Writers’ needs survey

The survey questions asked you to assess various options so there is no right or wrong answer. To get the best from the 100+ replies, each one was analysed and a pattern quickly emerged. For every question, one or two options were significantly more popular than others. The results make interesting reading and are set out below. We’ve also compiled a page of the many interesting comments made by those who completed the survey.

What sort of training would you regard as useful?

• You want more mentoring schemes. The comments you added emphasised this point. Peer review was a popular option.
• Many people felt that secondary education could do much more to teach writing. A few also noted that schools were failing to produce enough avid readers to consume all the writing that was being produced.

What would help writers obtain early exposure?

• The overwhelming first choice was for more support from the big publishers.
• Trailing into second place were writing groups.
• A publishing deal was, not surprisingly, seen as the best way to reach readers.
• Specialist book clubs were also seen as a good way to obtain exposure.

What would help you prepare your work for publication?

• Everybody, it seems, wants a literary agent to help bring their work to publication.
• Easy access to editors was also seen as vital to preparing for publication. Increasingly, publishers want writers’ work presented to them after an editor has worked on it.
• Interestingly, a part-time job was not seen as the answer. Several respondents pointed out that part-time jobs had a habit of filling the day and because the pay was lower than for full-time work, it required even more hours than a ‘proper’ job.

How would you like to see money supporting new writing?

• Scholarships and subsidies were, surprisingly, not popular with respondents.
• The popular choices were more investment by publishers in new writers and publishers adjusting their payment of royalties to ease the cash-flow problems that writers face.

Who were the respondents?

The median age of respondents was 42 but with a fairly even spread from 20 to 65. There were 109 completed surveys. This means that 1 in every 2,500 visitors to the site completed the survey.

Your comments from the survey