A couple of days ago I attended the launch of a new report into writers’ earnings in the UK. The quick summary is:

• Only a small minority of writers can make a living solely from their writing these days.

• The situation has been worsening over the last 15 years or so.

• The average income for writers in the UK is £7,000 — far below the average for freelancers in general.

I haven’t finished reading the full report yet, but I’ve written about my first impressions.

Despite having written for years and had my stuff published in many outlets, I still feel somewhat miserable and a bit dejected when one of my pitches gets rejected. I still, after all this time, take it personally to some extent. That’s why it was so gratifying to hear Anna Codrea-Rado talk about having rejections even though she has written for several high profile periodicals and having received awards.

One thing she said stood out for me. She said she no longer tells young people to be prepared only to accept the level of payment that they’re actually worth — because they’re not likely to get it. I would say that’s true on the whole, and so to make myself feel better about this, and hopefully others too, I’ve put together the advantages of accepting less than you’d really like to, and which you perhaps deserve.

To continue reading go here:

UK Authors’ Earnings 2022 and the value of low-paying gigs

But before you do…

Here are a couple of referral links to newsletter directories. If you click through and sign up to these services, you’ll be sent links to other newsletters you might be interested in. And the people who run these services will promote this one too. So it’s a potential win-win-win situation.

Refind I find this one especially useful for discovering newsletters and articles concerning leadership matters. That’s because I’m interested in leadership — see my other Substack: As I was saying….

The Sample I very much like the variety served up. I receive one suggestion a day, and have subscribed to a few of them.