It's that gift-after-Christmas that comes to scribes around the nation: the Public Lending Right. If you are a writer/editor/illustrator/etc, a resident of the UK or Ireland and you ever need a reason for donating your books to the library - on top of all the obvious ones like promoting reading and supporting this valuable and increasingly undermined public service - here it is.
What is the PLR?
The PLR is a system where authors who've written books that are in public libraries get a little revenue each time somebody borrows their works. It's a way to repay writers who won't be earning a royalty from a sale in a bookstore. The hardworking folks at the PLR office pay a nominal fee based on how borrowed you were - and in the interests of fairness, you can't earn more than around £6000, so the big names don't get to hog all the money.
In the current political climate, both the PLR and the libraries it springs from are under threat, so if you are a writer or a reader, please do your bit to help support both as best you can.
Here's my Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2013 (with 2012's position in brackets)
1 (1) Peacemaker
2 (-) Fear To Tread
3 (4) Hammer & Anvil
4 (3) Nemesis
5 (2) The Flight of the Eisenstein
6 (5) Red Fury
7 (7) Cast No Shadow
8 (6) Icarus Effect
9 (8) The Blood Angels Omnibus
10 (9) Synthesis
Once again, my Doctor Who Western Peacemaker maintains its top slot in the chart, although my most recent Horus Heresy novel Fear To Tread was a close second place.
As always, my thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books...
Wait, you have warhammer in your library's? How awesome is that! :)
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