The "Aspiring Author"

The phrase "aspiring author" is much used--and like a great many much-used phrases, unhelpfully vague.

Putting it bluntly, at what point does the "aspiring" author come to be recognized as a just plain "author?"

Admittedly there are professional organizations that have criteria for membership that imply a particular bar of achievement for no longer being seen as "aspiring," but often these are debatable, precisely because they emerged in another time--like back when people could eke out a marginal living selling short stories. Today, for all practical purposes, a very successful short story writer--even a novelist--would still be only aspiring from the standpoint of trying to make a living at what they do.