An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.

In copyright law, there is a necessity for little flexibility as to what constitutes authorship. The United States Copyright Office defines copyright as "a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to authors of "original works of authorship". Holding the title of "author" over any "literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, [or] certain other intellectual works" give rights to this person, the owner of the copyright, exclusive right to do or authorize any production or distribution of their work. Any person or entity wishing to use intellectual property held under copyright must receive permission from the copyright holder to use this work, and often will be asked to pay for the use of copyrighted material. After a fixed amount of time, the copyright expires on intellectual work and it enters the public domain, where it can be used without limit. Copyright law has been amended time and time again since the inception of the law to extend the length of this fixed period where the work is exclusively controlled by the copyright holder. However, copyright is merely the legal reassurance that one owns his/her work. Technically, someone owns their work from the time it's created. An interesting aspect of authorship emerges with copyright in that it can be passed down to another upon one's death. The person who inherits the copyright is not the author, but enjoys the same legal benefits.

Brian Tracy (born January 5, 1944 in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada) is a self-help author and motivational speaker. He serves as Chairman of Brian Tracy International, a human resource company based in Solana Beach, California, with affiliates throughout the United States and thirty-one other countries.

After dropping out of high school before graduation, Tracy got a job on a tramp steamer and traveled around the world for eight years, eventually visiting more than eighty countries on five continents.

When he could no longer find a job as a laborer, he went into sales. Struggling at first, he decided to ask other successful salesmen for advice, and then to emulate them. By the end of his first year, he attained the status of top salesman. After his second year, he was made a Vice President in charge of 95 people. At the time he was only 25 years old.

Beginning in 1981, Tracy assembled his "success system", which was initially called "The Phoenix Seminar." Three years later, in 1985, he released an updated version of this seminar as a self-help audio tape entitled "The Psychology of Achievement".