An author is described by the dictionary as “a person who authored or made known; written by”. Generally speaking, an author is an individual who has created or originated something and is considered an author or creator of that thing. More specifically, an author is a “writer” or “poet” whose works are produced and controlled entirely by him/her, whereas the poet is usually regarded as having “written from him/her”. However, more broadly defined, an author can be any of the following: a director or producer of a work, an author of a book, an author of a play, an actor or actress, or a public figure, such as an politician. In addition, in some cases, an author may be one of several people. That is, an author could be an actual human being who lives and works in reality and only has a “fiction” or “fictions” published under his or her own name, or an entity, such as a corporation, which owns and controls the real estate, books, and/or movies under the author’s control.
No matter who the author is, she or he is an author according to one essential criterion. According to that criterion, an author must be alive when his or her books were first published. Whether that means the writer was born during birth or is still living is immaterial in determining the validity of the claim.
The most common, and therefore, the easiest way, to determine whether an author exists and is still writing is to examine the books themselves. Books, if they are published, must have been written by the author at some point. Otherwise, the claim that the books were written by the author rests solely on the words of one or more people claiming to have actually written them. For instance, if you read through a collection of short stories or novels, and some of the stories do not list the author’s name as the author, they are probably not written by the same author. In this case, if you do not recognize the name of the author, it is most likely not the work of the same author.
While some short stories and novels can indeed be written by the same people, other short stories and novels cannot be written by the same authors. This is the case with most collections of works. Books, other than fictional books like children’s books and YA books, also contain works by different authors. If, for instance, you read part of a Harry Potter book, and part of a Twilight book by Stephenie Meyer, both books are written by the same author, but belong to two different genres. While the Harry Potter series can be considered to be the ultimate work of its author, Twilight is considered to be the ultimate work of the Twilight authors.
The best way to find out whether an author is alive and active is to examine the books themselves. A professional writer does not just write short stories and novels. A professional writer also writes professional books and shorter works. Most authors will release their books in electronic format once they have completed their manuscripts.
A ghostwriter can help writers create and revise their manuscripts. While many professional authors will hire a ghostwriter once or twice to produce writing for them, some authors prefer to hire a ghostwriter only once or twice for their projects. This decision is personal, depending on the writing project. A ghostwriter can be a valuable asset to writers, who are self-published and working from home.