I was asked recently what was the role of an author and at first the answer seemed obvious to me.

Let’s take this in the correct context though. First off the conversation I was having was basically a questionnaire for a publisher and it was in relation to this that I was asked the question. ‘What did I consider to be the role of an author’. I think I replied that the role of an author is to write, something along those lines at least. To be fair, I was tired, I’d had a long day and was under pressure to get some things completed before retiring for the night and I didn’t give it the thought I should have.

It was only later that I did give it some thought and realised I could have said so much more. Today’s role of an author is very much different from that of even ten years ago. Back when I was starting to think of writing anything the idea of a best selling author seemed to be the perfect job. You had wealth, the freedom to do what you wanted and fame without anyone, or at least the vast majority of the public knowing who you were. That to me was an ideal situation because I am a bit of an introvert and the thought of meeting new people generally sends me into panic mode, I hide it well by coming up with excuses why we don’t or shouldn’t go to certain things. In reality it’s because it scares the shit out of me. So to have all of that, wealth, fame, recognition but the ability to walk down the street as normal would be absolute heaven for me. By the time I started writing so much had changed. Self publishing was beginning to take off and more and more writers were turning to it. Also to be fair an awful lot of them were dreadful and it was this initial influx of writers who hadn’t had the training or done their research or even bothered to employ a good editor that gave the self publishing market such a bad name. I hold my hand up and say that at first I was among this number too. I learned in time that to be a writer you have to put in the work, you have to hone your craft and once that is done an editor is needed to polish it up further, the very best of writers still need the work and guidance of a good editor, and then there is social media, which brings me up to date. In the past the publishing company did all the promotion work for the author, organised interviews, book signings, book tours and everything associated with the marketing aspect of getting a book ready for the public. Now even the big publishing houses expect the writer to do their share of the work, mainly to keep an active presence on social media. For an Indie author all of that is left to the author so to answer the question at the top of this article, the role of the author nowadays is that of first point of contact with their audience. Not only does the author write the work but they have to present it to the public as well. They have to be accessible to the public like no time before because the modern society expects their idols to be available at all times.

Now this can present a problem, not just for introverts like myself but to the majority of writers who have to work a day job to pay the bills. Keeping a social media presence is one of the most time consuming aspects of this business and in reality is probably a full time job in itself so anyone who can juggle this along with a full time job and find the time to write is going above and beyond.

So there you have it, this is what I consider to be the role of an author I just hope it doesn’t deter any aspiring writers from attempting this because for all the hard work and long hours it can be one of the most rewarding things to do. If you get paid as well well that just puts the icing on the cake.