Random thoughts about writing and pay, penned from a sick bed! by Anne Booth

 I am not very well today, but my post is due tomorrow, so I thought I would jot down some random thoughts I have been having. The good thing is, if they are obviously wild, I can always blame being ill..

I recently applied for two lovely writer in residence jobs. I was sent details by a friend and encouraged to try. I actually hoped and thought I might be in with a  good chance, but I didn't get either. I know I could have done a good job, and I had lovely rejection emails, talking about the strength of all the applicants, and when I found out who got the posts, I did feel much better and totally understood why - I would have given the residencies to those two writers too!

The thing I want to say is, however, that the main reason I really really wanted those jobs, and why, it seems, so many other very experienced writers did, was because, as well as being very interesting,  these residencies promised guaranteed regular monthly payments over a year. I wonder, if publishers are really serious about diversity and encouraging people who are not from wealthy backgrounds, if they could think about how much this would mean to all writers, existing published  authors and aspiring authors, struggling to budget. 

One of the most stressful things about being freelance is the fact that you can't be sure what you are going to earn from one month from the next, and also when people you have signed contracts for, or already done work for, are going to pay you. Worrying about money is not great for Creativity, contrary to the Romantic image of the starving artist. Publishing advances are paid in instalments, when you sign the contract, when you deliver the finished manuscript,  and when a book is published. The problem is, that when a book is published years after a contract is signed,  which is common, this inevitably means that you then go months and months without more payments, and most advances, contrary to what people think, are not huge in the first place. 

Writers can, of course, do events, but we all know about chasing payments after events. Personally I have been very lucky and schools have paid promptly, but some writers have had nightmares with schools not paying, and writers all know about being asked to do lots of lectures and visits and workshops for free or for 'exposure', and how tiring and embarrassing it is to have to constantly keep explaining to people who themselves are often on a salary, that freelancers need to eat & pay bills!  

The way round it, of course, for full-time writers who have good agents, as I am lucky enough to have, is to hopefully write lots and lots of books, so you are always writing and submitting books,  signing contracts, or receiving royalties, or plr,  or money for translations rights, or visiting schools, but even with the best of agents that's so much easier said than done these days, and it is very very hard work to sustain at the best of times, but especially in a pandemic. Added to that the fact that many good writers are not also natural performers or confident self-promoters, or self-confident at all, and also there are times, like recently, in a pandemic, when publishers are themselves struggling and just not taking on many books, and you have a rather stressful situation. So many existing published writers give up, and so many aspiring writers don't even start, because of  financial stress.

So, I wonder if, to truly encourage and nurture and keep writers from different backgrounds, if the publishing industry could consider how regular monthly payments over a year to more writers, existing and aspiring, however small the amounts, rather than huge headline-grabbing advances to a few celebrities  who are actually not cash-strapped, could really dramatically  help re budgeting and stopping creativity-stifling anxiety? Maybe bigger publishers could even pay new writers, and also writers already on their books, a salary - a monthly amount for a set time, a year say? Established writers could be paid to mentor upcoming writers, or just to produce their new work. I am sure this would encourage and enable more new writers without private means if they knew they could budget and commit to write part-time or even commit to writing full-time, without constantly fretting about bills, and it would stop already published and experienced authors without private means, from giving up. Many existing writers of wonderful books have stopped writing, not because they have run out of ideas or lack ability, but because of financial insecurity, and that can't be right or healthy.  Even small regular amounts from smaller publishers could mount up and help budgeting for bills, and might help the publisher budget too!

I am sure this would help illustrators too.

Right, I don't know if that was the lemsip talking, but I honestly would like to see some sort of change.