The PA responds to SOA open letter on author contracts

7th January 2016

Responding to an open letter written by The Society of Authors ,regarding author contracts, the Publishers Association chief executive, Richard Mollet, commented:

“Publishers share the frustration of the author community that it is increasingly difficult for authors to make a decent living from their writing.  However, we locate the principal source of this problem not in the contractual relations between publisher and author but in deeper market factors.  With margins being squeezed across the whole supply chain, books facing increasing stiff competition from other media and entertainment sectors for consumers’ time, and there simply being more writers, as evidenced by the increase in the number registered with ALCS, the reasons for the decline in average author income are wide and varied.  We look forward to continuing our discussions on these policy issues with the SOA and other author representative groups.”