January means I get my yearly report on the Public Lending Right from the British Library, detailing all of my UK library book loans for the previous 12 months! This is always great to see, because I warms my heart to know that readers are reading my stuff and that libraries around the country continue to do their most important work of putting books in the hands of people who may not otherwise have access to them.
If you’re not familiar with how the PLR pays back writers (and also editors, illustrators and translators), here’s my annual explanation:
The PLR is a system where people who’ve worked on books that are in public libraries get a little revenue each time somebody borrows them. It’s a way to repay writers (and others) who won’t be earning a royalty from a sale in a bookstore. The PLR pays a nominal fee from a communal ‘pot’ of money based on how borrowed you were, and in the interests of fairness, you can’t earn more than around £6000, so the big name authors out there don’t get to hog all the cash.
If you are a writer/editor/illustrator/translator and 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.
Here’s my Top Ten Library Loans of my novels for 2022 (with 2021’s position in brackets)
1 (1) Rogue
2 (-) Outlaw
3 (3) Ghost
4 (2) Shadow
5 (4) Exile
6 (5) Nomad
7 (-) Airside
8 (6) Garro: Weapon of Fate
9 (-) Firewall
10 (9/7) Ghost in the Shell / The Buried Dagger
Last year, my 5th Marc Dane novel Rogue held on to the top spot, with the 6th book Outlaw coming in just below; all six of my Marc Dane books filled the top half of the top ten, with just under 10,000 combined loans between them. Also new in the chart this year was my new stand-alone thriller Airside and my Splinter Cell tie-in novel Firewall, and the number #10 position was shared by my co-authored novelization of the Ghost in the Shell movie and my last Horus Heresy tome The Buried Dagger.
I often get readers telling me apologetically that they got one of my books from a library to read instead of buying it – but that’s okay! I still get a few pence each time a book of mine gets lent out, so don’t feel guilty about using libraries. In fact, for some creators, that bit of PLR cash might be the only money they ever see from that work.
I say this every year because it’s true – I wholeheartedly believe that libraries are the lifeblood of many communities and a vital resource that builds lifetime readers, and as always, I want to show my appreciation to everyone working hard in our libraries across the UK and Ireland, and to all the people working to keep them running.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 – and keep on reading!
