IS IT TRUE THAT AUTHORS NEED US TO BUY THEIR BOOKS TO CONTINUE CREATING?

Just a few authors can live of copyright fees, only the most famous ones.

A very small fraction of published books (0.5% in the case of Spain, for instance) reaches 15.000 sold copies. The big best sellers reach 20. From the vast majority of titles, only a few hundred of copies are sold.

The medium price of the books is not very hight: 12 euros in the case of Spain, 7 in the case of Turkey. The author receives generally 10% of this price of sale to the public: let’s say 1 euro per sold copy. The greater majority of authors, therefore, can hope, if everything goes well, to credit the sum of 1.000 euros per year per book published. This isn’t much... And authors of a substantial success (15.000 copies) would receive 15.000 euros per year; also not a fortune.

For most authors, the main sources of income come from activities that generate the prestige of being the author of a book (conferences, press articles...) and from the private or public sponsorship (orders, grants...).

It is not true, then, that the income for the sale of copies is indispensable for cultural creation.