The Published Author

Yesterday I went down the rabbit hole again and this experience made me think of how life is changing and maybe we don't even realize it.

The whole thing started with me bumping into some web2 posts and started reading. You know how it is, it sparks your interest (not necessarily because it's good though), you start reading, then you scroll back in time to see other posts, then to check out who they are and you wake up after wasting half an hour or so.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

The post that made me curious was about a guy publishing his book 📖. He said he's an artist and as I love art, wanted to see what it was about.

Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around works utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, technical proficiency, or beauty.

There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture.Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of "the arts". Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts.

This is the definition of art on Wikipedia, but these days anything can be called art, even a banana taped to the wall, so you can't be strict in this regard. The art I saw yesterday, I would not call art, no matter how much indulgent I would try to be as a five year old could do better, but that's my opinion and not quite important in this regard.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

What made me thing of this topic was, the guy that posted those artworks said, he's a published author. Well, I wrote two books in my life, one the size that shocked a few people at the time I presented it, but I had no choice, I had to attache the financial situation and book of the company I wrote my dissertation on and as it was one of the largest, the book got big. Both books are available for study at the university, but do I consider myself a published author? Hell no!

So I went to check the details about the guy's book and found out the so called published book is in fact a number of copies printed out at a shop that he was planning to gift to family and relative and maybe offer to sell to a few friends, who may buy it out of politeness, to avoid hurting his feelings.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

A few decades ago, publishing a book was only available through publishing houses and you had to go through all the obstacles such a process meant and so many had no chance at all because their work was not liked. Today things have changed, this option is not the only available one. You can publish your book and get your International Standard Book Number and get registered this way, if you pay a publishing house what they ask, and you can also print out your copy and get whatever cover you like for it, to make it a book. The other option is the digital version, which is far more easier and maybe cheaper as well.

I asked Mr. AI, to help me understand and this is what I got. And yes, I forgot the academic journal type of publishing.

Now my question is, who do you call a published author? Do you take into consideration the number of sales (even if it is 1 or 5) or it's enough to have a few copies printed out in your drawer or your shelf? I for one would attribute these words to those who's book hit the bookstores or at least an online platform and they made some sales as well, the more the better of course, but I's like to know what you think.

Let me know in a comment.

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