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Book Sales Are Through the Roof, but Authors Are Earning Less

By July 22, 2018Authors, News

2017 marked a record breaking year for publishers, as sales of books in the UK surpassed £5 billion, but this in turn has been met with new demands for authors to receive a larger share of the profits.

As The Guardian reports, 2017’s book sales were up 5% compared to 2016’s profits, according to data gathered by the Publishers Association. Despite this, a survey of author’s earnings has discovered that the amount earned by writers has dropped by 42% over the past decade, with the median annual income now below £10,500.

The record year for book sales saw a 31% rise in hardback book sales, along with a 25% increase if income from the sales of audiobooks, and an 8% uplift from exports. Income from fiction and non-fiction rose by 3% and 4% respectively, proving that, despite the many distractions provided by our computers and phones, our love for reading still remains strong.

“Publishers are catering to modern consumers who are reading books in different formats across different platforms, but still showing a very significant attachment to the printed word, as we continue to see the resilience and popularity of print across publishing sectors,” said Publishers Association’s chief executive, Stephen Lotinga.
Still, for authors the news is not as positive. Writers have seen a slow but steady decrease in pay over the years, despite the fact publishers are enjoying strong profits.. “Authors have seen their earnings chipped away at while publishers thrive,” said the author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier. “Most writers cobble together a living from several sources: teaching, journalism, and odd jobs. Writing is just one shrinking source of income. Shrink it enough and people will stop writing altogether. It literally won’t be worth it.”

Chevalier is the president of the Royal Literary Fund, which aims to support writers in financial difficulty. She noted that the charity has seen an increase in applications for hardship grants from younger writers. She said it indicates publishers’ hesitancy to take a risk and support an author for more than a few books at a time.

“I think writers starting out are getting less support from publishers – not just financial, but a commitment to develop them and see them through several books to build up a readership and steady sales,” she said.

Chevalier’s sentiments were also shared by the author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris, who said: “I am concerned that publishers don’t seem to be able to see beyond the next big blockbuster book by a white, American male in his mid-60s.”

She also criticised publishers for preferring to fund celebrities and social media stars, despite the fact their books don’t tend to turn a profit. “Brooklyn Beckham received a huge advance for a £50 coffee table book of photographs that did not sell. Authors are being sacrificed for ‘wish-upon-a-star celebrity’ publishing.”

Writer and critic Philip Womack also criticised publishers flocking to celebrities, saying: “When David Walliams’s last book came out they sent him on a helicopter tour of Britain, which strikes me as very extravagant when they could have used that money to give more support for debut and established children’s authors.”

Lotinga denied authors’ were getting less and less pay, saying: “I do not think that incomes are going down.” He did go on to admit that publishers are hard-pressed to deny demands from retailers such as supermarkets and online booksellers, in return for promoting individual titles. “Clearly when you are operating in a world where very large retailers are able to dictate prices in a massive sector, it is hard to fight,” he said.
Large retailers are often blamed for the failure to match profits with turnover. An author anonymously accused Amazon of using its power to keep book prices low, which has affected authors’ incomes.

“It’s Amazon’s fault entirely that book prices have not increased in the last 20 years,” he said. Referring to his first bestseller, he said: “It was sold at £25 20 years ago and my latest book is also to be sold at the same price, which, in real terms, is a drastic cut.” When the author asked his publisher why prices hadn’t changed, he was told it was to ensure support from the online bookselling giant.

Amazon has denied it’s pressurising publishers, saying it had no control over how publisher profits were distributed. A spokesperson said: “We focus on driving value and readership for authors as a top priority.” It was then pointed out that authors writing for its Kindle Direct Publishing arm can receive up to 70% of profits.



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