In the final instalment of his investigation into Australian writing, Frank Moorhouse ,a href=”http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19308618-5001986,00.html”>uncovers the truth, the half-truths and damned lies amid the statistics. BOOK writers are most usually asked two questions: “How many copies do you sell?” (a wasted question because writers cannot be trusted to give an honest answer on this, or on how many hours a day they work, or in which class they fly on airlines) and “Can you live from your writing?”
It is often said that authors have an average income of, say, $50 or $1500 or whatever figure is being thrown around. This average is meaningless. It is more useful to think in terms of bands of income. To put it bluntly, some writers earn next to nothing, some earn a precarious living, some earn a good living, some earn huge amounts (if sometimes erratically). Few can live from book sales alone.
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