Piper Nuelle

I got asked a question the other day by someone who didn’t really understand the writing world, they asked me what the difference was between an author and a publisher. In their mind they thought they were two and the same, just the same person with two different titles. So I explained it to them and they were gobsmacked that they had for years misunderstood what it meant.

At first I was a little taken aback, I thought everyone would know the difference, but in hindsight, not everyone does. Everyone has different backgrounds, different life experiences, learning difficulties, didn’t have a great schooling or educational background, or just confused one thing with another. I mean, I know there are times when I have asked my husband a question about the building scene which he thinks everyone knows, but as I am girly, more into books and makeup I had no idea.

But in case anyone out there is struggling to understand, I thought a little blog post to clear up any misconceptions may help.

So, what is the difference between an author and a publisher?

Well an Author;

• Writes the story and the book. They are the person that comes up with the idea, writes the plot and creates all the characters and the book world that the characters live in.

A Publisher;

• Publishes the book. They usually have a contract that was made through meeting the author through an agent or via themselves selling their story directly to the publisher. The publisher will get the book edited, a cover designed, promotional and marketing teams to sell the book and get the book inside book stores.

But, there is a hybrid in all of this… The Self-Published Author;

• They combine the two above. They write the book, figure out the plot, the summary, the characters, the book world and so on. But they then also do everything a publisher would then do once the book manuscript is written. They then get it edited, they design or pay someone to design a cover, they contact book stores to sell their book, they do all the book formatting, they find Beta readers and reviewers, they do all the promotional side of things and all the marketing to sell the book. The self-published author has their work cut out for them and it is not for everyone. But I have covered more about that in another blog post.

But there you have it, a quick guide as to what the difference is between an author and a publisher, but also what the self-published author is too.

I hope this blog post has helped you to understand the world of the writer and the author a bit more. And feel free to comment or email any questions of anything writing related you would want advise on or cleared up, I can always make it a blog post so people won’t know who asked that question or why.

Take care,

xo Piper xo