Should Authors be on a Salary?

Should authors be on a salary?

TRANSCRIPT:

I was thinking about Chappel Roan at the Grammies asking the record companies to pay their musicians a living wage and it got me thinking… if a publisher — one of the big five, say — started offering authors a monthly salary instead of an advance, would you take it?

A monthly salary, with a pension plan, health care (very important for our US cousins) paid holidays, maybe even expenses?

You could be on a fixed contract: 3 years or 5, but you have to deliver a book a year. Oh, and you have to write what the publisher wants (which, arguably, is happening more and more in traditional publishing), and you don’t retain copyright or get any royalties (which is kind of what happens in TV). Maybe you get a bonus for hitting sales targets? Would you do it?

Is anyone doing it already? I doubt it as the current system is very much weighed in the favour of the publishers… but if you’re an author, would you be tempted by a monthly salary with all the benefits and strings attached?