In today's inbox: three requests to work for free. One would cost me £190 in rail fare, another would cost me at least 40 hours of work, and the last says "we don't have a budget for speakers, but we can promise a nice lunch." Folks, if you're paying the caterers, you can pay your speaker.
UK publishing generated £7.4 billion in revenue last year.
Compare that to:
Premier League football: £6.6 billion
Home entertainment: £5.6 billion
UK film industry: 2.8 billion
Now tell me again why authors don't deserve fair contracts and better pay.