Thank you.
As you know, my name is Carol Bruneau, and I'm a novelist and short story writer. I've published seven books and I just want to comment on how my income from Access Copyright funds has plummeted.
When I first started writing—I've been writing 25 years professionally—the cheque I would receive annually was substantial. In the last few years, since the new legislation we have for copyright, it has plummeted, going, say, from $1,100 a year to about $100 a year. For someone like me, when my writing income is maybe $5,000 or $6,000 per year in a good year, that is a substantial loss.
It is discouraging when you have generated a body of work and as your expertise and experience as a writer grow, and this is not being recognized. My work is in university curricula and also in high school curricula.
I just find the situation very discouraging and very unfair.
Thank you.