You know 家 means "house," but it can also mean "professional," since trades used to be passed down in households back in the old days. What's a "make professional"? It's a creator, author, or artist.

A while back, you learned 作者 — the basic word for a particular work of art's creator. Well, 作家 is a person whose whole "thing" is making creative works. Oftentimes they're a pro who does it for a living, but they could also be a hobbyist — the point is that people recognize them as a creator (rather than as some random schmo who happened to create something).

This is a jukugo word, which usually means on'yomi readings from the kanji. You know the on'yomi for each kanji, so you should be okay here — just look out for the さく changing to さっ. (Because さっか is easier to say than さくか, right?)