Hi everyone!
In this Issue:
Let’s Talk About Money
A Request
Are You Writing?
News and Events
SJW Recommends
Let’s Talk About Money
“There’s no money in poetry, but there’s no poetry in money, either” - Robert Graves
There may not be any poetry in money, but even authors have to put a roof over our heads and eat, so let’s talk about money and books.
Recently, the Society of Authors reported on author income. In 2006 they found that the average (in this case the ‘median’) author income was about £12k per annum, which, let’s face it, is already pretty low. But by 2022, this had fallen to about £7k.
When adjusted for inflation this represents a drop of about 60%. In the same time, the percentage of authors who are able to sustain themselves just with their writing has fallen from 40% to 19%. The rest of us need day jobs or side-hustles, a rich partner or inherited wealth (and more on that later).
There are many and varied reasons for this, only some of which I’m going to talk about here, and others may have their own opinions of course.
Publishers and the publishing model1
Publishers are boasting record profits, yet increasingly the publishing model is stacked against the author. Some books are released to great fanfare, with a huge publicity push and a sizeable marketing spend. These are always easy to spot, especially if, like me, you’re fortunate enough to receive ‘proofs’ (early copies of books that are sent to bloggers, reviewers and other authors is order to try to generate a buzz and elicit author quotes). When a publisher has decided this particular title will be a hit, the proof is usually beautiful. It might be hardcover, with sprayed edges. It might come in a slip case, or with a wraparound cover, the package might contain an added incentive like a chocolate bar branded with the cover of the book, or maybe a tea bag or even tea-towel. All of which is a (not so) subtle way of signalling THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BOOK THAT IS GOING TO BE BIG.
But then there are the other books (which let’s face it, means “most” books). The proof, if there even is one (increasingly publishers are cutting corners by not even producing a physical proof and instead e-mailing pdfs out), is perfectly adequate. No more, no less. There’s no fanfare. Nothing to say ‘this is important, support it now and be ahead of the game’. And these books, of course, are generally released to a similar lack of fanfare, and lack of marketing spend. They just sort of dribble out into the world, to sink or swim. And, since something like 200,000 books are published each year, while occasionally there’s a surprise hit, most sink.
And who do we think gets the blame for this relative failure? The author. Which means even less effort will go into publishing their next book, if they’re even allowed to write another. Gone are the days when a publisher was happy to help an author build their career gradually. The industry has become completely risk averse. They’ll put all their efforts into pushing the books they're already pretty sure will be a success, and anything slightly oddball, or that seems to be stalling straight out of the gate, they’ll just quietly ignore.
What does this mean for authors’ incomes? Unless you’re one of the lucky few, they go down. They’re not prepared to pay for a book that they already expect will only have mediocre sales. Authors suffer from a bad track record (‘well they only sold X of their last book, so let’s not put a lot of effort into their next one’). Advances (the money we get ‘up front’, when they take the book on but before it’s published) go down and down. (Increasingly publishers are ‘buying’ books but offering NO advance to the author. And this is important. The advance used to be the money the author lived off while they either wrote the book or waited for the publisher to actually get it onto the shelves, a process that can easily take over a year from the date the contract is signed. It’s not a luxury, or it shouldn’t be.)
Basically, the increasingly risk-averse publishing world has started treating authors like a necessary irritant. A group of people they’d really be much happier if they could manage without. So why not pay them as little as they can get away with? After all, writers aren’t in it for the money, are they? There’s no poetry in money, after all…
The end of the net book agreement
The net book agreement meant that the publishers set the price of a book, and it couldn’t be sold at a discount. So a £6.99 paperback cost £6.99 wherever you bought it. But in 1997 it was dissolved. This meant that suddenly books that were priced at £6.99 could be sold for 99p, for example. And that’s what people (naming no names) started to do.
