[SalesForce] Copy Custom Object From One Org To Another

As I thought - your package.xml is incomplete :)

When you were fetching components from server you probably ticked only "objects - standard". You can either quickly edit your xml manually or go to "Add/Remove metadata components" and select "objects - custom". Will be much faster to just edit!

Make sure that relevant part of package.xml looks like that:

<types>
    <members>*</members>
    <members>Account</members>
    <members>AccountContactRole</members>

    (skipped some nodes... All you really need is to add this 1st one)

    <members>User</members>
    <members>UserLicense</members>
    <name>CustomObject</name>
</types>

Then right - click the src/objects directory and go "Force.com -> Refresh from server".

Some new files should pop up in the directory, Authors__c.object being one of them (or if there was one already - it should get more content inside). Try the deployment now?

The best way to do this would be a sandbox. I suggest a full sandbox.

Full Sandbox

Full sandboxes copy your entire production organization and all its data, including standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. You can refresh a Full sandbox every 29 days.

Unfortunately, this requires more licensing, but it is a 1 button tool that will copy all of your metadata and data into a separate test org. It is exactly what you are looking for I believe.

If you aren't using a sandbox, you will have to use the Data Loader (for data) and the Force.com Migration Tool (for metadata). However, that isn't a one click solution. The properly load in objects with the data loader, specifically objects with relationships to other objects, it can get a bit tricky.