Who would be a writer? Well, no one who wants to earn a living, if the latest numbers published by the UK Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) are to be believed. Median earnings from writing alone are now just £7,000, compared with £10,497 in 2018, with the decline made worse when adjusted for inflation.
The crashing of the pound in recent weeks has hit costs for Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. attendees this week, but publishers and agents insist there is a silver lining for rights and export sales to the US.
In the last month, there have been a few informative articles discussing how much authors earn:
The One Where Writing Books Is Not Really a Good Idea by Elle Griffin (Substack) How Much Do Authors Make Per Book? by Sarah Nicolas (BookRiot) How Much Do Authors Actually Earn? by Lincoln Michel (Substack) Read more
A group of best-selling authors is teaming up with Amazon in a lawsuit that aims to bring down an alleged counterfeit e-book publishing site described as "the biggest pirate book site the world has ever seen." Read more
Four years ago, Kerry Hudson had just won a prestigious French literary prize when one late payment left her unable to make the rent on her sublet flat in Whitechapel. Could she continue as a writer? Or would she have to return to her old job in the charity sector? Read more
A total of 94% of authors in the U.K. are white, with 2% Asian, 2% mixed race, and 1% black. (4% identify as "other.") The most recent census, in 2011, put the white population of the U.K. at 86%. Read more
The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) has described Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Anthropic's alleged use of "pirated books" to train AI chatbot Claude as "egregious" and "typical of a wider trend."
‘You can offend somebody in the 21st century with something you said in 1970... By the end of the process I was questioning myself, that was the problem. I wrote innocently and I wrote to make people laugh but when I read the book through I thought, gosh, really, is this offensive? And that? And that? Am I all these things?
Index on Censorship said 53% of librarians polled had been asked to remove books - and that in more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves
One of the persistent themes to emerge from the ongoing nationwide surge in book banning is that the bans are being pursued by a vocal, politically motivated minority. Read more
The New Zealand author channelled her experience of tragedy and mental illness with dazzling results. Now centenary celebrations will ensure her extraordinary vision lives on
Writing and publishing a nonfiction book is a big investment-of time, energy, and often money. In our work with authors, we find that people often approach the process with passion and ambition but without any sense of what it really takes to get the attention of an agent or editor, especially in today's crowded market. That's why we've created these five ways to test your book idea. Read more
In a spirited five-day celebration, held August 8-12 at the Scottish Events Campus in Glasgow, Scotland, crowds converged from all over the globe for the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, known as Worldcon. Show organizers said that more than 8,000 membership badges were purchased in total, with over 7,200 issued at the venue and upwards of 600 in attendance online.
'I'm always on the lookout for stories that are escapist and inclusive; that carve out a space for all readers. As an editor, ensuring representation for all in the truest and most authentic way is something I am always working towards'
'Writers are fortunate in that they are able to treat their neurosis every day by writing and as soon as the writer is blocked - this is catastrophic because the writer will start to go to pieces.'