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Subject:Re: 'author' vs. 'write' From:"Ridder, Fred" <F -dot- Ridder -at- DIALOGIC -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 May 1997 11:18:06 -0400
In the book publishing world, the noun "author" is used rather than the
general term "writer" to refer to someone who has had at least one of
their works published, and I think the same distinction carries over to
the verb forms as well. You may have written the Great American
Novel, but until it has been published you can't legitimately say that
you "authored a book".
The use of "authoring" to refer to the writing and preparation of
multimedia, web sites, CBT, etc. seems to me to be generally
consistent with this distinction because all of these really are forms
of publishing. The other argument for using "author" rather than
"write" in this context is that these media involve graphics, diagrams,
illustrations, and other forms of non-written content.
Fred Ridder
f -dot- ridder -at- dialogic -dot- com
>Mary Howe wrote:
>>
>> What is the difference between the verbs 'to author' and 'to write'?
>>
>> I'm posting this here because 'to author' appears to have a special
>> meaning to technical writers. If this turns into a discussion of the
>> connotations/dialect differences among all the words above, let's take
>> it to copyediting-l.
>
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