Today I Lost a Fan

Working on the latest novel. Last week average: 14 hours each day.

This is horrible. This morning I got an email from a guy I’ve known a while now. He said that because I was showing my ‘middle finger’ to all my loyal readers and fans, he was going to stop collecting and reading my books.

The reason?

Some time ago an author in America called Douglas Preston made public a letter he had written to the head of Amazon. You can see it here. It was published in some US papers on 8th August, and as you can see, many authors signed it.

Now, my reader took this as an attack on readers and fans. He said that I was ‘indifferent’ to the threat of publishers colluding to push prices up; that I was greedy; that I was taking an approach that was unfair to readers because they wanted a price commensurate with the format.

This really is a hard series of accusations. I think that the letter itself does not take sides as such. However, it points out that Amazon’s dispute with Hachette is currently hurting only authors.

There is a view, probably held by my reader, that all authors are wealthy. It’s not true. Most authors make a pittance. Author incomes have fallen by 29% since 2007 (see the ALCS report here) and now most authors cannot make a living income from their writing. Although my books are selling better and better, my income is still falling year on year. Most of my friends who are good, solid professional authors are having to scrimp and save. Authors do not make millions. Only a tiny, tiny percentage. Probably the top 2% take 75% of all writing income. The 98% have to share the rest. I have no figures to back that statement, but if you look at the millions of pounds taken by JK Rowling, John Grisham, James Patterson and a few others, it is likely to be true. Certainly in the UK the average earnings for authors is only £11,000.

In my case, I write two books a year. It takes me about six months to write, redraft, edit, copyedit, proof and publish each of those books, and most of the time I’ll be working up to fifteen hours a day, often working through the weekends too. For all that time, and the pleasure I hope I give to tens of thousands of readers, I really think my efforts are worth more than that.

The big question is, how much should the authors get paid? Right now, authors are piggy in the middle. We have no say on pricing, no say on discounts, no say on any aspect of the negotiations that define our livelihoods. My reader was concerned that I wanted to push prices up. No. I want my income to rise to a fair proportion of the money taken for my work. Where he wants a price commensurate with the format, I want a value on my work that is commensurate with the effort put in and the pleasure and entertainment my hard work provides.

Readers have never had access to so many books quite so cheaply. Publishers are making good profits. Amazon seems to be doing really very well. One group, however, is still being hit hard: the writers who generate all the profits and who entertain, amuse and educate the readers.

How could things be improved?

Well, how about the publishers fixing their price to retailers. All retailers. That way, Amazon could add their percentage for their profits and stop trying to force prices further and further down. Publishers would have certainty and could afford to budget. They would know how much they should pay their authors, too, and that would take away the current horrible environment in which authors never know how much they have earned until the twice-yearly royalty payment. No author can budget or plan.

The only thing that is certain is, the current approach is not working for all stakeholders.

What do you think? What would you think would be a fair reward for an author? Help! The publishing industry needs input from anyone who can push them through this current car-crash!

 

Tagged: ALCS, amazon, artists, author, author incomes, authors, books, crime, crime writer, Hachette, history, incomes, medieval, novels, publisher, publishing, retailer, writer, writing