The Business of Being an Authors - étude britannique, avril 2015

The Business of Being an Author A Survey of Author’s Earnings and Contracts Researchers Professor Johanna Gibson, Queen Mary University of London Professor Phillip Johnson, Cardiff University Dr Gaetano Dimita, Queen Mary University of London April 2015 www.busman.qmul.ac.uk Queen Mary is one of the UK’s leading research institutions with an equally enviable reputation for teaching excellence The information given in this publication is correct at the time of going to press. The College reserves the right to modify or cancel any statement in it and accepts no responsibility for the consequences of any such changes. For the most uptodate information, please refer to the websiteqmul.ac.uk This prospectus has been printed on environmentally friendly material from wellmanaged sources. 2 The Business of Being an Author Contents Executive Summary 1. Methodology 2. An author’s life and earnings 3. Contractual clauses 4. Advances, royalty rates and moral rights 5. Reversion clauses and selfpublication 6. Advice 7. The bargaining position of authors Key findings Appendix 1 Appendix 2 5 6 8 12 14 16 17 18 19 20 35 The Business of Being an Author 3 4 The Business of Being an Author Executive summary 1 A survey of authors was carried out between January and March 2014 with approximately 35,000 writers being contacted and asked to complete the survey.