Collecting, prizes & grants · UK scheme · Less obvious
Public Lending Right
A payment for library loans — real money, once a year, if you registered.
Public Lending Right is the author's share of a government pot, paid because a library lent a book. In the UK you must register qualifying books, and you must be eligible. The rate per loan is small; the volumes can add up; there is an annual cap. It is the least glamorous cheque in the profession and one of the most rational. A book that lives in libraries is a book that is working.
- Typical pay
- From a few pounds to a few thousand a year. There is a cap (it moves; check the current PLR scheme). Heavily borrowed children's and crime titles do better than a literary novel that libraries cannot keep on the shelf because it was never on the shelf.
- Ceiling
- Modest ceiling
- Speed
- A long game
- Effort
- Light extra work
- Needs
- Needs a book
How it works
- 01
You register with the PLR office, and you register each qualifying edition (ISBN, publisher, your share if there are co-authors or illustrators).
- 02
Loans are sampled from UK libraries and scaled up. You are paid once a year.
- 03
Similar schemes exist in other countries, with their own rules, and can be claimed if you qualify.
How to start
- 01
If you have a published book with an ISBN and you are eligible, register this week. Not next tax year. This week.
- 02
Register every edition: paperback, hardback, audio, large print. They are separate.
- 03
If you co-authored or the illustrator has a share, agree the split in writing and file it.
Watch out
- 01
Unregistered books earn nothing. The library can lend them all year; the pot will not find you by magic.
- 02
Self-published titles can qualify, but only if they meet the scheme's rules. Read them.
- 03
Deadlines for registration in a given payment year are real. Miss them and you wait.
PLR is the rare public scheme that treats a library loan as work. I have always liked it. Register. Then register the next book. Then tell the writer standing next to you at a festival to register, because the unclaimed money is a scandal of inattention, not of policy.