How Publishers Are Vastly Outearning Authors and Forcing Them to Pursue Other Professions for Financial Sustainability.
This is the final paper for my Senior Honors Independent study, which will be presented to my school community at the end of April. As has been in the case with other posts of this type, I can't include footnotes and proper formatting like a Google Doc is capable of doing, but the content remains the same nonetheless! I hope that you enjoy this final component of my study about financial sustainability, and as usual, feel free to send me any feedback.
Up until the 20th century, writers had a straightforward path to follow to achieve a stable income: set time aside for a story, practice their craft, and find a solid audience hungry for each new work. Nowadays, with the flood of digital technologies that are pulling in more writers than ever before, the competitive field has expanded incredibly. While the publishing industry was previously in the hands of those who fit the racial and gender requirements of times past, it has now opened up to a greater diversity of company leaders and authors. Passion is certainly a driving force behind these writers’ work, but with less hope of being published, they need to be able to expect some sort of financial gain in order to continue pursuing their profession. Recently, the publishing industry’s low pay scale, especially for traditionally underrepresented writers, has acted as an obstacle for many writers who want to share their ideas through a literary career. The benefits that digitization has provided in terms of accessibility and shared platforms, which allow for work to be shared and submitted more easily, has also led to an overwhelming flood of writing in recent years. Blog posts, mail subscriptions, and self-publishing services all count as written work, which has led to a problematic phenomenon in the 21st century with the rise of the Internet: writers are starting to outnumber readers. As a result, it has been increasingly difficult for writers to find paid platforms for their work. This has especially been the case during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when certain technological advancements reached their peak in tandem with the confinement of billions of individuals. With increased time and simple online platforms, a record number of aspiring writers have jumped on the opportunity to share their work, which has led the publishing industry to become even more competitive. As a result, it has been hard to achieve a sustainable income through writing of late. A survey conducted by the Author’s Guild at the beginning of the pandemic identified the cancellation of speaking events and book contracts as reasons behind writers’ loss of income, but there was still a notable amount of authors— 45% of the near 1,000 surveyed— who did not experience a financial drop. So how exactly have authors been impacted, how are they navigating this new territory, and what efforts are being made to address the difficult nature of their profession?
Even without the pandemic, authors have been experiencing noteworthy drops in their earnings. The Authors Guild’s 2018 Author Income Survey, which surveyed self-published, hybrid, and traditionally published writers, determined that authorial monthly incomes have dropped 42% in the last decade to about $6,080. The average annual income for authors in 2019 was $63,200. These mediocre numbers pose an immense challenge for many authors who are forced to turn to other sources of income in order to get by. The Author’s Guild adds that “57% of full-time published authors derived 100% of their individual income from writing-related work in 2017,” which has forced lesser known authors to stay afloat by pursuing teaching, editing, translating, and speaking jobs. Writer Melissa Clark comments that, “For careers before mine, in the 60’s and 70’s, once you got that first job or wrote that first book, you just sailed up. In my experience, it’s not like that anymore.” She adds, “Someone like me… teaches on the side. You’ve got an advance which… initially goes to groceries and paying bills. It goes quickly if it’s an average advance.” Large advances are typically only provided to authors who have successful platforms or had a significant following before they shifted online. First time authors can expect advances which range from $5,000 to $50,000 if they have more luck. “Even if you get paid a decent amount for a book, unless you’re able to churn out a book every single year, that’s a one time income. If you can write a book every year, then you can count on a reliable income,” says Ms. Elyssa Friedland. “It’s really really hard to become a factory type of writer… If I don’t have a good idea or it takes more time to write or to focus, then I don’t have income the next year,” Ms. Friedland adds. The highest paid authors— writers like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and James Patterson, have managed to find a mass media platform in order to continue generating a lucrative income, which increases their chances of getting large advances or franchises that include movie deals, which generate publicity.
