Public lending rights, or p.l.r. are a payment of six and a bit pence, made to authors when their books are borrowed from UK and Irish libraries. The author has to register for this, something I did when my first book was published. It’s calculated using several sample libraries and until this year it seemed none of those used were the right ones for me. This year though something has changed and I’m due a small payment. I’m jolly pleased – it feels like an official recognition of my writing.
Paint Me A Picture was the book most frequently borrowed, with Escape To The Country close behind. Because of the cut off period Firestarter doesn’t appear yet, but I’m hopeful for next year.
If you’re one of the people who’ve borrowed my books then thank you! If you’d like to but can’t because they’re not stocked in your library then do ask if they can get it in for you as this isn’t something the author can arrange.
Well done, Patsy. I can see why it feels like a formal recognition of your work.
Thanks, Beatrice.
Thanks very much for this information, Patsy and congratulations! How does an author register for this?
Register here, Fay – https://www.plr.uk.com/olga/login.aspx
There’s some paperwork involved in getting yourself on the system, but once you are it’s easy to add more books and any payments you’re entitled to will be made automatically.
Thank you so much, Patsy!
Just checked and unfortunately I don’t qualify. I live in the Bahamas and it says “To register for the UK PLR scheme, at the time of application you must have your only home or principal home in the UK or in any of the other countries within the European Economic Area (ie EC Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein).”
Oh – I didn’t realise that, Fay. That’s a shame.
Great news Patsy and well done. And thanks for useful info – another exciting milestone to aim for! (Doing quite a lot of Aiming, but one of these days…)
Aiming is a very important stage in hitting a target, Dolores.