Philippa East - AuthorDec 7, 2022
Ally Sinclair
Publishing as an industry is unsustainable if authors can't make a living wage from writing. Also the best way to make an income as a writer shouldn't be 'by being a white bloke.' https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/06/writers-earnings-have-plummeted-with-women-black-and-mixed-race-authors-worst-hit
Writers’ earnings have plummeted – with women, Black and mixed race authors worst hit

Research shows that the income of professional authors averages only £7,000 in the UK, making the profession ‘inaccessible and unsustainable’ to most

The Guardian
Dec 7, 2022 at 11:05amWeb
Show threadPipKazanDec 7, 2022
@AllySinclair I calculate that I wrote my last two novels for around a 2p/hour wage, and I write fast. The only reason I've started writing again is Long Covid: I'm too ill to hold down a day job. Fiction writing is now a hobby for everyone outside the affluent upper middle classes, and even then... That's disastrous for diversity and for writing as a whole. I struggle to see how fiction survives as a sustainable art, and it is an art, no matter how far the industry debases writing and authors.
Show threadAlly SinclairDec 7, 2022
@pipkazan Yes. I know people who do make good money but they are increasingly unusual and my best advice to someone starting now, who needed to make an income, would be 'do something else' unfortunately.