Saturday, July 18, 2009

Authors and Writers

Just thought I'd toss this question out into the ether to see what gets tossed back.

Why are short story writers not considered authors?

6 comments:

G. B. Miller said...

I don't know. Never really thought about it much. I think that no matter what you write, you're still considered an author.

However, here's one in a smiliar vein.

Why are bloggers not considered writers?

sandra seamans said...

I asked that question, G, because on a blog this morning a woman said she wrote and sold short stories but she didn't become an author until she sold her first novel. Seemed strange to me.

And bloggers aren't writers? Hmmm, maybe because they aren't focused on the writing part of blogging? They're only networking?

Michael Bracken said...

In some quarters, one is a writer until one has a book published. Then one becomes an author.

In some quarters, writing is what one does ("What do you do?" "I'm a writer.") and authoring is what one has already done ("What have you written?" "I'm the author of Book You've Never Read.").

On the other hand, consider this agent's comments at http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-constitutes-title.html. I find her distinction between "writer" and "author" quite bizarre.

sandra seamans said...

I like your definitions, Michael. And you're right about that agents definition being bizzare, being a writer because you're unpublished doesn't make a whole lot of sense. That would make every one who writes a letter a writer :-)

Though I've often wondered why anyone who's just starting out would go to a conference with business cards announcing they're a writer and/or an author if they're not published yet. It's a strange business.

G. B. Miller said...

I find fault with that analogy. While networking to a certain degree is inevitable, all the networking in the world is not going to do diddly/squat for you and your blog unless you can back up your mouth with your writing.

To me, writing is the key to having a good to moderately successful blog. If you can't write, then you shouldn't be blogging, and your social networking should be confined to either MySpace, Facebook or both.

sandra seamans said...

I totally agree with you, G, I was just putting out guesses as to why bloggers aren't considered writers.

I love blogs with thoughtful writing that teaches and encourages or just shares something wonderful.

But there are bloggers who only blog to get their name out there or to pat themselves on the back. Those are the networkers.