If you’re a
professional author who works hard to make a living from writing, this week’s
news is grim, based on three surveys from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. TheWriters’ Union of Canada (TWUC) reported that writers’ incomes are down by 27%
from 1998. 45% of survey participants report that they are working harder just
to earn what they had previously. Note that the average income for writers is
$12,879, which is $36,000 below the poverty line, and women earn only 55% of
that earned by their male counterparts. One of the major reasons cited by
TWUC’s executive director is weakening copyright protection in Canada. Also note
that TWUC is comprised of 2,000 members, but this is only a fraction of all writers
in Canada. Ironically, some writers I know find TWUC’s annual fee too
expensive.
The American AuthorsGuild (AG) conducted a similar survey in April 2015. Results are still being
analyzed but they do state that writing incomes have decreased by 24% since the
last survey in 2009. Median incomes were $8,000 with full-time writers’ incomes
dropping from $25,000 to $17,000. Here’s the stat that got me: writers who’ve
been writing for 25 to 40 years have seen the greatest drop in their incomes
from $28,7500 to $,9500. Yikes! The Guild is citing unfair publishing contracts
as a main reason for the drop, claiming that publishers’ revenues have steadily
risen over the years.
In the UK, TheAuthors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), gathered information in 2013
from different writers’ organizations. They found that writers’ incomes have
dropped by 29% since 2005. They also found that the number of writers who’ve
been able to make a living from writing dropped from 40% to 11.5% This survey also acknowledges the
self-publishing aspect a little, by indicating that 25% of survey participants
had self-published at some point and that 80% would do so again.
But here’s the thing.
All three surveys don’t come close to capturing the real story of writers’
incomes because, aside from ALCS, they don’t address indie authors. I suspect
that many indie authors don’t belong to these organizations. I also believe that
there is an increasingly large shadow industry of writers writing and selling
books and earning money.
The shadow industry
was alluded to in one of Hugh Howey’s Authors Earnings reports that I blogged
about earlier this year. Howey discovered that a fair number of titles were selling
without ISBN numbers on Amazon. ISBNS are used by many organizations to
identify the number of books being published globally, but the stats aren’t
accurate. I am just one of many authors who bought several ISBNs back in the
day, but never used all of them. Also, I and other writers use local services
to print books which we sell by hand at trade shows and other events. Honestly,
I sell more print books than TWUC or any organization realizes. This doesn’t
mean that I’m earning more than the average writer. In fact, I’m earning less. But
neither am I working at publishing and selling full-time.
My point is that
although those surveys reveal important things, they don’t tell us the whole
picture. No one does because I seriously doubt that anyone knows what it really
is.
