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Booker win saves Richard Flanagan from life down the mines Booker win saves Richard Flanagan from life down the mines
(about 11 hours later)
The Australian author Richard Flanagan, who was so short of money after completing his most recent novel that he contemplated working in north Australia’s mines, sold books worth nearly £140,000 in only seven days following last week’s Booker prize win.The Australian author Richard Flanagan, who was so short of money after completing his most recent novel that he contemplated working in north Australia’s mines, sold books worth nearly £140,000 in only seven days following last week’s Booker prize win.
Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, set on the Burma Death Railway, beat titles by authors including Ali Smith and Howard Jacobson to land the Man Booker on 14 October. Praised by chair of judges AC Grayling as “an absolutely superb novel, a really outstanding work of literature”, it sold 10,242 print copies in the UK in the week following the win, according to book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan – something of an increase on the previous week, when it sold 316 copies.Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, set on the Burma Death Railway, beat titles by authors including Ali Smith and Howard Jacobson to land the Man Booker on 14 October. Praised by chair of judges AC Grayling as “an absolutely superb novel, a really outstanding work of literature”, it sold 10,242 print copies in the UK in the week following the win, according to book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan – something of an increase on the previous week, when it sold 316 copies.
“The £137,430 Flanagan earned last week with his Booker winner eclipsed his combined BookScan sales for the previous 10 years,” noted the Bookseller.“The £137,430 Flanagan earned last week with his Booker winner eclipsed his combined BookScan sales for the previous 10 years,” noted the Bookseller.
According to Clara Farmer, publishing director at Flanagan’s UK publisher Chatto and Windus, the Booker win offers the author his “rightful place on the world stage”.According to Clara Farmer, publishing director at Flanagan’s UK publisher Chatto and Windus, the Booker win offers the author his “rightful place on the world stage”.
“Richard Flanagan has always been one of the world’s most compelling writers,” Farmer said. “We are delighted that the Man Booker Award has introduced this vivid, powerful and everlasting novel to a new readership across the globe.”“Richard Flanagan has always been one of the world’s most compelling writers,” Farmer said. “We are delighted that the Man Booker Award has introduced this vivid, powerful and everlasting novel to a new readership across the globe.”
Flanagan said last week that he would use his £50,000 winnings for “life”. “I’m not a wealthy man. This means I can continue to write,” he said. “A year and a half ago, when I finished this book, I was contemplating going to get what work I could in the mines in far northern Australia because things had come to such a pass with my writing. I had spent so long on this book.”Flanagan said last week that he would use his £50,000 winnings for “life”. “I’m not a wealthy man. This means I can continue to write,” he said. “A year and a half ago, when I finished this book, I was contemplating going to get what work I could in the mines in far northern Australia because things had come to such a pass with my writing. I had spent so long on this book.”
Flanagan added that “there’s nothing unusual about that for writers. Writing is a very hard life for so many writers.”Flanagan added that “there’s nothing unusual about that for writers. Writing is a very hard life for so many writers.”
His comments follow a survey from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society this summer charting a sharp deccrease in author earnings. After talking to almost 2,500 working writers, the ALCS found that the median income of the professional author last year was £11,000, down 29% since 2005. Describing the findings as “shocking”, ALCS chief executive Owen Atkinson said “these are concerning times for writers”, with what he called the “rapid decline” in author incomes and in the numbers of those writing full-time likely to have “serious implications” for the economic success of the UK’s creative industries. His comments follow a survey from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society this summer charting a sharp decrease in author earnings. After talking to almost 2,500 working writers, the ALCS found that the median income of the professional author last year was £11,000, down 29% since 2005. Describing the findings as “shocking”, ALCS chief executive Owen Atkinson said “these are concerning times for writers”, with what he called the “rapid decline” in author incomes and in the numbers of those writing full-time likely to have “serious implications” for the economic success of the UK’s creative industries.