10.02.20
As you may know, the ASA publishes information on recommended rates of pay for writers and illustrators. We know that this information is highly valued by our members and the wider industry, as it helps creators negotiate and benchmark their paid work.
To update and better inform our rates of pay, last year we instituted two rates trackers to accurately record trends and monitor rates that are being paid on the open market. These were the publishing agreement tracker and the author/illustrator appearances tracker. We appreciate and thank all members who inputted to the trackers.
It has been six months since we created the trackers and as promised we would like to share some top-line findings.
The 'public appearances' tracker revealed similar worrying trends as our 2019 survey; 51.3% of authors and illustrators are being paid under the standard ASA rate for a one-off session, 72% are being paid below the ASA rate for panel members and 53.9% were vastly underpaid for a keynote address. However, children’s authors had a more positive response from schools: 67.9% were paid in line with our recommendations for half day workshops and 78.3% for full day workshops.
The publishing agreements tracker also aligned with our survey data showing that advances are in decline but royalties appear to be adhering (more or less) to industry standards. 26.3% of respondents said they received an advance between $0-500 and 73.7% of all respondents said they received an advance under $5,000. For print royalties based on the recommended retail price, 68.6% of respondents received 10% of the recommended retail price and 8.6% received 8%.
For print royalties based on net receipts, 53% of respondents received 10% or under (which is an extremely low royalty in trade publishing but standard in educational publishing). 47% of respondents received between 15 - 25% of net receipts.
We don't yet have enough responses to report on ebook and audiobook royalties but we look forward to gathering more data and being able to feedback on these areas mid-2020.
Disappointingly, 41.3% of respondents do not receive escalated royalties. We would love to see everyone on rising royalties!
Due to feedback from members and the wider writing community, we have decided to institute a third rates tracker for one-off commissions. This tracker will plug another gap and help not only keep our rates of pay relevant but give us important data to be able to fight on your behalf for better pay. Too many of our members tell us that they are requested to work for free or for vague considerations like 'exposure'. This new tracker can be found here and we encourage everyone to use all three trackers. With respect to this new journalism tracker, we are asking you to name publications provided you are not prevented by confidentiality obligations. Your details are completely anonymous, however, by naming the publications who are refusing to pay we can better understand how to position our campaigning.
We do encourage you to please consider becoming a member if you are not already part of the ASA. As we have minimal funding, it is only with your help that we will be able to improve this service. Become a full or associate member here.
It is important to remember that many factors affect the rates of pay being offered, from the size of the organisation offering the work, to the level of experience of the creator. However, there are two rules that the ASA do not believe are open to debate:
1. Writers and Illustrators deserve to be fairly paid for their work.
2. Creators need to value their own talents and be brave enough to ask to be paid fairly.
We thank you in advance for submitting to our rates trackers, which will now be permanently accessible on our website, and look forward to the further insights they will provide as well as important ammunition for our 'pay the writer' campaign.
We welcome any queries at rates@asauthors.org
Links to input to the trackers:
Contribute to the 'publishing agreement' rates tracker
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