 3 weeks) that I self-published. Indie, and proud of it. The gatekeepers for my works are the readers.
The reality of it all, I am a published author (see above). Maybe because of my method of choice some may not consider me one, but I thumb my nose in their general direction. Whether or not others consider me a published author doesn't concern me.
As far as being professional? By most definitions, if you are paid, you are a professional. I've been paid.
And yes, the SFWA needs to catch up to the times. And when they do, I still won't be interested.
By one interpretation, one would be a published author when their Creative Writing 101 project gets published in the college anthology.
By another, one would become a published author when their first short story showed up in a magazine.
One perspective is you become a published author when your first book is published by someone other than the author.
For many, you are only a published author when one of the major publishers print your book.
Regardless, I consider myself an independent author. I have two short stories (soon to be a third) and one novel (a second coming in 3 weeks) that I self-published. Indie, and proud of it. The gatekeepers for my works are the readers.
The reality of it all, I am a published author (see above). Maybe because of my method of choice some may not consider me one, but I thumb my nose in their general direction. Whether or not others consider me a published author doesn't concern me.
As far as being professional? By most definitions, if you are paid, you are a professional. I've been paid.
And yes, the SFWA needs to catch up to the times. And when they do, I still won't be interested.
Feo Takahari
Auror
Let's consider how the publishers see it. A story that has been posted on Literotica counts as "previously published" and can only be sold as a reprint. This means that a story that has never been sold for money and has never gone through editing can be "published."
Wow, you folks post fast around here.
Since I'm late to the party, I'll echo what others have said:
1. I think the distinction needs to be about professionalism as Chilari mentioned. I'm technically published, but like Steerpike, I don't tout it very often. I've been paid for my freelance writing and it's been published online, so there's that, too. However, I don't consider myself a professional. Why? Because writing isn't a significant chunk of my livelihood. This is my own distinction though. If others make enough money to support themselves (no matter how small the amount) then I think you can consider yourself a professional in some way.
Being published means little to nothing nowadays. It just means, "Hey, you can buy something I wrote if you want." I actually find an influx of "dreck" as BW put it, a good thing in some ways. Because you know what will happen? People will always find the good stuff. This will hopefully encourage writers who are phoning it in to up their game because EVERYONE is self-publishing and it means your quality has to either match or supersede what's on the market.
I'm hoping to self-publish some of my work in the future, but I also hope to traditionally publish as well (a hybrid, as it's called). I think more authors should aspire to this. To me, it's kind of like being an indie musician and selling what you can until you get a major record deal. Maybe you'll find out you don't like the restrictions of the major deal and go back to being strictly indie. It's great that this is an option now.
So yes, there still exists this idea that self-published authors aren't "really published." However, I think that way of thinking is becoming more and more outmoded. Honestly (and this is a big honestly), if your presentation is awesome enough, meaning a great cover, good blurb, etc. then most people aren't going to even know if you're self-pubbed or not anyway. They'll just connect to your name. And that's one of the most important things of all. However you can brand your name, that's how your going to be judged, not whether or not your self or traditionally published.
Since I'm late to the party, I'll echo what others have said:
1. I think the distinction needs to be about professionalism as Chilari mentioned. I'm technically published, but like Steerpike, I don't tout it very often. I've been paid for my freelance writing and it's been published online, so there's that, too. However, I don't consider myself a professional. Why? Because writing isn't a significant chunk of my livelihood. This is my own distinction though. If others make enough money to support themselves (no matter how small the amount) then I think you can consider yourself a professional in some way.
Being published means little to nothing nowadays. It just means, "Hey, you can buy something I wrote if you want." I actually find an influx of "dreck" as BW put it, a good thing in some ways. Because you know what will happen? People will always find the good stuff. This will hopefully encourage writers who are phoning it in to up their game because EVERYONE is self-publishing and it means your quality has to either match or supersede what's on the market.
I'm hoping to self-publish some of my work in the future, but I also hope to traditionally publish as well (a hybrid, as it's called). I think more authors should aspire to this. To me, it's kind of like being an indie musician and selling what you can until you get a major record deal. Maybe you'll find out you don't like the restrictions of the major deal and go back to being strictly indie. It's great that this is an option now.
