Being an author is being a freelancer who doesn't charge based on the work involved; a freelancer who accepts payments based on rules and schedules defined solely by the buyer, rules that are based on their accounting and which the freelancer has little recourse to double - check; a freelancer who subsists on a fraction of
minimum wage and a host of day
jobs; and it's being a freelancer who is bound by contracts that last their lifetime plus the lifetime of their children (or
until a specific set of requirements have been met that, requirements that are set and monitored exclusively by the employer).