Around ten years ago I took on the voluntary role of Social Rep for the Australian Society of Authors (ASA). The Society, which receives no government funding, is made up of a small team of dedicated people who work tirelessly to provide support, advice and advocate on behalf of Australian authors. You may wonder why authors need an advocate aren’t they all sitting around ruminating about how to spend their royalties? Let me shed some light on the realities of being a modern-day author.
The average annual wage for an Australian author is under $20,000, and they are often asked to write articles or give talks for free. Being a writer is the same as any other profession, you wouldn’t ask a plumber to fix the toilet for free and yet people have no qualms regularly asking writers to work for nothing. Even if they do get paid there’s a chance their work may be plagiarised by others. Should they be talented, and lucky enough, to win a literary award, the prize money will be taxed. In contrast money won on a horse race is not. These are just a few of the issues faced by modern day authors.
I now find myself with the title of State Rep. While I am by no means presenting myself as the spokesperson for ASA, I thought you might like to periodically hear from me about what the ASA has been up to. To that end here is my first Author Update. The updates will provide a brief summary of what the ASA has been up to, along with a couple of competitions and other opportunities for the authors and aspiring authors out there. The first Update is a bit of a rehash about what the ASA does, so some of you will already be aware of these services, however there are some new initiatives you may not have heard of.
News:
- Publishing Agreement and Appearance Rate Trackers. A valuable part of the ASA membership is having access to industry pay rates. These really help when you are asked to write an article or present at a function. Rather than try and justify a random figure, it’s much easier to say to clients “I work to the ASA pay rates”. In the past the information about rates was gathered via an adhoc annual survey. The ASA have recently launched online trackers to record trends and monitor rates being paid to writers and illustrators. If you’re an author you will want to periodically check in on this one.
- Advice on publishing agreements. Receiving a publishing agreement is both exciting and daunting at the same time. In partnership with the Arts Law Centre of Australia, the ASA offers a highly valuable industry assessment of your publishing offer, along with a legal review of the terms of the contract. I know many an author who has used this service to good effect before signing on the dotted line.
- ASA Style File Illustration Award Mentorships. For several years the ASA has offered a series of mentorship opportunities for authors. It’s exciting to report that there are now similar opportunities for illustrators. Eight illustrators who will receive 5-hours mentorship. While the current round closed 20 September, I’ll keep an eye out for others.
- Advocacy. The ASA continue to advocate on behalf of Australian authors by keeping abreast of issues including: eBook lending; Digital Lending Rights; Code of Conduct amongst agencies collecting and distributing payments to authors; changes in copyright protection (e.g. online); Inclusive Publishing initiatives (i.e. making books “born-accessible”, where the master file is produced in formats that assist the vision impaired, blind or dyslexic).
Competitions:
- Flash Fiction competitions. ASA have ventured into the world of Flash Fiction where writers compose a short story using up to 250 words. The first competition closes on October 14th and the winner will receive $300, free membership and publication on the website. Entry fee $10 ASA members $25 non members. I can attest to the fun and power of Flash Fiction. Once upon a time (see what I did there) 300 words saw me flying to Melbourne to meet the cast of my favourite show.
- The Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship is worth AU$20,000 and provides valuable time for an Australian author (ASA members) to work on a current manuscript (fiction and biography genres only). Applications close at 5pm, AEDT, on 14 October.
That’s it for this initial Author Update. I hope it’s been of value. For more information about these and other ASA matters, plus how to become a member go to https://www.asauthors.org/
