Author incomes halved in past 15 years

Falling book prices have dramatically reduced the capacity for writers to make a living from their work.
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Most Australian authors only earn $13,000 annually from their writing, a decline of almost 50% since 2001.

The average writer’s income in Australia has dropped from $20,400 a year in 2001 to just over $13,000 in 2015, according to a new study  titled The Australian Book Industry: Authors, publishers and readers in a time of change, a three-year research project funded by the Australian Research Council and Macquarie University that surveyed more than 1000 book authors.

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Emma Clark Gratton
About the Author
Emma Clark Gratton is an ArtsHub staff writer.