Here's a thing

I recieved the ALCS newsletter yesterday. (Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society.) Depressing litte survey summarised inside. They'd commissioned a study of authors' incomes in the UK and Germany, and found the following:
The typical author's income is a third below the national average.
Of the total income received in both countries from writing, 50% is received by the top 10% of authors. The bottom 50% of authors between them recieve only 10% of the total overall income. There are even scarier breakdowns of income by category of author.
The whole thing can be seen on their website:
http://www.alcs.co.uk/News%20Events/Copyright%20News/News%20Stories/wordsworth.aspx?searchText=author's%20income

There's also an unrelated interview with Mr Pratchett about copryright theft:
http://www.alcs.co.uk/News%20Events/ALCS%20News/News%20Stories/TerryPratchettInterview.aspx