Polish writers call for minimum 10% royalties as Culture Ministry signals support

Polish writers are calling for authors to receive at least 10% of a book’s cover price, a proposal that the country’s Culture Ministry has said would be included in planned legislation regulating the book market.

The writers’ association Unia Literacka launched its “10 percent” campaign, calling for a statutory minimum royalty for writers to be incorporated into Poland’s planned Act on the Protection of the Book Market. Twenty writers affiliated with the association are taking part in the campaign. 

The campaign draws attention to the low earnings of writers in Poland and the way revenue from book sales is distributed across the publishing market.

Unia Literacka cited the report “Jeszcze książka nie zginęła?” (“The book is not dead yet”), prepared by the Polish Economy Network for the Polish Book Institute. The report, published in December 2024, found that around 3,000 people in Poland work professionally as literary creators. Their median monthly gross income from artistic work was 2,500 zlotys (585 euros), compared with a minimum wage of 3,545 zlotys (829 euros) and an average salary of 7,155 zlotys (1,674 euros) in the data cited by the report.

Authors’ royalties can be calculated using several different reference prices. According to the report, publishing contracts may base royalties on the gross or net cover price, wholesale price, publisher revenue, or actual sale price. Calculations based on the cover price are the most favorable for authors because their income remains unaffected by discounts. 

When royalties are calculated from the gross or net cover price, the report identifies 10% as the standard rate, although rates below 5%, and even as low as 2%, also occur. In practice, however, authors are most often offered royalties calculated as a percentage of the wholesale price, which the report describes as less favorable for writers. 

At an average cover price of 57.50 zlotys (13.45 euros) and an average wholesale discount of around 45%, the report estimates that an author can receive around 2.9 zlotys (0.68 euros) in royalties per copy.  With an average print run of about 2,000 copies, the report notes that an author’s total income remains low. 

Unia Literacka said its own findings indicate that few Polish authors currently receive royalties equal to 10% of the cover price, with such terms particularly difficult for debut writers to obtain. The association is therefore calling for a statutory minimum of 10% of the cover price. 

The campaign is primarily aimed at readers and seeks to illustrate what authors can afford with the royalties they receive from individual book sales. It was inspired by a 2016 campaign by the French association La Charte des auteurs et illustrateurs jeunesse, which similarly used everyday products to draw attention to the earnings of writers and illustrators. 

The writers’ proposal has since been reflected in plans announced by Poland’s Culture Ministry.

In July, Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said the planned Act on the Protection of the Book Market would include a minimum royalty of 10% of the cover price for authors and 1% for translators. The legislation is also expected to introduce a uniform book price for the first 12 months after publication and cap wholesale discounts at 45%.

The royalties would expand the scope of the legislation beyond its three previously announced pillars: a uniform book price for 12 months, a maximum distribution discount, and mandatory reporting of market data.

The legislation, however, has not yet completed the legislative process. During a July 28 debate, Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, an adviser to the culture minister and chair of the ministry’s Literary Field Team, said the ministry planned to apply in August for the proposal to be added to the government’s legislative work register. If approved, the draft was expected to move to public consultation, possibly in September.

The debate over authors’ royalties forms part of a broader discussion about the structure of Poland’s book market.

“The Book Is Not Dead Yet” report describes the Polish book market as undergoing structural concentration. Four major distribution companies control around 80% of the wholesale market, while the median discount for distributors is 50% and for bookstores 38%. Nearly one-third of Polish bookstores closed between 2010 and 2020.

As reported earlier, 675 of Poland’s 1,668 bookstores belonged to major chains, while independent bookstores faced substantially less favorable purchasing conditions. Chain bookstores can receive discounts of 50–70%, compared with 20–50% for independent bookstores. 

Proposals to regulate the market have divided the Polish publishing industry. As reported earlier, the Book Publishers Association opposed the introduction of fixed book prices, questioning the research used to support the measure. Supporters of regulation argue that unrestricted discounting gives large chains and online retailers an advantage that smaller independent bookstores cannot match. 

The 2024 report proposed a broader package of measures to address structural problems in the Polish book market, including a uniform cover price, mandatory reporting of market data, a stabilization fund, support for independent bookstores, a code of good practice for the book market, and reforms to the National Reading Development Program.

Main image: pexels