The CNQ blog has posted before about the economic challenges of being an author. Now in the Globe and Mail Mark Medley specifically addresses the plight of Canadian non-fiction writers.
The problem is that in a time of declining advances from publishers it’s become harder for authors to afford to do the kind of research that a major non-fiction book takes. This has led to several developments, including the attempt to cut costs by completing books that previously had taken years of background work in a matter of months, and an increase in the number of memoir titles in non-fiction prize lists.
Another concern worth noting is that a form of institutional non-fiction may take over:
One prominent Canadian writer told me she fears that, soon, only those aligned with institutions – universities, think tanks – or with “the cash to support the habit” would be able to produce worthwhile non-fiction. Several suggested the decline of the magazine industry, which had served as both incubator and funder, hurt more than low advances.