Nicola Solomon of The Society of Authors wrote in The Bookseller on the state of author earnings:
“Publishers’ figures show authors aren’t getting a fair deal. Bodley Head founder John Lane was notoriously mean in paying authors. Oscar Wilde took his revenge by naming the butler Lane in The Importance of Being Earnest. Lane’s distant relative, Allen Lane, was more equitable: when he launched the paperback in 1935 he calculated royalties to share profits equally between author and publisher after all expenses were paid.
Sadly, publishers today are following the example of the older Lane. Authors’ incomes are suffering…”
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