Recently, the Authors Guild published its 2018 Author Income Survey and its findings are ugly. Median writers’ income has fallen 49% from 2009 to a measly $6,080. It gets worse. Income derived solely from books has fallen 21% to $3,100. The survey points out that full time writers are earning additional income from teaching and speaking. But this only gets their median annual income up to $20,300. Oh, and by the way, the US Government says the minimum income for a family of four to avoid crossing the poverty level is about $25,000.
So, good luck if you’re trying to feed yourself and your family by writing! Images of a starving writer in a garret somewhere come to mind. In fact, a full-time employee working at a McDonald’s earning the minimum wage earns $31,200 annually plus benefits!
Who does the Authors Guild blame for this state of affairs?
While several trends are mentioned, no one should be surprised that the primary culprit is Amazon.
Yes, Amazon, the slayer of many industries and cherished American cultural icons in particular, is now moving onto the rest of the publishing food chain after having had booksellers for breakfast. But, unlike when bricks ‘n mortar chains like Borders, Sam Goody’s, and Toys ‘R Us go under with “Going Out of Business” signs splashed across their front entrances in every community and nonstop media coverage, what’s happening in the publishing world is more insidious for both writers and publishers. Other than writers, agents, and publishers, how many are aware that Amazon has its own mystery/thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer? Or, that they’re promoting their own ebooks over those of other publishers?
The scissors effect of the publishing industry’s ongoing consolidation and Amazon’s move into publishing is squeezing the writer. In particular, the mid-list dweller. The Authors Guild fears the latter may be on the verge of extinction.
Also, from the Authors Guild, Roxana Robinson, a past president of the Guild, said:
“Amazon’s market share (72 percent of the online book market and nearly 50 percent of all new books sold) allows it to lock publishers into a vise, relentlessly demanding increasing discounts and narrowing margins. Publishers pass on losses to the writers, by shrinking advances and royalties.”
Another deleterious side effect of the world moving onto the Internet is what’s happening in the newspaper and magazine industries. From 2001 to 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says that employment in the newspaper industry had dropped by over 40%! Given the number of newspaper closures and cutbacks in services, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. How many full-time mystery/thriller reviewers do you know? Whenever I ask this question, everyone comes back with Marilyn Stasio of the NY Times. When I ask for another, there’s generally a very long pause. (Actually, I’m still waiting.) Recently except for the intervention of Stephen King, the Portland Press Herald, in Maine, would have stopped reviewing local authors which would have been a tragedy given the number of very good mystery/thriller writers there. (Full disclosure, one of them is my client.) It’s bad enough that publishers will only promote blockbusters without other authors not being able to get any publicity from the press, either!
Competition is increasing too. Bowker reports more than 1,000,000 self-published books alone were published in the U.S. in 2017 up from 300,000 in 2009.
And, let’s not forget our old friend, book store returns, which work against royalties for writers.
Now, you may ask why am I sharing all this gloom and doom and implying that aspiring writers begin to think of careers with McDonald’s? I’m neither suggesting you begin practicing asking, “Would you like fries with that?” nor that the publishing world is going to Hell in a handbasket. What I’m saying is that you can do something about it.
I’ll be blogging here about writing and social media for the next several months and I’ll show you how you can develop your own successful social media program and how it can help you. I’ll also be happy to answer any questions that you may have. In the meantime, please feel to check out my blog at someddi.com.
Or, feel free to contact me at my email address below and I’ll answer your questions or discuss social media impact on you as a writer.
Thanks for reading and best wishes for your writing!
Con Patrick Sweeney is the Managing Director at Someddi LLC, a social media advisory practice, focusing on small and midsized organizations, and independent professionals. His website is http://someddi.com/ and he can be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com He welcomes queries about social media for writers!