Sound and Fury

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? – author unknown. The philosophical question was probably first posed by some 20th century thinker. It asks about the relationship between event and observation of the event.

Can something exist without being perceived? Is there a sound if there are no ears to hear it? That is the philosophical conundrum. Or maybe it is whether or not the unobserved world behaves in the same manner as the observed world. Perhaps Schopenhauer's cat knows. Maybe, instead, it is asking if there is a difference between what actually is and what seems to be.

To paraphrase: If a writer writes something and no one reads it, is that person still an author?

Is the act of writing what makes someone an author or is it the act of a second person reading the written words? Do I write if no one reads? Do I speak if no one listens?

The act of writing leaves a more concrete trail than the ephemeral waves of sound produced by compressed air. The transient sound is here and then gone, unrecorded. Producing written works leaves a more tangible effect. There are words on paper or screen. As I punch at various keys on the board, letters appear on the screen and eventually there are words, paragraphs, essays, stories, letters, any manner of written work.

By writing a grocery list, I have placed letters that symbolize words onto a paper in order to remind myself to get cream of mushroom soup when I go to the store. Does this simple act make me an author? Is an author something more than someone who writes words? Is there some community to the word 'author' that is lacking from the word 'writer?'

Of course the list is written. A spreadsheet is written as well. Does creating a spreadsheet make one an author? Is it only specific types of writing which causes the scribbler to turn into an author? Or is it that someone else is reading what has been scribbled?

Does that mean that if I give the shopping list to my husband so he can remember to purchase the soup, I am now an author? Or if a spreadsheet is attached as a file and sent to co-workers, does the creator become an author?

What is the difference between writer and author? A writer writes; does an author auth? Does one only become an author after so many people read the words produced? Do they have to be specific forms of words? Is it the act of remuneration?

According to the web, an author is:
1. The writer of a book, article, or other text.
2. One who practices writing as a profession.
3. One who writes or constructs an electronic document or system, such as a website.
4. An originator or creator, as of a theory or plan.

This doesn't mention any relationship between writer and reader. Without the reader, what use is the writer?