U.K. authors call on publishers to share more of the wealth
A recent author-earnings survey in the United Kingdom doesn’t do much to counter the image of a starving artist.
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society report, released Thursday, found that the median earnings for professional writers have fallen to under £10,500 (about $13,730 U.S.) a year, according to The Guardian
That represents a 42 percent decrease from 2005 — and the figure is lower if you’re a female writer; the survey found that women make 75 percent of what their male counterparts do.
In response to the findings, prominent authors including Philip Pullman are calling on publishers to increase payments to authors.
“The word exploitation comes to mind,” Pullman told The Guardian on Wednesday.
The survey covers writers from a variety of fields, including stage and screen.
Interested in learning what authors make in the United States? Check out Author Earnings, a website dedicated to gathering data from authors and for authors.