Public Appearances

Based on consultation with writers centres, festivals, libraries and authors, these are the recommended rates of pay for non-school public appearances such as at festivals, writers centres, the ASA, literary organisations, libraries, clubs, and community groups.

These cover all types of appearances including online presentations.

Rate categoryFY 2024/25
(WPI 3.2%)		June 2025 ReviewNotes
In conversation
Interviewee/Subject		$325$336
Recommended fee for a one-on-one appearance. This rate is applicable for live events, live streaming of the appearance and includes recordings of the event made public for an agreed period of time.
Curator/interviewer$488$488
Panel appearances
panellists		$249$257
Recommended fee for a panel appearance where there is a Chair and 2 or more panelists. This fee is applicable for live events, live streaming of the appearance and includes recordings of the event made public for an agreed period of time.
chairperson$282$505
Workshop/One off presentation
1 hr		$389$402
Workshops take considerable preparation time and include authors’ intellectual property.
If a recording of the workshop is made available online, the ability of an author to book future income-producing workshops may be undermined. Therefore, we recommend authors negotiate an additional fee for recordings based on the length of time for which the recording is made publicly available. For example: an additional 10% on top of the appearance rate for each fortnight the recording is publicly available.
Authors may also wish to negotiate an expiry date, beyond which the recording must be taken down.
half day (up to 4 hours)$650$672
full day (up to 8 hours)$975$1,009
Longform coursesNew rate, no FY 2025/26 recommendation$230This rate is applicable when presenting a series of workshops across a number of weeks, with a minimum of 4 sessions, engaged as a freelance presenter (not employee). The rate assumes one hour of presentation time and up to 2 hours of preparation time. For preparation time beyond 2 hours, a higher rate ought to be negotiated.
Permanently available podcasts or audio/visual recordingsplus 20% of feeplus 20% of feeIncreasingly, live appearances are subsequently made available as podcasts for an indefinite period of time. In this instance, we recommend the presenter be paid an additional 20% on top of the appearance fee for the podcast or recording to be publicly available indefinitely.
Keynote (1 hour)$1,625$1685+This rate is highly variable in the market and depends on the presenter’s speaking experience, profile and the event itself. For example, the opening or closing address of a major writers’ festival will attract a substantially higher fee. An additional loading is recommended for recordings and podcasts made publicly available for an indefinite period of time. See Podcasts.

The ASA recommends minimum rates of pay for public appearances, strongly believing authors must be fairly compensated. Authors and panel moderators spend many hours in preparation time for all public appearances, and this work needs to be factored into their rate of pay. Organisers of festivals and events wanting to engage authors should have viable business plans that accommodate fair payment. For events that are funded by government or Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, paying at or above the ASA’s recommended rates is  required as a condition of funding. 

When smaller and/or volunteer-run organisations struggle to afford the rates, authors can assess the fairness of rates offered, taking into account the size of the event, other inclusions offered and the personal benefits of appearing. 

Public Appearance rates were reviewed and updated in July 2025. We are commencing our review, and new rates will be published July 2027.

Public Appearance rates were reviewed in June 2025. A 3.4% WPI increase has been applied to all rates except the recommended rate for an interviewer for ‘In Conversation’ events, based on feedback from our consultation process.