Why do people care about the author more for novels than for software? I think it has to do with art vs. utility. I imagine that, likewise, people would care

Why do people care about the author more for novels than for software? I think it has to do with art vs. utility. I imagine that, likewise, people would care less about the author of a programming language manual, or about the author of their car service manual. It's still writing, but it's writing that is meant to fulfill a useful function. Does the manual adequately describe the programming language? Then who wrote it is irrelevant. With novels, people are not looking for utility but for enjoyment, for entertainment. And if they enjoyed one author's book, they suspect (often rightly) that they will enjoy another book by the same author. Now, I personally have some favorite authors in the technical world too. I am thrilled and shouting "take my money!" if I see something new from Guy Steele, for example. But I think that's a bit unusual, and I would happily buy a new programming book written by someone that I've never heard of, it the content looked like what I was after. Why is it more socially acceptable to be a solo author? I might offer that part of it is ongoing maintenance. It is not typical for a novel to have multiple revisions once it's published. I mean, sure, maybe corrections for typos or something, but we're not going to see a completely overhauled new release of a novel every couple of years. The author does the work, completes it, and it's done. With software, there's more expectation for ongoing work. If you as an individual were to move on to something else, and not continue working on the software, then an application you wrote in 2023 might become irrelevant and unusable in 2025. Not so with a novel.