Can we objectively say that one author is better than another? For example, could we say William Shakespeare is objectively a better author than E.L. James? If it is possible, how would we decide? Bonus points for walking through the example to show that Shakespeare is better than E.L. James.
This question is related to "Is it ever possible to objectively state that a piece of music or film, or a genre, is better, or more artistically valid than another except that I am asking about evaluations of the artist, rather than their product.
This question was motivated by discussion on a post over at Politics.SE.