In past decades, an author’s only way of continuing to make money on the side was through magazine and freelance writing. This applied to famous and lesser known writers alike, some notable examples being F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby was not the piece that earned him his revenue— it was actually his extensive short story writing in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and Esquire. However, the possibility for this reliable source of income has disappeared in recent years due to digitization. While the process of transforming submission platforms to virtual formats has been useful when it comes to soliciting different works or facilitating outreach to readers, new websites have appeared with payment models that severely damaged writers who publish in small newspapers and magazines. As a result, many authors are struggling to make a living because they are forced to find a source of income in another profession. Book contracts have simply not become reliable enough in the modern world.
There are certain rare exceptions where a first-time author produces a viral piece that circulates unbelievably quickly as a result of digital platforms, but this can sometimes prove to be detrimental in the long term. When a publisher offers an enormous, six to seven figure payment for a book, they are “taking a huge gamble on a debut or unproven author [that] puts the author’s entire career at risk since a “successful” book is one that earns out its advance.” A noteworthy, recent example of this was with Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person,” a 2017 story which instantly went viral as soon as it was published in The New Yorker. Roupenian received a seven-figure deal immediately after it was published despite the fact that she had only published one story in a major publication. However, with so much pressure to produce work that was equally stunning, Roupeanian’s books that followed “Cat Person” did not live up to the expectations that were placed on her, with the New York Times calling her collection You Know You Want This “dull and needy.” Despite the advance that she was provided, an article from the UK’s Times reported that the book “sold only 1,385 copies in the UK since its publication” about a month before. In this way, excessively large advances can be just as damaging as miniscule ones, which means that a balance must be reached within the industry.
Unfortunately, many authors are part of the less lucrative side of the spectrum, which has forced them to find creative solutions to continue pursuing their work. Writers have had to take on multiple jobs and constantly submit work in order to build an online presence and literary reputation that contributes to more financial sustainability. Even National Book Award finalist Deesha Philyaw explains, “My writing alone is not financially self-sustaining. Currently, I'm sustained by project management work on a contract basis, as well as fees for speaking engagements.” Philyaw adds, “Previously, I've always earned income by working as a freelance writer, editor, and writing coach.” This is a common trend for writers across a variety of genres and experiences. Professor Nina Schuyler agrees that writing is not financially sustainable on its own, which has required her to “also teach at the university and teach private, smaller classes” as well as “write for magazines, too.” Similarly, Professor Karl Soehnlein has “a freelance consultancy doing writing, editing and other communications work for clients.” For these three authors, additional projects and freelance work has been necessary to remain financially stable. Their situation is not unique. It is representative of the life of a writer in 2021.
Another path that writers have had to take to gain an extra income is sharing their work with influential authors who can promote or or adapt the piece to a different medium. “This year, I will also earn royalties on my 2nd book, as well as income from optioning the rights to my 2nd book to HBO Max,” says Ms. Deesha Philyaw, whose work will be adapted for TV viewers. And, as I mentioned in my last paper about digitization, famous authors are using online platforms like Instagram and TikTok to promote their own work and that of lesser known writers, which can boost the sales of a particular writer who was previously struggling financially. A recent study by the Panorama Project has determined that “libraries, bookstores, and online channels ‘mutually reinforce’ each other,” citing that “more library card holders are buying books during the Covid-19 crisis (in all formats) than the general survey population.” In addition, “activities like author events at libraries, browsing library shelves, and browsing online library catalogs, all lead to new book discovery,” the report concludes. As a result, authors can take advantage of digital events that will prosper even after the pandemic in order to get their work to readers who regularly engage with online platforms to find their next book.
