City Bonuses Time for UK Writers
If you're a UK author with at least one published book and you're registered for PLR, you should have received your annual statement by now, with payment due in the first week of February. (It's one of the little ironies of the system that while you receive your statement in January, you don't get your hands on the cash till a few days after the 31 January deadline for paying your self-employed tax bill).
For those who don't know, PLR stands for Public Lending Right. It is a payment made to UK authors out of central funding to compensate them every time one of their books is borrowed from a public library. I recently saw the payments described as City bonuses for writers - though there isn't really much comparison, as the most an author is allowed to receive is 6,600 pounds (about $12,000 US), compared with the millions earned in bonuses by top traders. Most authors, naturally, get far less than the 6,600 pounds maximum.
Even so, if you're a UK author with at least one full-length book to your name, you should certainly register with the PLR office to claim what's due to you. The PLR website is at www.plr.uk.com, and you can apply online if you wish.
While you're about it, too, don't forget to register with ALCS (the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society). ALCS pays money to UK authors for a range of things, most notably when their books are photocopied. They also distribute fees paid by other countries in respect of library lending, photocopying and so in in the countries concerned. The ALCS site is at www.alcs.co.uk.
This year I'm getting about 500 pounds from PLR and a further 150 pounds (estimated figure) from ALCS. This is money in addition to the royalties I get from book sales, and though it's not a huge sum, it comes in very handy at this (expensive) time of year.
Non-UK nationals cannot claim from either of these bodies, but many other countries (though not the USA as far as I know) have similar schemes in place to compensate writers for library lending and so on.
For those who don't know, PLR stands for Public Lending Right. It is a payment made to UK authors out of central funding to compensate them every time one of their books is borrowed from a public library. I recently saw the payments described as City bonuses for writers - though there isn't really much comparison, as the most an author is allowed to receive is 6,600 pounds (about $12,000 US), compared with the millions earned in bonuses by top traders. Most authors, naturally, get far less than the 6,600 pounds maximum.
Even so, if you're a UK author with at least one full-length book to your name, you should certainly register with the PLR office to claim what's due to you. The PLR website is at www.plr.uk.com, and you can apply online if you wish.
While you're about it, too, don't forget to register with ALCS (the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society). ALCS pays money to UK authors for a range of things, most notably when their books are photocopied. They also distribute fees paid by other countries in respect of library lending, photocopying and so in in the countries concerned. The ALCS site is at www.alcs.co.uk.
This year I'm getting about 500 pounds from PLR and a further 150 pounds (estimated figure) from ALCS. This is money in addition to the royalties I get from book sales, and though it's not a huge sum, it comes in very handy at this (expensive) time of year.
Non-UK nationals cannot claim from either of these bodies, but many other countries (though not the USA as far as I know) have similar schemes in place to compensate writers for library lending and so on.
Labels: opportunities, writing
Nick at 11:24 AM
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