Recently, ALCS co-ordinated with the Publishers Association, the Society of Authors, the British Educational Suppliers Association, Publishers’ Licensing Services and the Copyright Licensing Agency asking the Education Secretary to suspend the creation of a new arm’s-length body (ALB) “due to a lack of evidence and of due scrutiny, exacerbated by current political uncertainty”.

This initiative may impact on the monies you receive from primary and secondary rights. We ask you to write to your MP urgently, telling them what educational writing means to you and why a curriculum ALB should be stopped. A suggested template to help is available.  Ultimately it is important the new Education Minister, Kit Malthouse, hears from a number of MPs indicating there is a concern that needs to be addressed and you can help achieve this.

The pandemic has been an incredibly difficult time for the creative sector with authors’ incomes feeling the impact greatly. Writers were suffering financially prior to COVID-19, with ALCS research finding that authors’ earnings had already fallen by 42% from 2005 to 2018, despite the creative industries enjoying consistent growth. PLR is designed to compensate authors for their contribution to a public good and should reach a wide range of writers whose works are used. Unfortunately, the PLR fund has been frozen since 2015, meaning authors receive under 10p for each book loan, far less than their equivalents elsewhere in Europe at a time when support is needed more than ever.

Please write to your MP now, telling them what PLR means to you as an author, both as a source of remuneration and a connection between libraries and readers, and why it should be increased.

The UK Government is currently consulting on an integral part of the IP framework called ‘copyright exhaustion’. They have the power to do so following the UK’s exit from the EU.

Copyright of a book gives the owner certain exclusive rights. This includes the exclusive right to issue copies of the work to the public, known as the ‘distribution right’. The owner can control distribution in terms of the first sale of their book, and ‘exhaustion of rights’ puts some limits on how far that control extends. This right means authors can control where their works are first sold and at what price. It’s crucial for exporting books around the world and ensuring UK authors benefit financially from those sales.

If this framework changes, UK authors could lose any ability through copyright to limit global resale of their books, no matter where they are first sold. Their books could be sold anywhere in the world, at a price that matches that market. For example, currently, books are sold in India at roughly a third of the price that they are in the UK market, so you can imagine how authors could see a rapid decline in income. And this would be happening after authors have faced an incredibly difficult time throughout the pandemic.

We are firmly requesting that the Government maintains the current exhaustion model and avoids a change to an international regime which would be detrimental to authors’ incomes.

The current circumstances of COVID-19 have made it a particularly difficult time for the creative industry, with authors’ incomes feeling the impact. The outbreak has exacerbated an ongoing problem where authors’ earnings had already fallen by 42% from 2005 to 2018, despite the creative industries being a sector that has seen consistent growth. PLR is designed to compensate authors for their contributions to a public good and, by design, it should reach a wide range of writers whose works are used. Unfortunately, the PLR fund has not increased for ten years, meaning authors are compensated at under 10p per loan for their books, less than equivalent systems in Europe, at a time when they need the support the most. When you write to your MP, please comment on what PLR has meant to you in your work as an author, as both a source of remuneration and a connection between libraries and readers.