Posts Tagged PLR
Sorting Out the Admin
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Lifestyle, Non-writing, Resources on June 21, 2024
Being a writer isn’t just about the writing. Being a writer is like a running a small business, which is why all the big name authors employ assistants to help them. Those of us without the financial resources to do that, have to do it all ourselves! I’m currently taking a break from getting the words down while I wait for an editorial decision from my publisher and I’m using that time to get some of that admin done.
Firstly I’ve checked that all editions of my books are registered with the UK’s Public Lending Right. This is done via the British Library and ensures that authors receive a small amount of money every time their book is borrowed from a library. I’d like to say that this money is payable every time a book is borrowed from ANY UK library but the payments only apply if the books are borrowed from a sample of libraries across the UK. This sample changes from year to year and you can see which libraries are included this year and next on the website and scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Unfortunately for me, Birmingham Libraries (where I know there are several copies of my books and they do get borrowed!) is not in any of the recent samples. But maybe a library elsewhere has copies too!
I’ve also made sure that all editions of my paperback books are registered with ALCS. One of the reasons for doing this is to ensure I receive a small royalty if any of my books are sold secondhand via the World of Books website. More details about how this works can be found on the Society of Authors website. In the future it’s hoped that more secondhand booksellers will join the scheme. Fingers crossed!
I’m also going to be running a free prize draw in the next edition of my newsletter to win a signed (or unsigned if you prefer!) copy of The Promise. At the moment brand new paperback copies of The Promise are only available exclusively from me (there are a couple of secondhand copies on World of Books!) and it is also available on Kindle with an updated cover. If you’d like to be in with a chance, please sign up for my newsletter ASAP and before 26/6/2024. My newsletter is published less frequently than this blog and contains more general content for readers rather than specifically for writers. I’d love to have you on board!
Selling Secondhand Books Online
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Lifestyle on May 13, 2019
Where do you stand on disposing of secondhand books? Any that I have in perfect condition I usually donate to our cash-strapped libraries because that helps both the library and the author (PLR). The others go to charity shops.
Recently I tried something different: WeBuyBooks.co.uk
Simply type an ISBN into the website and you get a monetary offer for the book. It’s not a lot, often just a few pence and the site won’t accept every title. But I found the process of keying in the numbers to get a valuation addictive. They buy DVDs and CDs too. Once you have a collection of goods with a total value of £5 or more there is the facility to print a label giving free postage to WeBuyBooks via the parcel people Hermes. It took a lot of books to reach £5 and then there was the job of parceling up and taking them to my nearest Hermes collection point (or they can collect from you).
A couple of days later I had an email from WeBuyBooks to say my parcel had been received and then, two days later, another to say the payment for my books had been deposited in my bank account.
Was it worth it?
Financially, probably not. My books were mostly novels and didn’t fall into the site’s most sought after categories i.e. cookbooks, travel guides and text books. A charity shop may have netted more for the books than I received.
More broadly, yes it was worth it. I got carried away with wanting to know what my books were worth and sorted through a lot! Many of the books refused by WeBuyBooks I then took to the charity shop anyway. And my mind feels clearer now more clutter is gone. So it was a win-win result!
PLR for Ebooks
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Self-publishing on May 24, 2017
Public Lending Right (PLR) is on its way for ebooks. Until now only ebooks downloaded on library premises, to fixed terminals and then taken away on loan have qualified for PLR payments. Legislation was passed last month (April 2017), in the Digital Economy Bill, which extends the UK Public Lending Right legislation to include remote loans of ebooks. These new arrangements are expected to apply to loans from July 1st 2018, with the first payments being made in arrears in February 2020.
I have written previously about how to get self-published ebooks into public libraries via the distributor Overdrive but there are a couple of things to bear in mind before rushing off to do so:
- It is not possible to keep an ebook in KDP Select and make it available through other channels e.g. public library loans
- Under PLR legislation, loans are collected using ISBNs. Many of the ebooks published through Kindle Direct Publishing have only the Amazon assigned ASIN.
So, this is good news for a lot of authors, who will, in the future, get recompensed for ebook loans. Others will have to take decisions about whether it’s better to stay exclusive to Amazon in KDP Select with its marketing/Kindle Unlimited benefits or go wide to other ebook distributors and obtain an ISBN.
Any traditionally-published/self-published authors have an opinion on this new legislation?
Sally Jenkins 