Did you know the average NZ writer earns $13,500 a year?

WHY NEW ZEALAND AUTHOR MARY JANE WALKER HAS GIVEN UP ON THE NEW ZEALAND MARKET

May 2017

“It is disheartening to think that people don’t place value on writing as art anymore” Mary Jane says. “I mean people in New Zealand are only making $13,500 a year – its treated as a hobby and not a career anymore”

Mary Jane Walker, author of 8 different travel books has decided that the New Zealand market for writers is so bad she is looking overseas. In fact she is heading to Australia at the end of the month to attend the Sydney Writer’s Festival.

Mary Jane has had numerous troubles with so called publishers, printers and bookstores all over New Zealand and overseas. Sadly, she is not alone.

Her troubles first began with a printing company in Nelson. Mary Jane paid for their services in creating book covers and the layout of her books. The book covers and editing services were of such a poor standard and filled with mistakes. She tried another publishing company in Auckland, who sent her the wrong format for kindle publishing. The list of issues is very long, so much so that one has resulted in a court case.

Finding a printer in New Zealand has become another mammoth task the average quote came back at $50 a book, while in China it can cost as little as $1.50 to print. Then you run into the problem of the print quality.

“What my experience has told me, is that people do not take writing seriously anymore. Nobody has any clue what they are doing and I have had to learn it all for myself and wasted my time and money in the process” Mary Jane says.

She was also told by the Auckland Writers Festival that she could not participate in the book festival and offered her a writing course instead on “how to be an author” and she was told by a committee her book was not literary enough and to do an article in a little known magazine. “It is a rude joke really” Says Mary Jane who has had a number of overseas publishers and distributors interested in her books.

The New Zealand Herald even published an article about the struggle New Zealand writers have.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11812921

Mary Jane is not alone in her struggles with the Herald article citing many authors in New Zealand struggle to find publishers. Writers in New Zealand do need more support.

“People do want to make money from this, I love New Zealand but I can’t see this working”.

Information about Mary Jane Walker

Mary Jane Walker is a New Zealand author based in both Queenstown and Auckland.
Her passion in life is travel and adventure, and she has found herself in plenty of them.

Mary Jane sat down last winter to write about her travels in a novel, but found she had so many it wouldn’t fit into just one so then what was one book has now turned into seven follow on books!

Born in Hastings she used to attend mass with flowers in her hair and string around her feet. She started travelling as soon as her feet could carry her, at first just down the street to the local park and then on to bigger and better things such as travelling across oceans in a hand built Chinese Junk, while naked.

She has spent time walking, trekking and cycling through her own country, discovering the beauty of its landscapes and getting up close and personal with the native animals.

Beyond her home land she has travelled the world extensively, throughout the continent of Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, across Asia to the ice covered glaciers of the Arctic and to the southernmost tip of Africa.

Her travels have been laden with adventures and experiences that she would like to share! Her exploration has seen her follow ancient trails and summit some of the highest peaks in Europe including, Mont Blanc Carrauntoohil and Ben Nevis. Mary Jane also made it to Basecamp on Mount Everest, hugging cliff faces and dodging yak poo high up in the magnificent Himalayas.

The reason for her dedication to travelling, exploration and adventure? Simple – it’s science. The DRD-4 gene is something quite a few of us carry – even though we may not know it! It is known as the wanderlust gene – the love of exploration, discoveries and a natural curiosity in everything. It’s also why she feels that ‘a Maverick’ is the best way to describe herself.

Information about books

A Maverick Traveller Published January 2017

A Maverick New Zealand Way Published February 2017

A Maverick Cuban Way Published May 2017

A Maverick USA Way Published June 2017

A Maverick Pilgrims Way Published June 2017

A Maverick Himalayan Way Published July 2017

A Maverick Inuit and Viking Way Published August 2017

A Maverick Australian Way Published September 2017

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