What Does 'Author' Mean on a Motoring Writer's Website?

On a motoring writer's site, author usually means the person writes books as well as shorter journalism — it is a credit for long-form published work, not a job title for staff writing. On Andrew Noakes' site, the term sits alongside journalist, freelance and lecturer, which tells you he works across books, magazines and teaching rather than for a single publication. Use this reading when you want to find someone's books, check their credentials, or work out which of their outputs is which.

Author vs journalist vs lecturer

These labels describe different outputs from the same person, not different people:

A single person can hold all four at once. The word author is the one that signals books specifically, so treat it as the strongest clue that there is a bibliography to find.

How to find the books credited to the author

1. Start on the site's about page, which is where the site itself summarises the person's roles and output.
2. Note the book titles or subjects mentioned there, then search those titles in a bookshop or library catalogue to confirm publication details.
3. Cross-check the author name against the book's listing — the same name should appear on both the site and the book record.
4. If the site lists awards, use those as a second confirmation that the book credit is genuine rather than a passing mention.

The expected result is a short, verifiable list of titles you can actually buy or borrow. If a title appears on the site but nowhere in book catalogues, treat it as unconfirmed.

Finding articles, magazines and freelance work

Books are only part of the picture. To see the journalism side:

• Look for a byline — the name printed at the top of an article — in the magazines and outlets the person writes for.
• Check whether the site links out to published work, or whether you need to search the publication's own archive.
• Freelance writers appear across several outlets, so expect bylines in more than one place rather than a single staff page.

This matters if you are trying to judge range: a book author may write very differently in a monthly magazine column than in a 300-page history.

Checking credentials: awards and teaching

Two signals are worth verifying because they are easy to state and easy to check:

• Awards. If the site describes the person as award-winning, look for the award name and the awarding body. A named award is checkable; a vague claim is not.
• Teaching roles. A lecturer credit should be traceable to a course or institution. That confirms the person teaches as well as writes, which is a different activity from either books or journalism.

Neither signal tells you whether you will enjoy the writing. They tell you the person is established in the field, which is useful when you are deciding whether to trust their book on a specialist subject.

Using the about page to contact or follow the work

The about page is the hub: it is where the roles are listed together and where contact or follow links usually sit. From there you can:

1. Identify which output you want — a book, an article, or a teaching resource.
2. Follow the matching route: a bookshop for titles, the publication for articles, the institution for course information.
3. Use any contact route the site provides if you need to ask about availability, permissions or speaking work.

If the site gives no contact method, the publication or publisher is the practical next step — they can pass on a request or confirm details the site leaves out.

What this does not tell you

A site describing someone as an author does not tell you how many books they have written, whether they are in print, what they cost, or whether signed copies are available. Those details live with the publisher or bookseller, not the personal site. Check there before assuming a title is currently purchasable.