Despite the outreach that TikTok and Instagram have been able to provide, they do not generate a reliable source of income for authors using these platforms. Other sites have created spaces for writers to share their work, but with a lack of financial compensation that magazines and literary journals from decades past used to provide. One of the pioneers of this model was HuffPost. After years of not paying their writers to submit work, HuffPost has finally changed its model, but the damage has been done. The outlet adopted a “free-content model that duped loads of writers into giving their work away for free, driving down the value of journalism across the industry.” Not only were local newspapers negatively impacted by the emergence of HuffPost’s digital platform, but writers also expected “that working for the HuffPost would raise their profiles and then lead to paid gigs.” This outcome often ended up not occurring because there were simply too many writers continuously submitting with the same aspiration. Following HuffPost, other websites like Substack sprung up, claiming that they offered more generous advances to emerging writers. Substack is a platform where authors can build and send their own newsletters to readers and get paid based on the number of subscribers they have— essentially a replacement to a newspaper which an individual might read on a daily basis. To incentivize writers, “the company has tried to recruit high-profile writers, offering… health-care stipends, design help, and money to hire freelance editors.” In addition, “[i]n certain instances, Substack has also paid advances, often in the generous six figures.” More recently, Substack has reported that it is raising $65 million in order to “expand its program of giving writers and journalists advances… in order to allow them to quit their jobs and join the platform, as well as more fellowships, grants, mentorship programs, and other resources.” As we saw with Roupenian’s Cat Person, however, this is not always advantageous to a writer since it can leave them in a position of future vulnerability, especially if they abandon another profession in order to dedicate their entire career to Substack. Many authors, including those interviewed throughout my paper, rely on a second job like teaching in order to stay afloat, and while Substack’s financial initiatives are laudable, they might also be unrealistic for authors who will not immediately gain fame through their newsletters. For the majority of the time, writers are simply not able to generate numbers that are high enough to receive a substantial payment. In the penultimate paragraph, I will analyze how efforts should instead be directed towards the earnings which publishers are receiving, and how this imbalance is at the core of the modern writer’s financial struggle.
In any case, continuing to support the work of platforms like Substack isn’t a completely worthless pursuit. As explained by Anna Weiner of The New Yorker, “[a] robust press is essential to a functioning democracy, and a cultural turn toward journalistic individualism might not be in the collective interest.” One way in which it can be beneficial to writers is if digital outlets experiment with different financial models that offer an advantage to emerging authors, especially those who are historically underrepresented. Medium has recently been the center of attention for doing so by turning “to a variation of the model it started with in 2013: finding writers from the pool of users, and helping them monetize their content.” Medium had previously tried to create multiple publications at the same time, pay their writers based on traffic, and pioneer membership programs for subscribers. Now, they have settled back into a model that seems to be supporting their writers, but it shares some similarities with Substack’s method of sending advances to authors which can oftentimes be unreliable or detrimental to their literary careers. The replacement of struggling small presses with popular digital platforms means that readers are dedicating their attention to sites which provide much less reliable incomes to authors than newspapers and journals once did.
However, one resounding message that authors share is the necessity of continuing to submit, not giving up, working hard, and producing more content after a first publication in order to build a solid foundation of works that can be considered by a publisher. “Like many young writers, a lot of my early poems were rejected,” says Craig Santos Perez. “Over the years, I was lucky to get a few of my poems accepted here and there, and my first book was published in 2008.” After that, Perez went through the same process, and his second book was the first that won an award and received a lot of attention. “I started receiving invitations to submit work from that point from editors and publishers. When I was able to get my third book out, it kept building from there… I was able to keep building my publication résumé,” adds Perez, though this success was still not enough for him to make an income as a writer alone; he makes his income as a professor. Even so, he was able to meet many other authors and push his name into the literary sphere. Philyaw says that it comes down to “believing that you’re doing something that’s going to be of interest to somebody besides yourself” and “growing as a writer.” Philyaw’s development as a nonfiction writer, the genre which initially interested her, ended up serving her in other areas because “whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, there’s the craft of storytelling that goes through both.” Getting involved in the industry by sending in work early and frequently is enough to build experience that will be useful later in a writer’s career. In addition, authors can try to take the freelance route in order to benefit the most they can from digital websites that offer reliable payments on the side of their principal writing career.
