We can help with:
Accelerate your career
Join us today
Book an event
A unique 6-minute opportunity to pitch to publishers & agents.
Learn how to nail your picture book or portfolio pitch.
We advocate for members
Stay in the know
Stay in the know with industry news and ASA views.
Search our resources
Find ASA members
FAQs on publishing and more.
Member only guide to the Australian book industry.
MIN READ
Each year the ASA conducts our Member Survey so we can better understand our members and their needs. We thank the members who gave their time to contribute to the survey; your insights are key in helping us to refine our services, allocate resources, and recognise industry trends.
The breakdown of ASA members responding to our survey has remained very similar year on year. In 2024 there was a slight decrease to the number of full-time authors and illustrators responding to the survey, from 31% in 2023 to 28% in 2024. Those who create part-time, are aspiring or serious amateurs, and those who are not currently creating all increased by small, corresponding amounts.
When it comes to earnings for authors and illustrators, our findings echo previous years’ surveys: income remains perilously low.
While 26% of respondents reported receiving no advance – a 6% decrease from last year – almost 71% of respondents reported receiving an advance under $5,000, a 1% increase from 2023. Just 52% of respondents reported that they earned out their advance.
We asked authors to reflect on their income from their creative practice over the last financial year, including advances, royalties, events/workshops, Copyright Agency payments, PLR & ELR, and literary award prizes and judging. Similar to last year, 54% of respondents earned between $0 and $1,999 from their creative practice, and the vast majority (81%) earned less than $15,000. Almost 4% of respondents reported earning over $80,000 from their creative practice in the last financial year. Worryingly, 17% of respondents reported that their royalties were not paid on time in the last financial year.
The survey results showed a slight increase in rising royalties in publishing agreements: in 2023 40% of respondents indicated their agreements included rising royalties, in 2024 it was 42% of respondents.
With regard to funding opportunities in Australia, funding application patterns have remained similar across the last few years. Our survey results showed that for Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council), Copyright Agency, and State Government arts bodies there was no significant change in respondents who have not applied but intend to do so in the future (35.41%, 34.57%, and 36.09% respectively).
In the survey we asked our members about two of the industry issues at the forefront of the literary sector: artificial intelligence, and book banning and censorship.
How generative artificial intelligence will shape the book industry is still to be defined, although we know that the works of Australian authors have been used to train generative AI models, without permission or compensation. What about supplementary sources of income such as freelance writing or illustration and design?
We asked: Do you believe any of your current income-generating work will be replaced or substantially diminished due to generative AI? Over a third (35%) of respondents indicated they did believe so, 28% said no, and 36% indicated they didn’t know.
We asked members to share instances of their losing job opportunities or being offered lower rates of pay due to the adoption of general artificial intelligence. While we understand this is not happening on a large scale, we were alarmed to hear from creators who reported losing major copywriting clients, who have seen fewer freelance opportunities on offer, significant drops in casual editing jobs, or who are now being asked to copyedit AI-generated content for lower rates. We also heard from a translator who is being asked to check over AI-generated translations rather than be paid to translate work themselves.
In recent years we have seen increasing instances of book banning – predominantly in the United States – and classification reviews for books in Australia. Over half of respondents (56%) told us they were concerned about book banning in Australia, although their own work had not been subject to complaints, and 2% indicated they were concerned and had been directly impacted.
Some authors reported that while their books weren’t banned, they did face some forms of censorship, such as having their books removed from school shelves due to complaints about the content.
We also asked our members about whether they were concerned about losing professional opportunities due to censorship. Respondents were fairly evenly split on this issue, with 35% indicating concern, 34% who weren’t concerned, and 31% indicating they didn’t know enough about this issue.
When asked about their experiences of censorship, respondents reported losing work themselves or seeing colleagues lose work for being openly queer or gender diverse, or writing about queer content. Other respondents indicated they’d lost work for being politically outspoken in public or in their creative practice, or they expressed a fear that doing so would result in fewer offers for professional opportunities, including publication.
We extend our sincere thanks again to our members who participated in the survey. The information you provide to us allows us to better advocate for you and to support Australian authors and illustrators to pursue sustainable creative careers.
You can help us keep up to date on author earnings throughout the year by contributing to our rates trackers. There are three trackers: one for publishing agreement rates, appearances rates and journalism rates. Your input will help us to monitor rates of pay in the industry and to advocate for better rates of pay for all writers and illustrators.
