TL:DR – Book authors should register their books so that they receive royalties when the books are borrowed from a library.
Top tip for fellow authors (of books). Register with your national public lending rights organisation (PLR at British Library) and claim the books you wrote or co-wrote. In the UK, an author gets 30 pence every time one of their books is borrowed from a library.
There are about 5000 libraries in the UK lending out 165 million books a year. So it could add up and for some authors probably earns them more than sales!
I think Ireland and Canada also have this system in place, so worth registering there and with the other countries that do if your books are sold abroad. It’s not available in the US.
If you borrow my book Deceived Wisdom from your local library, I’ll get 30.5 pence and you’ll get to read my book without having to buy it! It’s a win-win, isn’t it? Also, if you’ve requested and borrowed, it then another reader can borrow it after you and I’ll get another 30.5p. Tell your friends…
Deceived Wisdom was published in 2012 in hardback by Elliot & Thompson.
ISBN: 9781908739346
eBook ISBN: 9781908739599
Oh, here’s a bonus tip if you’re any sort of published writer, you should join ALCS and claim the royalties on photocopies of your articles and pages from your books etc.