So yes, there still exists this idea that self-published authors aren't "really published." However, I think that way of thinking is becoming more and more outmoded. Honestly (and this is a big honestly), if your presentation is awesome enough, meaning a great cover, good blurb, etc. then most people aren't going to even know if you're self-pubbed or not anyway. They'll just connect to your name. And that's one of the most important things of all. However you can brand your name, that's how your going to be judged, not whether or not your self or traditionally published.
psychotick
Auror
Hi,
To be a little out of left field here - isn't the term published author a redundancy? I mean my thought is that if you're an author it means you have published something by whatever means. If you haven't published something you're a writer. I'm happy just being an author.
Cheers, Greg.
To be a little out of left field here - isn't the term published author a redundancy? I mean my thought is that if you're an author it means you have published something by whatever means. If you haven't published something you're a writer. I'm happy just being an author.
Cheers, Greg.
GeekDavid
Auror
Yes, we must not use redundant words. Remember that the next time you enter your Personal Identification Number number (PIN number) at your neighborhood Automated Teller Machine machine (ATM machine).
wordwalker
Auror
"Published" is definitely an old term, tied up with the idea of getting past a gatekeeper to qualify as "a real writer." From the days when there were only so many ways to do it.
--In a sense, I almost wish it was more important these days. I had the unique experience of getting an MA in Library Studies in 1995, the exact year the public discovered the internet, and we were always talking about how the upcoming world would need new ways to mark which writings were actually better. In a world of blogs, tweets, and good and bad writers both putting up Kindle books for free, it does take some work to find the good stuff.
The thing is, the Official Publishers aren't really that helpful any more even if you get them --unless you're one of their stars, of course. You're still doing most of your own promotion despite your publisher, while if you're self-published you're doing that anyway. (There's a challenging article at There is No Such Thing as an Author that says "authors" are extinct in that there's nobody you hear about just for being a good writer; all writers now are either also salesmen (though "entrepreneur" goes down better) or they're-- well, he's got a nasty word for the others. Of course, the guy's selling marketing services, but he's got a point.)
I'd say that once you've written something, if you really want to compare who's "more an author" you might look at number of books sold. It's hugely biased (what if you still emphasize those heavy paper editions? or release lots of little books?) but it shows that what matters is just being read. ("Big deal, he had to get all those readers himself! --except, that is a big deal.") The rest is apples to oranges: how important is it to you that quit your day job? have a following at conventions or "best worldbuilder" forums? be able to mention "my publisher says"...
And it's the qualitative stuff that matters anyway. We're WRITERS; we do this for the fun of it and for our own particular thrills in what comes next. None of us write for quite the same reasons, so if the world wants to hold us to a single standard of "published"? I say work out just how much we make that standard work for us or how we work around it, and get back to building the careers we want.
--In a sense, I almost wish it was more important these days. I had the unique experience of getting an MA in Library Studies in 1995, the exact year the public discovered the internet, and we were always talking about how the upcoming world would need new ways to mark which writings were actually better. In a world of blogs, tweets, and good and bad writers both putting up Kindle books for free, it does take some work to find the good stuff.
The thing is, the Official Publishers aren't really that helpful any more even if you get them --unless you're one of their stars, of course. You're still doing most of your own promotion despite your publisher, while if you're self-published you're doing that anyway. (There's a challenging article at There is No Such Thing as an Author that says "authors" are extinct in that there's nobody you hear about just for being a good writer; all writers now are either also salesmen (though "entrepreneur" goes down better) or they're-- well, he's got a nasty word for the others. Of course, the guy's selling marketing services, but he's got a point.)
I'd say that once you've written something, if you really want to compare who's "more an author" you might look at number of books sold. It's hugely biased (what if you still emphasize those heavy paper editions? or release lots of little books?) but it shows that what matters is just being read. ("Big deal, he had to get all those readers himself! --except, that is a big deal.") The rest is apples to oranges: how important is it to you that quit your day job? have a following at conventions or "best worldbuilder" forums? be able to mention "my publisher says"...
And it's the qualitative stuff that matters anyway. We're WRITERS; we do this for the fun of it and for our own particular thrills in what comes next. None of us write for quite the same reasons, so if the world wants to hold us to a single standard of "published"? I say work out just how much we make that standard work for us or how we work around it, and get back to building the careers we want.
Stevenmlong
Dreamer
I think that these days, "published" just refers to your work being available for mass consumption. I used to feel that it meant release through what I then thought of as "professional" channels, i.e. mainstream publication, but I think that the publishing world has evolved from that point, which of course changes the weight and meaning of the word "published" altogether.
