Basically, if your books (or anything else) are in libraries in the UK then you are eligible to a ‘royalty’ for each time it is loaned out.
Ho ho! I thought – even if Standish is the only book that is in any British libraries, and only in one library that I know of (Chesterfield, because a friend demanded they order it) – this sounds like a good idea! Even if it’s only a little amont extra, ‘every little helps’ as a famous supermarket slogan says these days (ignoring the fact that the joke it came from was very rude.)
So I logged in and – me being me – did it all completely wrong. See elsewhere for my posts of how NOT to apply for your ITIN for example. The site is ease itself, and very user-friendly. You have to give your personal details before you can register any of your books – the trouble IS is that before the final submit your details page (although it does, very helpfully, give you a percentage of the process so you don’t do exactly what I did) it gets you to print out your application form. And here’s where I got sidetracked and didn’t progress to the end. D’oh!
So don’t do that.
The reason you have to print out the application form is to get someone you know (not a relative) to simply say that you are you – you post it off and Bob’s your mother’s slightly dubious brother your account will be activated within a few days.
(What I had to do, for those of you who cock up as regularly as I do, was I had to enter all my details again but not print off the form once more. They were incredibly helpful both by email, phone and letter. They obviously have had idiots pass their way before.)
Anyway, my account was authorised yesterday and I logged on and registered all my books. It was a real thrill to just input the ISBNs and find that the computer already knew the names and publishers! One thing to be aware of, you must be honest about your Lending Right percentage, don’t go putting “100 percent” if you are in a 3-author anthology!
Other countries, Ireland, Canada and many others have a similar system apparently, and I’ll checking them out – and no doubt getting all the forms wrong there too!
That’s very informative, thanks for posting. I’d forgotton about the fact that you get a teensy amount every time a library book is loaned out.
Does it apply to every book you’re an author of (or in), irrespective of whether you’re paid royalties on it? Or just the ones you receive royatlies on?
Now that, I don’t know. But they are amazingly helpful people and I’m sure they can help – or their FAQ may already deal with that. My guess is that it’s only royalty based books, because it asks you how much of the book you “own” as it were – but i it’s worth asking the question.
Thanks – I went and checked.
Takes a while to track down their FAQ on the site (it’s under Registration) so I thought I’d shove the relevant info here:
“To qualify for PLR in a book you should be named on its title page or be entitled to a royalty payment from the publisher (but you do not have to own the copyright). When two or more contributors are involved they must divide the PLR between them. This is done on the basis of percentage shares which they must agree before applying for registration.
Every contributor named on the title page of a book needs to be consulted when agreeing percentage shares and the agreed division should reflect contribution. Each eligible contributor may then submit a separate application.”
It sounds from that as though it can be ANY book as long as I’m listed on the title page…. *crosses fingers*
Blast! You’ve just reminded me that I got as far as printing out the form, and then I got sidetracked and have now lost the form. There shouldn’t be so much form filling involved. Let alone having to do things by post!