Something Borrowed (2019 Edition)

It's that time of the year again, when I doff my cap to those hard-working people in the library service, and remind all you writers out there that libraries are fantastic, and that we should all support them.

Libraries also help out jobbing authors in more ways than just getting their books in front of readers, thanks to something we have here in the UK and Ireland called the Public Lending Right; it’s the gift that keeps on giving to writers, editors, illustrators and other folks involved in making books happen.

Here's my annual public service announcement on the subject:

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 - this is it.

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 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.

The PLR and our libraries are constantly under threat from government cutbacks, 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 2018 (with 2017's position in brackets)

1  (1) Nomad
2  (2) Exile
3  (-) Garro: Weapon of Fate
4  (-) Sisters of Battle: The Omnibus
5  (-) Ghost in the Shell
6  (4) Peacemaker
7  (3) Fear to Tread
8  (8) Black Light
9  (5) Deadline
10 (6) The Poisoned Chalice

Once again, my Marc Dane thrillers topped the chart in 2017, with Nomad and Exile pulling in a whopping 26,684 loans between them! My Horus Heresy novels remain a fixture, with Weapon of Fate coming in at 3rd place and Fear to Tread slipping from 3rd to 7th. Jack Bauer shows his tenacity with my 24 novel Deadline clinging on to the top ten for the 4th year in a row, and my Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice rounds out the chart. It was also interesting to see my Warhammer 40,000 Sisters of Battle collection appear this time around, along with the novelization of Ghost in the Shell I worked on with Abbie Bernstein.

As always, my thanks to everybody who has supported their local libraries and borrowed my books over the past year (and please continue to do so!)