Writing at risk of becoming an 'elitist' profession, report warns
theguardian.com – Tuesday May 7, 2019
Though the average writer earns £10,000 a year, mean household earnings are more than £81,000 – a result bestselling author Kit de Waal calls problematic.
Writing is in danger of becoming an elitist profession, with many authors being subsidised by their partners or a second job in order to stay afloat, according to new statistics.
The full findings from the annual Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society report into author earnings paint a more nuanced picture than the headline results from last summer, which revealed that median earnings for professional writers had fallen to less than £10,500 a year. While the average professional writer earns £10,000 a year, the mean earnings for a writer’s household were more than £81,000 a year, and median household earnings were at £50,000 per annum. “Most writers supplement their income from other sources, such as a second job or household earnings contributed by a partner”, according to the report, which analysed answers from more than 5,500 professional writers.
Buchwald Adds Five Agents In New York, Los Angeles Outposts
deadline.com – Monday May 6, 2019
The boutique agency Buchwald has expanded its New York and Los Angeles offices with five key hires made by president Julia Buchwald. In the New York office, Cassandra Tay and Katie Britton have been brought on as theatrical agents, as well as Liz Orr as a literary agent.
In Los Angeles, Jason Hyman joins as a talent agent, while George Carmona has been hired as Buchwald’s West Coast voice-over agent. In addition to building out the voice-over booth in Buchwald’s L.A. office, Carmona will work with a number of the agency’s east coast commercial agents including newly promoted Director of Animation, Pamela Goldman.
Creative writing graduates will 'never make a living as novelists', says Self
thebookseller.com – Thursday May 2, 2019
Will Self has declared literature to be “morphing into a giant quilting exercise”, suggesting that no current creative writing graduates will make a living from literary fiction.
The author criticised courses during an interview with Radio 4’s “Today” programme on Thursday (2nd May), in a show recorded at the University of East Anglia, almost 50 years since its prestigious Creative Writing MA launched.
Self said: “If you want to do it and you’re not too concerned about making a living in the future then it’s probably a good idea. The paradox is, in the modern university, everyone is encouraged to tailor their courses towards employability but it’s certainly not clear what the pathway is into literary fiction – possibly into genre fiction, or possibly people can use the writing courses just to develop themselves as writers to write video games or something else, that’s a possibility.”
Cengage, McGraw-Hill Agree to Merge to Become 2nd Biggest US Textbook Publisher
edsurge.com – Wednesday May 1, 2019
Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education plan to join forces in an all-stock merger. The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, would create the second-biggest U.S. textbook publisher if the deal is approved, with a combined valuation estimated at $5 billion. Pearson, with a market cap of $8.5 billion, would still be ahead of the pack.
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