PLR

February 12th, 2008 |

I recently received my PLR fees for last year and it was a great surprise to be given some extra money.

For those of you who don’t know what PLR (Public Lending Right) is it is a sum, fixed by HMG, that is paid to authors for readers borrowing their books from public libraries – the maximum payment is £6600.

“Over 23,000 writers, illustrators, photographers, translators and editors who have contributed to books lent out by public libraries receive PLR payments each year.”

Will I be buying a car or having a Caribbean holiday with my payments? I very much doubt it. The 21 borrowers of the ‘Alberts’ mean that I get six pence (or 5.98p in actuality) per loan so work that one out.

With over 40,000 recipients you will not be surprised to learn that only 363 writers (etc) got the full whack whilst we at the bottom of the pile numbered 17,738.

A lot of authors (3661) will have received between one (165+ borrowers) and five hundred quid (830+ borrowers). Not bad when you consider the time it takes to write a book and it’s an added bonus to your sales.

What really rankles is that HMG are cutting the funding over the next few years:

2007/08: £7,682,000

2008/09: £7,432,000

2009/10: £7,582,000

2010/11: £7,682,000

Subsequently there is a petition over at 10DS to complain about the drop in funding (no doubt next year I’ll get 5.2235p per copy). Go and sign it please as not only was it a nice surprise to get the payment but it’s also gratifying to know that 21 people actually read about Albert.

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