Writers in Germany earned less than those in the UK, despite the
fact that that country's copyright regime is more beneficial to
authors, according to a study by the Centre for Intellectual
Property Policy & Management at Bournemouth Law School.
"There are some real surprises. A legal framework that is
ostensibly more author friendly, Germany, does not deliver
wealthier authors," said Martin Kretschmer, joint director of the
Centre.
In 2004 to 2005 UK authors earned around 50% more than their
German counterparts. UK authors earned an average of £12,330, while
the Germans earned an average of £8,280. The survey was based on
professional authors, meaning those who allocate more than half of
their time to writing.
Pay for authors is very far from consistent, though, because
much of the money paid overall is earned by a small number of
extremely successful writers. That pay imbalance is more pronounced
in the UK than in Germany, the study found.
It revealed that the top 10% of authors earn 60% of all the
money earned in the UK, but just 41% of that in Germany. The bottom
10% in the UK earn just 8% of the money paid, but they earn 12% in
Germany.
"This may reflect a more regulated environment for copyright
contracts in Germany. It may also reflect the globalised nature of
English language markets," said Kretschmer.
The research was conducted by the Centre on behalf of the
Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the UK's
collection and authors' rights agency. It asked the Centre to
undertake the study of authors' income in two countries with
similarly sized publishing industries, but significant differences
in their copyright frameworks.
The study also found that copyright law could actually make
writing riskier. It found that income was even less evenly
distributed when it only took account of income relating to actual
use of copyright material. This part of the study excluded income
which was paid regardless of the usage of work, such as that from
contractual writing or from advances.
The income related to pure usage was even less evenly
distributed than that of writing overall. The Gini Coefficient
measures income distribution on a scale between zero and one, with
distribution becoming more unequal the closer it gets to one.
The score for ALCS payments to professional writers in the UK is
0.78 rather than 0.63 for writing as a whole. In Germany the score
for payments to German collecting society VG Wort is 0.67 rather
than 0.52 for writing as a whole. "This suggests that copyright law
may exacerbate risk," said Kretschmer.
The study also found that, despite hopes of an internet-prompted
resurgence in interest in writing, writers have not benefited from
the growth of the internet as a medium. "Increased exploitation and
use of copyright works through the internet has not translated into
increased earnings of writers," said Kretschmer. "The typical
earnings of authors have deteriorated since 2000, both in the UK
and Germany."
