ARE YOU A PUBLISHED UK AUTHOR WITH YOUR BOOKS IN LIBRARIES?

Don’t forget to register for your Public Lending Right.  If your printed books and audio-books are borrowed from UK public libraries you may be eligible for payment through the government-funded Public Lending Right scheme. All you have to do is apply to the PLR office for registration and provide details of your books.  Writers, illustrators, photographers, editors, translators, narrators, producers and abridgers can apply.  Where there is more than one contributor to a book the PLR is shared.  Anyone resident in the UK or in any of the other countries within the European Economic Area can apply.  The amount payable is based on the estimated number of times registered books are borrowed nationally during the PLR year (1 July – 30 June).  Payments are made annually each February. (There were over 22,000 recipients in 2018 of payments between £1 and £6,600.)  There are no joining or membership fees (you are not allowed to apply on behalf of a deceased author).

The website to apply for PLR is http://www.bl.uk/plr

Register for an account, add your bank details, and after a few days when your account has been verified (you’ll need to send 2 utility bills or a mortgage statement) you will be able to add your books.  Also, if you are a UK publisher, then the British Library needs to have one printed copy of your paperbacks within one month of publication.

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