What makes a debut author

No. First published book is definitely the last time you can be a debut. Although you can get around that with a (new) pseudonym. But, someone declined nomination for an award for debut because they had been previously published under another name. If they hadn't I would have said they were being dishonest.

Plenty of authors publish their first novel with the large trade publishers. That doesn't mean that's the first novel they have written, just that it is the first novel of theirs that is published.

My hand-wavey, all-personal definition is that a writer is someone who writes and an author is someone who has published at least one book.

So if you've got small pub credits, you're an author, not a debut author (imo).

However, if you published under a brand new pseudonym with one of the big five (?), then you'd be a debut author under that pseudonym.

Which is weird. I don't claim this stuff makes any sense.

kelliewallace said:

So what makes a debut author?

Click to expand...

I think you probably mean debut 'novel' not debut 'author'. For example, I'm reading a novel right now that is called a debut 'novel', as mine was. The writer has written and directed television productions but this is his first novel.

There could be a case made for a true debut novel only being one that is bought and paid for by a publisher, not something self-published, but that's a muddy area.

"What makes a debut author"

A man, and a woman, when they love each other very much...

kelliewallace said:

We've all seen new authors getting agents and selling their books to the big six. Are they really 'debut' authors? We all remember our first book as a cringeworthy excerise. Have most already published before scoring big time?

Click to expand...

I sold a tiny few short stories before I wrote my first novel, but I never thought of it as cringeworthy, and it was picked up by the first agent who saw it, and sold to the first publisher she sent it to.

I wrote it only a couple of months after I wrote my first short story, so there wasn't time to sell much beforehand.

Quite a few writers sell the first novel they write. It's really not that uncommon.

A debut author is a term decided by the publisher. A publisher will call an author a debut author when they publish them for the first time. It is the same thing with singers with albums, actors with stages.

If a publisher has taken what it perceives as a veteran from another publisher competitor, then it may or may not call them a debut author. Usually not if the work appears in the same venue (the same bookstores.)

kelliewallace said:

We've all seen new authors getting agents and selling their books to the big six. Are they really 'debut' authors? We all remember our first book as a cringeworthy excerise. Have most already published before scoring big time?

So what makes a debut author? I've traditionally published 5 books without an agent, to small pubs. If I get an agent and sell my 6th to the big guns, will I be considered a debut writer?

Click to expand...

That's my situation in a nutshell. Over the years, I wrote and published a number of novels/novellas/short stories with epubs, then finally got an agent and sold a book to one of the big six. I'm really not sure if I'd be considered a "debut author" or not, but I'd guess not. The term isn't mentioned in my author bio or anywhere else.

Being a debut author can be a selling point, but generally speaking, I don't think it means a lot. I wouldn't imagine it has a huge impact on sales or anything else.

jjdebenedictis said:

My hand-wavey, all-personal definition is that a writer is someone who writes and an author is someone who has published at least one book.

So if you've got small pub credits, you're an author, not a debut author (imo).

However, if you published under a brand new pseudonym with one of the big five (?), then you'd be a debut author under that pseudonym.

Click to expand...

Indeed

"Francis" was a debut fantasy author. I however have pubbed before in romance. I will also be publishing fantasy later this year, but not as a debut (because of Francis).

In fact I was on a panel a couple of years ago about debut authors. We were all debut fantasy fiction authors

For various reasons, only one of us was actually publishing our first book (One had previously pubbed with a small pub and lost her rights when it went under before she made more than single figure sales iirc, one had written a non fic fantasy, I'd been pubbed in romance etc etc).

Xelebes said:

A debut author is a term decided by the publisher. A publisher will call an author a debut author when they publish them for the first time. It is the same thing with singers with albums, actors with stages.

If a publisher has taken what it perceives as a veteran from another publisher competitor, then it may or may not call them a debut author. Usually not if the work appears in the same venue (the same bookstores.)

Click to expand...

I have never seen an author being called a debut when they have been previously published with another publisher. I'm honestly curious about this, can you give me any examples of this happening?

Weirdmage said:

I have never seen an author being called a debut when they have been previously published with another publisher. I'm honestly curious about this, can you give me any examples of this happening?

Click to expand...

Me and I just did

If you swap genres and take up a pen name, the new name can be a debut Insert Genre author (So I became a debut fantasy author), or if you've written non fic and then publish a novel or....

Mr Flibble said:

Me and I just did

If you swap genres and take up a pen name, the new name can be a debut Insert Genre author (So I became a debut fantasy author), or if you've written non fic and then publish a novel or....

Click to expand...

I was talking about with the same name. As the post I quoted seems to suggest. Well aware of the pseudonym thing. And have also seen author's books being called "[genre] debut". But I have never seen someone being called a debut just because they change publisher, like Xelebes states in the post I quoted.

Sorry but the category debuts is BS and is commonly abused. This is one of my pet peeves. Look, a debut author with his/her first book is a special thing imo. You can only do it once.

I've seen so many ppl try debut 3 times. It's their YA debut, fantasy debut, UK debut. It's their big 6 debut. F**k, I might as well say my 3rd book in my trilogy coming out next month is my April debut. It's all marketing crap and waters down the meaning behind the term. The reason it's abused so much is because it's an attractive marketing and sales pitch. Something shiny and new, but not really.

Weirdmage said:

I was talking about with the same name. As the post I quoted seems to suggest. Well aware of the pseudonym thing. And have also seen author's books being called "[genre] debut". But I have never seen someone being called a debut just because they change publisher, like Xelebes states in the post I quoted.

Click to expand...

*squints*

Oops, my bad I am sure there have been examples -- two of the people on that panel were using the same name as they had previously.