tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post8537885180643533215..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Obviously he charges more… he drives a Ferrari! - Katherine RobertsKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-10472899168968439242011-09-15T07:35:38.626+01:002011-09-15T07:35:38.626+01:00Love the car.Love the car.Pauline Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11826696982301252524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-36056155453399696912011-09-03T14:06:43.348+01:002011-09-03T14:06:43.348+01:00Oh Jen... "after-school helper"! Do they...Oh Jen... "after-school helper"! Do they have any idea how wonderful your workshops are? But how true. I've offered my services free in the past and been turned down, and it always completely baffles me.<br /><br />The time I really didn't want to go somewhere and deliberately quoted them what I considered to be an extortionate fee (expecting them to back out), they accepted it without a wink... so then of course I had to do the event, but at least I was getting paid well!<br /><br />I've just been reading Stuart Hill's post above on synchronicity, and same thing happened to me. The day after posting to this blog, I picked up a leaflet about the UK's First Festival of Social Injustice, addressing income inequality! I bought a ticket on the spot, and will report back in a blog post somewhere near here soon.Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-83109309389870015312011-09-02T20:09:34.502+01:002011-09-02T20:09:34.502+01:00Great post, Kath. Sadly, I've found the more y...Great post, Kath. Sadly, I've found the more you charge for school visits the better you get treated. I offered workshops for nothing at my local school and they said they had plenty of after-achool-club helpers already! As for the huge gulf between the lowest and highest earners in our business, I think that's part of the society we live in, and it isn't a recipe for happiness and harmony. Unfortunately, it's the ones who are creaming it who make the rules.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-24429216260463298692011-09-01T14:37:18.481+01:002011-09-01T14:37:18.481+01:00I think it is this vast (and largely invisible) gu...I think it is this vast (and largely invisible) gulf between the top earners and the bottom earners in our profession for what is essentially the same work that grates on everyone.<br /><br />Yes, there is a definite case for saying one book or author has more value than another because it won an award or that author is more entertaining as a speaker, but TEN TIMES as much?<br /><br />It goes against everything you're taught at school about hard work and reward for effort. Perhaps it's true that you are either born talented/lucky or you're not, and no amount of work will help if you're not.Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-6580646870362074502011-09-01T09:13:55.576+01:002011-09-01T09:13:55.576+01:00Interesting. I had much the same dilemma when pric...Interesting. I had much the same dilemma when pricing riding lessons: should I charge the same as other local trainers who a)hadn't bothered to achieve any teaching qualifications and b) weren't actually that good anyway ... or remain underpriced at a half of their fees? In the end I stayed underpriced, as I deal mainly with the grass roots folk who can't afford to pay more but really, really want the help. When some have lost jobs I've even taught them for free until re-employed again, rather than lose them (and there is also the horse to consider in this). But somnetimes it grates when I see someone who has risen to fame which isn't massively deserved, gathering all the kudos and charging a fortune while my clients get the benefit of thirty-odd years of tried-and-tested teaching which they seem to enjoy ... It really is a catch-22. Or maybe I'm just becoming bitter and twisted!madwippitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595748471651052552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-15988331547154322462011-09-01T09:10:23.760+01:002011-09-01T09:10:23.760+01:00Tales like this always remind me of history lesson...Tales like this always remind me of history lessons and the story of Morton's Fork (Henry VII's minister, who used to go visiting nobles - put on too poor a show and you were stingy, put on too lavish a show and you could afford more tax).<br /><br />Pricing is *such* a hot potato right now. I know authors you get the impression would happily defenstrate you for charging less than £2, and others who'd do the same if you charge more than 86p - so you really have to come to a decision you're comfortable with; for reasons you're comfortable with; and then be prepared to be flexible.<br /><br />Appearance fees. Now there's another ticking time bomb. Those of us who are wholly self-published and therefore not eligible to be in the SoA have no standard rate. But as the spoken word scene expands, where most of us are in that boat, and more and more of us get asked to do things, the issue of appearance fee disparity will get ever edgier on both sides probably. At the moment even for a major spoken word event like Literary Death Match, where the audience pay around a tenner a ticket, we performers get nowt, not even travel. It's been a real eye-opener being involved in Pow-Wow Lit Fest (September 17th in Moseley), where the first question I was asked was "would travel plus £notenoughtoretireonbutmorethanbeermoney be acceptable?" There are very different approaches in the mainstream and alternative worlds, but as the aternative scene "grows up" it will be in for some teething issues.Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-46616514589811903672011-09-01T09:07:17.050+01:002011-09-01T09:07:17.050+01:00Well said, Katherine, couldn't agree more.Well said, Katherine, couldn't agree more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-65404639705252078092011-09-01T08:09:17.632+01:002011-09-01T08:09:17.632+01:00Being someone who invites authors into talk to chi...Being someone who invites authors into talk to children, I can sympathise with both the school and your friend. The price that an author charges does vary and in these times of economic struggles I feel a responsibility to get a value for money visit. That is not to say that I do not value the author's impact on the children's reading. I do. I really do. But the budget only goes so far.<br /><br />I think author's should charge a fee and I am happy to pay the recommended rate of SoA. But then, I feel I need the sessions to be a success and most often they are but not always. I always sell the author's books and at my very preppy school we tend to sell lots so I hope that the author feels it will have an impact on getting the word out to other children.<br /><br />I have actually had a self-pubbed author once and his sessions were excellent. But I have to be honest here and say the product was not well-written. The children didn't care though and they still borrow his books. It has made me very wary though. He came on recommendation from another librarian. <br /><br />It's a minefield all this!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14379159908572573355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-307033441580176432011-09-01T07:02:53.961+01:002011-09-01T07:02:53.961+01:00Great post, Katherine. I think it's awful tha...Great post, Katherine. I think it's awful that there's such a discrepancy between authors' earnings. I had two friends who were both writing rom coms for the same publisher only for different imprints - one got ten times more than the other for exactly the same amount of work!Victoria Connellyhttp://www.victoriaconnelly.comnoreply@blogger.com