For those unfamiliar with the PLR, 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 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 2015 (with 2014’s position in brackets)
1 (-) Deadline
2 (1) Peacemaker
3 (6) The Poisoned Chalice
4 (3) Nemesis
5 (2) Fear To Tread
6 (5) Hammer & Anvil
7 (7) Synthesis
8 (10) The Flight of the Eisenstein
9 (-) Icarus Effect
10 (4) Cast No Shadow
The big shake-up in my top ten this year was the arrival of my 24 novel Deadline straight into the top slot – number one with a bullet, which seems apt for a story about Jack Bauer! That kicked back my Doctor Who Western Peacemaker to second place for the first time in years, which was closely followed by my Star Trek: The Fall novel The Poisoned Chalice. Also new in the list this year is my Deus Ex novel Icarus Effect.
As always, my thanks to everyone who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books!
