23 Jan 2012 04:21:09
Ian Rankin, the author of the Inspector Rebus series, is calling for tax incentives to support new writers, as cash-strapped publishers cut advances.
Speaking ahead of an appearance this week at a festival celebrating first novels, Rankin believes that a scheme modelled on the artists' exemption arrangement in Ireland would invest in the next generation of creative talent.
"If you want to give new writers a start, then a tax incentive is one thing you can do," he said.
Under the 1997 Irish scheme, the first €40,000 (£33,000) of annual income earned by writers, composers or visual artists from the sale of their work is exempt from tax. As Rankin explained, the scheme was capped because some well-established names were "tempted to move to Ireland" to avoid tax.
Publishers are now so unnerved by Amazon's dominance, ebook downloading and the closure of independent bookshops, they can no longer afford to take much risk on new talent. In the past, they would pay an advance beyond a debut book's value because they recognised that they were nurturing a promising author but the tradition is disappearing.
Rankin said: "The internet has pluses and minuses. It's easier than ever to get your stuff seen by people. But it's harder than ever to make a living from it. Look at the money that publishers are paying for new writers … less than they paid 20 years ago. They know first novels don't sell many copies and, if writers decide … to sidestep the traditional publishing route and sell their stuff by themselves online, they're having to sell it for virtually nothing – 99p."
Kate Pool of the Society of Authors confirmed that new writers could expect an average advance of £10,000 around 20 years ago: "Now they're lucky to get between £1,000 and £3,000." Research by the society shows that 75% of writers earn less than £20,000 a year and 46% less than £5,000.
However she argued: "I would have thought that incentives that encourage diversity of the marketplace might be a better way of ensuring that good writers have a chance to flourish."
This week, Rankin will appear at First Fictions, a festival staged at the University of Sussex to celebrate and champion first novels, past and present. He has agreed to read from his first, which has remained unpublished and unread since Gollancz rejected it, telling him that a third of it required an extensive work.
Written in 1983, Summer Rites is a black comedy he assumed was lost until recently finding it in a box. Only his wife likes it. He said: "I could never afford to photocopy it, so it's a miracle I still have the original … It's a heartening thing for young new writers to find out that people they see as successful have struggled and failed in the past."
The festival reflects that all writers started somewhere, he said, recalling that his first Inspector Rebus book was turned down by five publishers before a sixth recognised its potential. It has since been dramatised for TV and translated into 36 languages.
"We didn't become successes overnight," he said. "A lot of us have got stuff in the bottom drawer that we're either very embarrassed about or we're glad it never did get published."
Asked whether he hopes to publish Summer Rites one day, he said: "It's so out of kilter with the kind of book I write these days."
First Fictions, a collaboration between the independent publisher Myriad Editions and Sussex University, runs from 20 to 22 January. The programme features authors, publishers and academics including "speed-dates" for new writers to meet agents and editors.
