Survey of author's views of publishers

[AlexBell]

I'm not an author myself, but thought you might be interested in this survey from the UK. Please forgive me if I've inadvertently offended by posting in this forum though not an writer.

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/blo...of-our-survey/


'A few weeks ago, The Writers’ Workshop launched a survey, open only to professional authors, entitled Do You Love Your Publisher? We launched this survey because we felt authors were too seldom asked directly for feedback by the industry that’s founded on their passion, knowledge and creativity. And it’s a good job we did ask: the picture that emerges contains some sharp lessons for the industry we all love.'

[teh603]

What's the definition of a "professional" author?

[gmw]

Originally Posted by teh603

What's the definition of a "professional" author?

That's a good question - I'd be inclined to suggest: What do you put on your tax return? (Or to cover all bases: What would you put on your tax return if you submitted one? ) If you state your occupation a (at least partly) as author and state income and expenses relating to this occupation then I think you can probably claim it as a profession.

What I found most interesting about the survey was that publishers scored highest for those things you can actually buy for yourself - editing and cover-design etc. (though obtaining the same levels of experience etc. is, of course, less certain). It is disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, that publishers scored so low on marketing and feedback. It would be interesting to see how the marketing stuff varies between the big-6 and the smaller publishers. (Also: 321 is not a huge dataset, it could be interesting to see a larger scale survey.)

AlexBell: this makes a nice contrast to the recent discussion about Konrath's unilateral view of commercial publishing, thanks for posting.