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Survey on book publishing industry

The MEAA's survey seeks transparency of conditions within the Australian book industry.

16 Oct 2023 9:00

Thuy On

book industry. An image of a huge open book with the borders made by bodies of people.

Writing and Publishing

‘We’re calling on anyone in the book industry to take part so their voice is heard,’ says Matthew Burton. Photo: Shutterstock.

The Media Entertainment Arts Alliance (MEAA), the largest union and advocacy organisation for Australia’s creative workers, is running a survey on the publishing industry. It’s open to anyone working in the industry regardless of union membership. The objective, according to the MEAA, is to explore and tackle ‘systemic problems in the book industry such as unpaid overtime, a culture of churn and burn, lack of pay and career progression, and pay inequality, as well as no enforceable minimums for freelancers’.

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Thuy On

Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025). Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy