That Authors Guild Survey

[rowyn]

In 2015, the Authors Guild surveyed their members about their writing income, for the first time since 2009

Comments

[terrycloth]

It's almost like you want professional researchers to do research, instead of going by what a random survey with no methodology seems to say.

[rowyn]

That would be nice! Though I'd settle for various media outlets not treating it as if it the equivalent of a scientific study on the topic. -_-

[rowyn]

Probably not -- I know the RWA actually does make you prove eligibility regularly, but I didn't see anything in the Authors Guild about it. But while it's not a high bar to clear from an "annual income" standpoint, it's still a significant barrier for most writers.

[canis_lupus03]

I hadn't heard about this survey, but I like the questions you're putting to it, it's an interesting read, anyway! Personally, I feel like it's so much easier these days to be an author than it ever was in the past, since you're not enslaved to a publishing house? When I was a kid and looked into becoming an author it was all "write book, send to ten publishers, accept 50 rejections, soldier on". Now it's "write book, publish". I mean, obviously there's a bunch of work involved, but you're still far less dependant on some random person taking a vague guess at whether people might or might not like your writing. So, I don't know if incomes are up or down for regular authors, but it seems more feasible to make at least a few Euro (or Dollars) from your writing. And, hey, I have like 75 author subscriptions and a couple hundred or so story subscriptions over on the AO3- I can use that for marketing! I don't have to write my readers a note saying "sorry, folks, i'm a published author now, my publisher wants me to pull all fanfic 'cause we

[rowyn]

Yeah, I have heard from various different sources that traditional publishers are paying authors less now, both in advances and in other contract terms. So I can certainly believe that author incomes from some sectors are down. I'm just not sure that's "the writing population as a whole". :|

[medicmsh]

Your analysis here is *brilliant*. AND well-written. This deserves serious boosting of the signal.

[rowyn]

♥ Thanks!