This seems too good to be true. But it is, at least, it is for the United Kingdom and Ireland! Authors receive money under the PUBLIC LENDING RIGHT (PLR)  (the right for authors to receive payment for the loans of their books by public libraries). Until I read Joanne Phillips’ post on her first check from the PLR, I had no idea this existed.

According to PLR, here is how it works:

Under the PLR system in the UK, payment is made from government funds to authors, illustrators and other contributors whose books are borrowed from public libraries.  Payments are made annually on the basis of loans data collected from a sample of public libraries in the UK … To qualify for payment, applicants must apply to register their books.

Over 22,000 writers, illustrators, photographers, translators and editors who have contributed to books lent out by public libraries in the UK receive PLR payments each year.

And this is how they say data is collected:

For UK PLR, a representative sample of book loans, consisting of all issues from selected public libraries in the UK, is recorded. This is then multiplied in proportion to total library lending to produce for each book an estimate of its total annual loans throughout the country.

This seems pretty amazing, even if the payment is minimal. And I see a bigger picture with this program. It proves your book(s) are being lent to those less fortunate to buy the book themselves. So, how cool is that?

P.D. Pabst
Writer and blogger of MG/YA fiction