In a Quill & Quire review of The Canadian Writer’s Market, it was said that being a freelance writer in Canada is a good way to starve to death slowly. Does that adage apply equally to Estonia (with a population of 1.3 million) and Canada (41 million as reported by Statistics Canada in 2026)?
For starters, I am only comparing living English-language Canadian writers with living Estonian writers.
In Canada, superstar writers earn a good living. Joseph Boyden, Lawrence Hill, Yann Martel, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, and Miriam Toews earn substantial annual incomes from advances and rights sales. I’m purposefully leaving out Canada’s literary megastar (and two-time Booker Prize winner) Margaret Atwood, who is in a class of her own. Canada’s superstar writers earn advances of six figures (CAD) but advances are paid up front as an advance against future royalties; the author receives further royalty payments only after the book “earns out” the advance.
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