Decorum Serves the Rich is a zine about the economics of authorship, particularly as this applies to Australian authors. Most authors don’t make a living from writing books, which means that finding the time and money to write those books can be very difficult. You can read an extract about advances at Kill Your Darlings.

Being a gentleman’s industry, gentleman’s decorum has prevailed in publishing for far too long: it’s considered rude, even taboo, to talk about how much you got paid, but more authors should talk about it, loudly and often.

This zine was written between August and September 2022, and printed in an A5 edition of approximately 240 copies (lilac, gold and sand) in October 2022. This edition was sold for AU$6/copy and all money above cost price was donated to the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) in solidarity with their grassroots labour organising in the Australian retail industry, including in bookstores.

The full 10,500-word zine is now available as a PDF download. You can download it for free, but if you’re in a position to make a small payment you may do so here.