Difference between Author and Editor

Key difference: An ‘author’ is the one who originally creates his own content, whereas an ‘editor’ is the one who edits it.

An author and editor work in correspondence with one-another, that is they both play a primary role in structuring any content. Actually, an author initializes the content and the editor moulds it. Both are necessary from information point of view. Any content before getting published is first edited via an editor, which is why an editor is of utmost importance, even more than that of an author.

Author

Authors are the real creators of any informative content. They play a major role in actually bringing an idea into existence. Bygone ideas and traditions are known to the present world courtesy of authors, as they are the ones who focus on the past. The term author refers to a person who writes books, stories, articles, etc. professionally. Authors have to create, develop and communicate an idea. As they are the real creators of any content, they have to be perfect in literature and its related concepts. Also, they are the real originators of any written work.

Editors are one of the major contributors in the information and knowledge providing industries. They are the ones who compile and choose relevant content in a perfect format. The real structuring of any article is primarily done by an editor. Sometimes, they even have to write some of the content. They basically check and correct the grammar in a content, and then mould it into a proper sequential form to represent the respective story or subject into a readable form. An editor is supposed to have an excellent command on literature, along with a practical knowledge of the standard resources.

Editor

Editor and authors go hand-in-hand. Today, editing has become a fundamental component of writing, and serves as a separate function as well. As the author initializes an idea, an editor actually structures that idea. The final representation is gathered and formulated in a proper case by an editor. There are various editing examples in our day-to-day life, for example: newspapers and magazines have executive editors, managing editors, assignment editors, assistant editors and copy editors, with increasingly narrow duties. Whereas, there are a less number of renowned authors in the society, as they are the core inventors of any conceptual idea or content.

Comparison between Author and Editor:

	Author	Editor
Short definitions	The person who develops or gives existence to any content.	The person responsible for the editorial aspects of publication; the person who determines the final content of a text.
Basic	They develop the content.	They edit the author’s content.
Real task	Their job is to implement an idea and the content.	Their job is to formulate an idea and represent it.
Roles	They are the initiators, means that they play a primary role.	They rank after the authors, and hence play a secondary role.
Functions	Edit their own published posts Delete their own published posts Upload media (pictures, etc.) Publish posts	Manage categories Moderate comments Manage links Edit, publish, and delete other users' posts Create, Edit, and publish pages Read all private posts/pages