I don’t agree with James that authors should be thought of as employees of publishers, but the point the Society of Authors is making is that writers’ income has dropped over recent years to the point where many are working at below the legal minimum wage. This is not about a sense of entitlement: no one is saying everyone who feels like writing has a right to be published and well paid. The argument is that if publishers believe they can make money from a book and so contract to publish it, the writer - as the person most necessary to the existence of the book - should be fairly remunerated. Large publishers are prioritising paying dividends to shareholders over making fair payments to writers. Yes, publishing is low margin, but who made it so? Who got rid of the net book agreement and agreed to Amazon’s terms in the first place? Publishers, not writers. I don’t want to be treated as an employee by any of my publishers. But I would like the amount I am offered for a book not to have gone down (not just in real terms, but actual numbers) over the last ten years. Writers often supplement their income with other work, which is fine - but that should be because they are spending fewer than 35 hours a week writin, not because they have to subsidise commercially viable books. (By the way I don’t see how writing scripts for Hollywood doesn’t count as writing!)

Not all books are fiction. It’s quite likely that people will still write novels if their pay drops (though they will come from only a small proportion of the populace who can afford to work for nothing). It’s unlikely people will still write all of the many other types of books that publishing relies on.

Full disclosure: I am Chair of the Educational Writers Group in the Society of Authors and make a decent living as a writer (a rare thing, I know)