Not familiar with the PLR? Read on for 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.
Once more, the PLR and the libraries it springs from are under threat from the current powers that be, 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 2016 (with 2015’s position in brackets)
1 (1) Deadline
2 (5) Fear to Tread
3 (2) Peacemaker
4 (3) The Poisoned Chalice
5 (-) Nomad (paperback & hardcover editions)
6 (10) Cast No Shadow
7 (6) Hammer & Anvil
8 (4) Nemesis
9 (9) The Flight of the Eisenstein
10 (13) Blood Angels: The Second Omnibus
For the second year running, by 24 novel Deadline holds the top slot, with the Horus Heresy story Fear to Tread and Doctor Who tale Peacemaker very close in 2nd and 3rd places. It was nice to see one of my Blood Angels omnibus editions re-enter the top ten, but I was most pleased to see my new thriller novel Nomad make a great showing!
As always, my thanks to everybody who supported their local libraries and borrowed my books!