For most of my life, the only path to large readership was mainstream publication, and so writers needed to write to agents/editors/publishers. The system is still weighted that way (if you publish mainstream or with a small press you'll get a certain amount of publicity, and book bloggers are more likely to review your stuff) but I think in time we'll have more egalitarian mechanisms to judge quality that will further weaken the differentiation between mainstream and self-publication (note that they're already both publication, the only difference is which is more likely to bring readers). At that point the word "published" will mean very little, and the word "quality" will mean everything.
For most of my life, the only path to large readership was mainstream publication, and so writers needed to write to agents/editors/publishers. The system is still weighted that way (if you publish mainstream or with a small press you'll get a certain amount of publicity, and book bloggers are more likely to review your stuff) but I think in time we'll have more egalitarian mechanisms to judge quality that will further weaken the differentiation between mainstream and self-publication (note that they're already both publication, the only difference is which is more likely to bring readers). At that point the word "published" will mean very little, and the word "quality" will mean everything.
psychotick
Auror
Hi,
Just to add to what Steven and the others have said - it seems to me that what people (authors) are doing by calling themselves published authors is looking for some sort of status symbol. Something to say I'm better than all those others who just sit at home and write and don't have agents etc. And before ebooks and self publishing when you had staunch gatekeepers in agents and publishers, there was some merit in this. You could say that your writing and literary success was of a standard. It didn't necessarily mean you made any large amount of money or sold lots of books though. And in some cases it didn't even mean that your work was of any high standard. But it was something for an author to put his hat on.
But the world has changed, people have moved on, and if the redundancy had any merit at all, it no longer does. The big six (five now?) are no longer the gatekeepers they were, and the writing is on the wall for them in terms of market share as self publishing becomes the new norm.
What I read in this thread is that some authors feel that they've lost something in that too. While being able to publish where they couldn't before, they've lost the chance to actually gain a lot of respectability as authors. It doesn't matter that their work may be of a standard as high as anything traditionally published, they're still going to be self published. To me this is an interesting corollary to the problem readers face - of knowing which books are of a standard that they want to spend their coin on and read.
What the literary world is waiting for is another standard for authors to compare themselves to, and for readers to use to judge whether a book is worthy of their time. A seal of approval perhaps. And one hopefully not based on numbers of sales. So when one comes out, say MacDougal et al develop it, the term published author will finally die, and we'll have MacDougal authors and books. (Let's just hope it's not Mr. Author who develops it or we'll have author authors!)
Actually when I think about it, this might be a good role for one of the big six to take up. It'd give them something to do while they're slowly dying!
Cheers, Greg.
Just to add to what Steven and the others have said - it seems to me that what people (authors) are doing by calling themselves published authors is looking for some sort of status symbol. Something to say I'm better than all those others who just sit at home and write and don't have agents etc. And before ebooks and self publishing when you had staunch gatekeepers in agents and publishers, there was some merit in this. You could say that your writing and literary success was of a standard. It didn't necessarily mean you made any large amount of money or sold lots of books though. And in some cases it didn't even mean that your work was of any high standard. But it was something for an author to put his hat on.
But the world has changed, people have moved on, and if the redundancy had any merit at all, it no longer does. The big six (five now?) are no longer the gatekeepers they were, and the writing is on the wall for them in terms of market share as self publishing becomes the new norm.
What I read in this thread is that some authors feel that they've lost something in that too. While being able to publish where they couldn't before, they've lost the chance to actually gain a lot of respectability as authors. It doesn't matter that their work may be of a standard as high as anything traditionally published, they're still going to be self published. To me this is an interesting corollary to the problem readers face - of knowing which books are of a standard that they want to spend their coin on and read.
What the literary world is waiting for is another standard for authors to compare themselves to, and for readers to use to judge whether a book is worthy of their time. A seal of approval perhaps. And one hopefully not based on numbers of sales. So when one comes out, say MacDougal et al develop it, the term published author will finally die, and we'll have MacDougal authors and books. (Let's just hope it's not Mr. Author who develops it or we'll have author authors!)
Actually when I think about it, this might be a good role for one of the big six to take up. It'd give them something to do while they're slowly dying!
Cheers, Greg.
BWFoster78
Myth Weaver
I'll agree whole-heartedly with this, both as a reader and as a writer.
I love the value that self published authors provide, but trying to find books worth reading is a chore and a half.
Similar threads
- Locked
