Many authors are getting their books into libraries, and so can make a claim to make up for lost royalties because of free lending under the Public Lending Rights Scheme 1997.
Did you know… almost 18,000 individual lending right payments totalling over $21 million were paid in 2015-16.
So, if you meet the criteria, registering for Public Lending Rights (or ELR, for educational libraries) can be worthwhile. If you can handle some online form-filling, there could be a little money in it for you. (They will survey where your book is found and it needs to be found in 50 libraries, which is quite a few, so this may take quite some time).
Title claims for books published 2011 to 2016 are now being accepted until 31 March 2017. Creators can be authors, illustrators, editors or compilers of a work – and the % of work to be claimed must be known.
Preparing for PLR Claims
You can register your book details on the Lending Rights Australia website to claim PLR and ELR royalties. But do NOT leave the computer for 10 minutes while you look for your details!! (It logs you out)
Get ready your Bank account number, your ISBN, and your correct title.
Self-publishers need to register both as a publisher and a creator and submit a title claim as both.
On ‘Select a Publisher’, hit select and then select, OTHER and type your self publishing name in.
You will need to enter the book title, the exact author name as on title page, and ISBN, without the dashes. (Ensure you have the correct ISBN for the correct edition, i.e. print or digital).
A very serious declaration has to be made at the end, e.g. the Public Lending Right (PLR) Committee may at any time require me to provide information, documents or verification of information.
You must keep the information updated, otherwise the last known address might be shown publicly.
Always apply the right ISBN – the current one that is listed in the book publishing database. Check with past records on www.MyIdentifiers.com.au (Thorpe Bowker records) if you cannot remember the publication date and ISBN.
Once you click FINISH, then tick the agreement and submit claim. The Lending Rights people will get back to you with a claim number. Then you can proceed to add more titles under your Claimant Number, both as creator and publisher.
Click on the Registration Summary line to open the PDF and save the PDF to computer for a record.
While all due care has been taken in preparing this advice, the author bears no responsibility for incorrect details or any problems claiming Lending Rights. Please refer to the Lending Rights Australia team.
2 Comments. Leave new
I have over 45 books on PLR uk and Ireland. Can you not transfer the titles from PLR UK into PLR Australia?
Hi, Well it wouldn’t make sense because PLR is compensation for lost income when libraries loan your book, in that country. If you get your book/s into the libraries via Peter Pal, James Bennett and ALS, then once you have 50 in all libraries the PLR scheme would grant the PLR royalty (<$100), but only if you apply at Australian Lending Rights Online.