ALCS in 2018: A Review of the Year

This year we released the key findings from our latest research into author earnings, paid out a record amount to authors, welcomed our 100,000th Member, and relocated to London Bridge. Here’s a round-up of another busy year for ALCS.

Research

In June, we revealed the key findings from our latest research into the incomes of writers: Authors’ Earnings: A survey of UK writers in which over 5,500 writers took part. The research found that the average author earns less than £10,500 per year; a decline of 49% in real terms when compared to similar research conducted in 2005.

You can read the initial report from the research, as well as all our past research, here.

The full report on this latest research is set to be released in Summer 2019.

100,000 Members

We’re pleased to announce that in the final weeks of 2018, we welcomed our 100,000th Member. The news of this landmark number was announced at the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group winter reception in December.

We will be celebrating this more in the New Year, so watch out for next month’s ALCS News for more details.

Sponsorships

Throughout 2018, ALCS was delighted to sponsor several literary festivals around the UK including Stroud Book Festival, The Asian Writers’ Festival in Birmingham and the exetreme imaginations Festival in Exeter.

ALCS also sponsored several literary awards, including the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Award, the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards and the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA).

Visual contributions claims

In Autumn, the visual contributions section of the ALCS website was launched, which now allows members to claim for their visual contributions to works in the same way as their written contributions.

Watch our handy how-to videos here and here, and take a look at the visual guidelines to find out more about this process.

New Board members

At the 2018 AGM in London, we welcomed Joanne Harris and Di Redmond to the ALCS Board, and Maggie Gee was re-elected for a second term.

We also said goodbye to Vice-Chair James McConnachie. ALCS is very grateful for his dedicated work over the years and wishes him luck with his future plans.

We’ve moved!

In November, we relocated to offices in Hay’s Galleria at London Bridge. We’re delighted to still be sharing premises with the Copyright Licensing Agency, the Publishers’ Licensing Services and the Educational Recording Agency.

Our new address:

Fifth Floor

Shackleton House

4 Battle Bridge Lane

London SE1 2HX