Taken from Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
And as if the news today couldn't have gotten any crappier, we
have new numbers out for author earnings.
·
In
the UK, 2013 professional authors' typical annual income from
writing: £11,000 ($18,800)
·
That's
down from £12,333 ($21,800) in 2005
·
This
puts the 2013 income at £5,850 ($10,000) below the Minimum Income Standard
of £16,850 ($28,878) set by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
·
Only
11.5% of professional writers surveyed for ALCS said they earned their income
solely from writing in 2013
·
That's
down sharply, from 40% of professional writers who said they earned their
income solely from writing in 2005
We may never have been this close to actually seeing just how
badly a writing career can pay.
For all our focus on the digital disruption of publishing, it
seems we may need to stop, get out of our battle gear, have a seat, and start
talking about not the newest but the oldest issue
any professional creative endeavour can encounter: the money.
ACLS asks the right question in titling its survey "What
Are Words Worth Now?"
So... what you're saying is, authors get paid less now than ever
(oh, right, ebook royalties are abysmal), Amazon and Hachette are screwing
authors over with their power grabbing, and less authors than ever are making a
living at writing? Do we want books to survive, people? Because we
have to actually PAY authors for their time, so they can keep writing them.
I think this tweet said it best:
Something has gone very wrong if we'll pay $5 for a greeting
card, $3 for gift wrap, but resent paying more than $2.99 for a book.—
John Connolly (@jconnollybooks) July 04, 2014
John Connolly (@jconnollybooks) July 04, 2014
I think the problem is the ebook market. As Jonh Connolly (must be an interesting writer just for that quote) wrote nowadays you expect a book for 2.99 or less. Or you can download for free in a torrent website. Long live paperbacks.