LONDON, April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Release of the full ALCS-commissioned report into authors'
earnings reveals incomes on the slide, but self-publishing making
an increasing contribution.
Last summer, ALCS released some sobering initial findings from
its latest survey of authors' earnings, under the heading, What
Are Words Worth Now? These included the revelation that the
typical income of a professional author had fallen by 29% since
2005, along with the fact that increasingly few professional
authors are able to earn a living solely from their writing, with
just 11.5% doing so (down from 40% in 2005).
Today Queen Mary, University of
London which conducted the
research publishes The Business of Being an Author: A Survey
of Authors' Earnings and
Contracts, the full report based on a survey of the earnings of
almost 2,500 working writers.
Among the further findings of The Business of Being an
Author:
The Writing Life and Earnings
- The earnings picture is very top heavy: the top 5% earned
42.3% of all the money earned by professional authors.
- The bottom 50% (those earning £10,432 or less) earned only 7%
of all the money earned by all writers cumulatively.
- 17% of all writers did not earn any money from writing in
2013, despite 98% of these having had a work published or exploited
in each year from 2010 to 2013.
- Since 2005, the typical author has become poorer against
society as a whole and now (from self-employed writing) earns only
87% of the present minimum wage.
Publishing Advances and Contracts
- 44% of authors stated that the size of the advances they had
received from publishers had declined over the past five years.
- 46% of authors said they had signed a buy-out contract (where
there is a single payment for use of their work without the further
payment of royalties), with 30% stating that the prevalence of such
contracts was on the increase.
Self-Publishing
- A quarter of authors have self-published a book.
- Among authors who have self-published, the top 10% of earners
made a profit of £7,000 or more.
- The top 20% of earners among authors who have self-published
made a profit of almost £3,000.
- The bottom 20% of authors who have self-published made losses
of at least £400.
Commenting on the report, Richard
Combes, Head of Rights and Licensing at ALCS said:
"The research highlights a familiar paradox: at a time
when the creative industries are a thriving mainstay of the UK
economy, the industry of individual creators is an increasingly
undervalued national resource."
The Business of Being an Author: A Survey
of Authors' Earning and
Contracts along with What are words worth now? Further
findings are available on the ALCS website:
http://www.alcs.co.uk
20 April 2015
Definitions
- Professional Authors: respondents who dedicate over 50% of
their time to self-employed writing.
- Authors: respondents who identify their "primary occupation"
as author (whether a professional author or an occupational
writer).
- Writers: a shorthand for all writers - i.e. respondents to a
particular question irrespective of other factors.
Editor's Notes
- The Business of Being an Author: A survey of authors' earnings
and contracts was commissioned by ALCS in 2013 and carried out by
Queen Mary, University of
London. The research authors are
Professor Johanna Gibson of Queen
Mary University of London;
Professor Phillip Johnson of
Cardiff University; and Dr Gaetano
Dimita of Queen Mary, University of
London.
- A total of 2,454 writers took part, of whom 56% were men and
44% women.17% of respondents were aged 44 or under; 54% were aged
45-64; and 29% were aged 65 or over.
- In 2007, ALCS published What Are Words Worth?, independent
research by Bournemouth University
into authors' earnings for the financial year, 2004/5. Where data
for 2005 is cited, this is the research to which it refers.
- The Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS)
collects fees on behalf of the whole spectrum of UK writers:
novelists, film & TV script writers; literary prize winners;
poets; freelance journalists; translators and adaptors, as well as
thousands of professional and academic writers who include nurses,
lawyers, teachers, scientists and college lecturers. All writers
are eligible to join ALCS: further details on membership can be
found at http://www.alcs.co.uk. ALCS collects fees that are
difficult, time-consuming or legally impossible for writers and
their representatives to claim on an individual basis: money that
is nonetheless due to them. Since its inception, ALCS has
distributed over £380 million to the nation's writers. For further
information, contact alcs@alcs.co.uk or see
http://www.alcs.co.uk.