All professional book authors who have had a book published (including epublishing and self-publishing) are invited to fill out an online survey which is open now until the end of February 2015.
The survey is conducted by Prof. David Throsby and his team at Macquarie University, funded by the Australian Research Council and the university.
The questionnaire includes questions about authors' experiences of promotion, epublishing, self-publishing, income, piracy and their responses to changing expectations on the part of readers and publishers.
SCWBI Australian Regional Advisors Susanne Gervay and Frané Lessac encourage eligible members to participate. Susanne and Frané said, 'We ask authors to assist their peers and to help improve our profession. Several SCBWI authors from the Western and Eastern chapters participated in a pilot in late 2014 and gave feedback on the design of the questionnaire. The findings will be a valuable resource for SCBWI in representing authors' interests within the industry and in raising our professional standing.'
Prof. Throsby would like to encourage a diverse range of authors to participate, including Australian authors who are based overseas.
As an additional incentive and to thank authors for their time, two randomly selected authors who complete the survey will be awarded a prize of $1,000 each.
The key eligibility question is:
Q1.1 Are you the author of one or more published books including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short stories, educational books and scholarly works?
A book publication includes: traditional print publishing, epublishing, self publishing, multi-platform works or other equivalent book-length publications (including other digital platforms and related performance works).
It does not include: marketing-based activities on websites, blogs or social media, online games, tv programs or films.
If your answer is 'yes', click here to take the Macquarie University 2015 Author survey.
The survey takes approximately 20-25 minutes and can be completed in more than one session if needed (if the same device is used). Authors who complete the survey can nominate to be emailed a summary of the findings, another reason to participate.
Further information about the research is available here.
If you have further questions, the contact person for the survey is Dr Tom Longden: tom.longden@mq.edu.au