Now, this does have a direct influence on authors’ incomes, but it’s not as simple as you might think. (It’s too complicated to go into here, but if a book is sold at a discount we do get a lower royalty rate, but it’s not a simple sliding scale. Believe it or not, it’s the bookseller and/or the publisher that takes the biggest hit.2)
But what it does mean is that the perceived value of our work has gone down. I once tweeted that I thought £6.99 for something that has taken at least a year of someone’s life to produce and will entertain you for anything from 5-10 hours is pretty good value, especially when one considers the price of a takeaway coffee for example, or the fact that we’ll soon be paying that for a pint of beer. And I WAS SHOUTED DOWN. ‘No!’ people cried. ‘It’s too expensive. Books should be 99p! Or free.’ So heavy discounting becomes the norm, and if the publishers are going to continue boasting of their lovely record profits then something has to give. Royalties go down. Advances go down. Author incomes go down.
But this discounting also leads us to the third thing…
Piracy
Some people don’t even want to pay 99p for a book. They want to pay nothing. Now, those people could go to a library (every time a book is borrowed the author gets a little bit of money - not much but it adds up), and some do. But others will just download it, illegally, from the internet. This is theft, no different from walking into a physical bookstore and taking a copy without paying for it. And of course, the more theft that happens, the lower the revenue generated from book sales, and therefore if the publishers are going to continue boasting those lovely record profits…. you get the picture.
So where does that leave us? The sad truth is that unless this downward trend is reversed, then we’re going to be in a situation in which very few people can afford to make a career out of writing, even those who do have day jobs or side-hustles. It takes a lot of time and an enormous amount of energy to produce a novel, and it’s hard to do that when you’re exhausted from a day’s work doing something else. And while yes some people will still do it because writing IS a passion, it IS a drive many of us feel, it ISN’T something we do for the money, many others won’t. And in the end?
We’re going to end up in a world in which the only (new) books we can read are by written by rich, white, middle-aged men.
Reading helps us to learn and grow, and to see into the lives and thoughts and pain of others. But if we’re not careful, we’ll end up back in a world in which the only books being published are by rich people. And, since one thing I didn’t mention right at the top is that the biggest drop in author income is seen amongst women, black and mixed-race authors, younger/older authors and other marginalised and under-represented communities, we’re going to end up in a world in which the only (new) books we can read are by written by rich, white, middle-aged men. And yes, I’m aware that I’m now a relatively rich, middle-aged, white man. But I do come from a working class background, and when I wrote Before I Go to Sleep I was working in the NHS. But more importantly, even if you do consider my position as privileged, I don’t want my voice to be the only one heard.
A request
Now seems like a good time to say, this is my side-hustle. I’m relatively lucky, but none of us are finding it easy at the moment. So, if you’d like to help out, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. You’ll receive my Writers’ Lodge newsletters, plus full access to Miscellany, in which I share short stories, memoir, and other snippets of my writing. And, most importantly, you’ll be supporting my work and allowing me to continue doing what I do. All for less that £1 per week.
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Getting to grips with plot and structure
How many acts does your story need?
How to get going when you’re not in the mood to write
Working with an agent
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News and Events
I’m going to be leading a writing retreat at Chez Castillon in the south of France, from 9-15th May, 2023. Take a look and do join us. There are still some places left, and I should soon be able to announce some exciting news about the identity of some of the other guests! Suffice to say, attendees will be getting some brilliant advice and support, and not just from me…
SJW recommends
A powerful and affecting novel which expertly counterbalances its mystery and thriller elements with an examination of grief, friendship and family, and also shines a light on the sometimes tricky transition of teenagers as they turn into adults. Take a look here.
Happy reading/writing!
I’m talking about the traditional publishing model here - I don’t know enough about indie/self publishing to really comment. Do you?
I may be wrong about this, in which case let me know! Like I said, it’s complicated.
Publisher, translator and would-be author here. £6.99 is getting difficult for small indie publishers to price the books, since it costs about that to print! And I can just foresee people unwilling to spend £10 or so for a book. Perhaps that is a reason why there are some really chunky (perhaps unnecessarily so) books out there - people feel they want to get volume for money!
Thank you for another great read. This is so important. (And £6.99 for a physical object that will outlive everyone on Earth is MORE than fair.)