Nonetheless, it is clear that there is still an enormous amount of room for improvement, since a huge majority of writers are not provided with the resources to continue sustaining their careers. Certain movements have been pioneered in order to address this fundamental problem within the industry. Recently, in addition to maintaining its regular surveys to assess current conditions for writers, the Author’s Guild has lobbied Congress in order to expand unemployment benefits for freelance workers during COVID-19, which would help many self-published writers who are not covered by an editing house. The Author’s Guild encouraged Congress to revise the guidelines in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provision to include independent freelancers and contractors, with a special emphasis on writers. In the letter, they note that “[m]any publications, for instance, are no longer hiring many freelance writers, illustrators, editorial cartoonists and photographers either because they are closed, have furloughed or laid off their own staff, or they are limiting their coverage mainly to COVID-19 related matters.” The economic problems that various publications have faced in the past year are, in turn, impacting the writers who try to share their work through these platforms. Another essential step for freelance or self-published writers to achieve financial sustainability is by openly negotiating with their editors and potentially accepting short-term rejections in order to increase their revenue in the long-term. The Open Notebook surveyed 267 freelance writers and 49 editors to draw a conclusion about authors’ apprehension regarding financial conversations with their editors. 64% of those surveyed said that they occasionally ask for a higher rate, with only 20% saying that they often do and a significant 14% reporting that they never do. However, once authors bargain with their editors, the numbers look more optimistic. The number of those who were never successful in acquiring a higher rate dropped to 5% and those who often succeeded rose to 45%. A similar reality was revealed when editors were asked to share their side of the story. “75 percent of the editors we surveyed said they occasionally raise rates when asked, and 23 percent said they do so often,” according to the study. These results are a small scale representation of what is possible for writers when they engage in open dialogue with their editors, but it is not a guaranteed success. The number of writers will not decrease and the field is more competitive than ever before. Because of financial strains on publishing houses, their ability to pay freelance writers the same rate— which was already low before— has decreased dramatically. And since many book writers depend on these smaller incomes to support their main work, this pressure is damaging authors all across the spectrum.
The shocking contradiction that arises from the issues mentioned above is the fact that publishers are making more money while the majority of writers submitting to them are struggling. Publishing houses have seen increased earnings in the past decade since “publishers, retailers and agents are all now taking a larger slice of the profit when a book is sold,” according to Nicola Solomon, who leads the Society of Authors, which is based in England. In the United States, publishers saw close to $6 billion in revenue between January and June of 2019, which translates to an increase of 6.9% compared to 2018. Like the Author’s Guild in the United States, Solomon’s Society of Authors has succeeded in introducing legislation that has benefited authors in the European Union as a result of strategic lobbying, They have introduced the “C.R.E.A.T.O.R Campaign,” which seeks to form clear contracts with authors while remunerating their work and ensuring that “a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations to the detriment of the author… should be regarded as unfair.” Their work with large publishing companies should be modeled in other parts of the world to limit the imbalance which often arises in contracts between authors and publishers which can result in the latter exploiting the work of the former.
The financial, digital, and identity-based aspects of writing and sharing one’s work all intersect in today’s publishing industry. We have analyzed how certain authors have historically been marginalized on the basis of their race and gender in the industry and how current efforts are being made to address their condition. From there, I have explored how digital platforms, self-publishing techniques, review websites, and celebrity coverage have all contributed to an increased ability for a writer to share their work and connect with readers. And in this paper, I have concluded that the financial realities of sustaining a writing career remain to be meaningfully tackled. Publishers are making more money at the expense of their writers, who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s economic consequences, which shows that the greater access which authors have to different outlets is not resulting in more financial sustainability. Just as tangible action was taken to address the conditions of BIPOC and female writers, as well as provide virtual spaces for authors to share their work, publishing organizations need to follow the footsteps of the Author’s Guild and the Society of Authors by decreasing the inequality between a publisher and a writer’s financial gains. While publishers continue soaring with immense earnings, writers are struggling to make ends meet, and decreasing this gap is the first step to addressing this overarching problem in the industry. In this way, writers will be able to offer their best content to readers without experiencing an endless financial burden. A writer’s work in the digital age is one that has become very democratic and accessible, but unfortunately, not rewarded well enough financially.
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