ASA submits to Select Committee on COVID-19

3.06.20

In April the Senate established the Select Committee on COVID-19 to inquire into the Australian Government's response to the pandemic, inviting submissions from industry and the community. The ASA completed its submission to the Committee last week, to ensure that author and illustrator voices are heard by government.

Our view is that there has been an immediate loss of income from cancelled appearances at schools, libraries and festivals; cancelled promotional tours and launches; cancelled or deferred workshops through the State and Territory Writers Centres (a significant employer of writers through their workshops); and the evaporation of casual work as teachers in schools and some universities which many authors use to supplement their income. 

Even more significant, however, is the looming decline in royalties. We've seen bookshops across Australia temporarily close or reduce trading and the entire retail sector has contracted. In our view, the fall-out from COVID-19 for writers and illustrators will be slow and long, in contrast to the Government income assistance which is temporary and expires on 27 September. This is because:

• The reduction of international rights sales this year due to cancelled book fairs and very limited international travel will have stunted the ability of books with international appeal to reach their potential
• We're forecasting cash flow issues for many smaller publishers whose businesses are run on extremely tight margins
• Authors are paid last in the publishing supply chain and are therefore exposed to any weaknesses along the chain. Our expectation is that royalties in late 2020 will be low, but also, possibly paid late or not paid at all in some instances
• With market uncertainty and lower publisher reserves, we can expect more cautious, ‘safe’ and celebrity publishing, and fewer risks on unknown authors
• Due to deferred titles, there will be a crowded market in the latter part of this year, to the disadvantage of all but the most high profile authors
• We're relying on the complete recovery of bookstores across Australia to drive strong royalties for authors and illustrators, in a recession

We have not yet been able to quantify the full economic impact of COVID-19 on authors and illustrators because so many of the consequences are still ahead of us. In early October, the ASA will run its Annual Survey and the data we collect will be crucial this year. We will rely on your feedback to inform our advocacy. If any of you have reports from Nielsen Book about your book sales which you would be willing to share with the ASA (on a confidential basis if you'd prefer) as a case study, we'd be grateful to hear from you. 

In our submission, we requested:

• an extension of JobKeeper (or similar support) for creators who are currently locked out of the scheme due to the time lag in royalty payments
• an increase in funding to Australia Council for recovery in the literature sector
• an urgent expansion of the Australian lending rights scheme to encompass digital formats, particularly in light of the substantial increase in digital loans (ebook and audiobooks) from libraries during the pandemic and beyond
• active support from Government for “buy local” and “support Australian stories” messaging in the COVID-19 recovery phase
• the Government to remove tax on all major literary prizes in Australia
• a recommendation to the Minister for the Arts to request a Parliamentary Inquiry into the future of Australian literature

The full details of the ASA submission will be published on the parliamentary website here.

The Select Committee is due to present its final report on or before 30 June 2022. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date with any further developments.