We need universal basic income. That's how to fix both the supply and demand side. Good luck selling art to a population less able to afford the cost of living. And artists should be able to not have to sell their work to live but also be able to demand a price without having to worry about refusals
Agree that the situation is bad, but the article doesn't really explore what's causing it. What's the role of publishers, how much of this is down to reading being less popular (*is* reading less popular), how much does the Amazon model cause a problem?
There are so many terrible writers with published books, it's clearly a vicious cycle. Volume-driven marketing is still working for the publishing houses, though.
The fact of the matter is that artistic skills are really, really common and most people don’t demand high art. Supply and demand keeps wages low. Medical skill is far more rare
That's fair and I'll happily write just for the love of it as soon as the bankers, lawyers, CEOs, influencers, and all the other greedy bastards who scramble over every penny they can screw out of us and do everything they can to avoid paying tax have done the same.
I've been having this debate with someone on LinkedIn. Their opinion was that an author should be willing to go into debt to pay for editing and cover art, which is unreasonable. Authors are the 'plankton' in the literary food chain. Without them, the whole publishing food chain would collapse.
It is a matter of resource allocation and human needs. Entertainment is lower in the priority list than food and healthcare. People's disposable income has been going down since 1980's.
"Free" entertainment has flourished since web 2.0.
There's simply no more market for all the authors we have.Pity.
Try one day without writers. They are behind almost everything you consume online and in more general media. Same with musicians and other artists who are treated disparagingly by our capitalist society.
You can make that dropping fry baskets. Truth be told, you aren’t a professional author until you can live off it. These folks are just poor people that enjoy writing as a hobby. Simple as that.
That's kind of a nuts thing to say. If every author who couldn't make their entire living off publishing stopped publishing you'd be left with very few books.
- I make a portion of my living each year from publishing games.
- I make another portion of my living each year running games as a paid GM.
- I make the majority of my living teaching games design, and other digital media skills.
The premise is correct, but the suggesting of making authors' earnings tax-free is not. Those impoverished authors who are highlighted by the article already have a tax break (they earn less than the personal allowance). JK doesn't need a tax break, & should pay her fair share of tax.
The Irish system is no income tax on up to €50k a year that is earned from your arting/art/music (about £40k). Mega rich aren't exempt and anyone under that mark finds it much more viable for writing to be their full time job. (source: am writer living in Ireland, although still not full time)
Ditto.
I suspect that income varies significantly from one year to the next, so perhaps some form of carry over would be more fair. While I'm an avid reader, and like music, I'm not sure that authors/musicians should pay less tax than a nurse or careworker.
I'm sure it'd be hard to bring in to the UK. It's not tax free (you have to pay things like the PRSI, which pay pensions and benefits, and other taxes). Ireland has had it a long time, and Irish people really value art and culture a lot. Island of saints and scholars, after all.
Plus in the big scheme of tax breaks given out by the Irish government, income for artists capped at 50k is small fry compared to what big companies are getting. Why be mad at the writer down the road and not Apple in the Silicon Docks?
There's author's averaging--in the UK, at least, not sure about Ireland--so that evens things out because, you're right, most writers do have widely fluctuating incomes year to year. Writers/artists and farmers benefit from averaging.
As much as I dislike Rowling, I think she goes out of her way to both pay as much tax as she can and also to tell people about it. Mind you, she can afford to pay the required taxes as this isn't the 1970s.
Wikipedia authors do it all the time. Adjust the system or don't add to a long list of writers adding nothing new or constructive. If you just write fiction, it's unlikely you're doing something revolutionarily new or important. Don't take airplanes & you're better of than >50%.
Better keep concealing your ID or the fiction police will be round. But you are correct. I have about 3 ( very long) novels which keep me going and coming back.
Well written fiction is one of the best things you can read to develop emotional maturity and can spark interest in history, science and other vital disciplines.
No, most stories of relevance to society haven't been written. Fiction is very important to society. Also 99% of the stories out there are irrelevant crap.
Even as an aspiring but so far unsuccessful author this seems very tone-deaf to the current economic reality facing the country. Also, literary agents receive hundreds of new drafts every week. The market is buyer-led, probably more than at any other time.
Comments
"Free" entertainment has flourished since web 2.0.
There's simply no more market for all the authors we have.Pity.
but the issue for authors is that most are not being paid a living or even a basic wage
the idea that people should do their job because they love it and shouldn't need to be paid is ludicrous
- I make a portion of my living each year from publishing games.
- I make another portion of my living each year running games as a paid GM.
- I make the majority of my living teaching games design, and other digital media skills.
reland gave artists and writers that kind of break.
I suspect that income varies significantly from one year to the next, so perhaps some form of carry over would be more fair. While I'm an avid reader, and like music, I'm not sure that authors/musicians should pay less tax than a nurse or careworker.
Question is: how much money is being made from books? Then see if the problem isn’t how it’s shared out.
That's what that would sound like.
make a living off writing, my advice is, unless you're independently wealthy or J K Rowling *gags*, get a day job.
If Baillie Gifford supported such events via donation there might be less fuss.
We need more conversations about why such acts of ‘philanthropy’ need a company name plastered all over them.
As they see all authors as millionaires like JK
Not realising money only comes now when turned to the screen
Without a deep and broad pool of writer, a significant portion of that goes away.
Investing in authors is just good economic sense!