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News stories from the book world in July 2014

July 2014

Does poetry matter?

28 July 2014

As two of this week's links demonstrate, poetry is contradictory in its audience and reach.

A huge audience is interested in poetry - more than one million people read poems at poets.org each year. But on the other hand poetry book sales, in the US as elsewhere, are meagre for all but the very best-known poets.  Read more

‘Traditional publishing is 'no longer fair or sustainable'

21 July 2014

In an extraordinary change of approach, Nicola Solomon, the Secretary of the UK Society of Authors, has attacked publishers, saying that ‘Traditional publishing is 'no longer fair or sustainable'.  Read more

Writers struggle to make a living

14 July 2014

A new study just published by ALCS (the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society) has shown that the typical income of a UK writer is just £11,000 ($18,815) a year. The figures show a sharp decline in the number of full-time writers.  Read more