With earnings having dropped by 60%, it is harder than ever to keep going as a writer – even if your work gets rave reviews

The 2022 publication of A Hunger, Ross Raisin’s fourth novel, was his “lowest moment”, the 45-year-old author says. “It was a deflating experience.”

The book received positive reviews, but then Raisin found out it wouldn’t be stocked in a large high-street book chain, and literary festivals claimed they “didn’t have space” to programme him. “I had to work hard not to succumb to a negativity that in turn thwarts creativity,” he says. It made him consider giving up writing altogether.