Public Lending Right

“A Public Lending Right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in public libraries, such as books, music and artwork... In the United States the Authors Guild began a campaign in support of the PLR in 2018.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Lending_Right

Essentially, if you have signed up and are eligible, an author will get paid if your book is taken out of a Canadian library. The earnings must be at least $50 before a payment is made to the author.

How many times does a book need to be taken out in order to make $50?

Well, I found this calculation example on www.publiclendingright.ca/payments . . .

Calculation Example

“We multiply the hit rate ($63.47) x # Times the title was found (5) x % percentage share (0.50) x Time adjustment (0.8). The payment amount for this title is $126.94.”

It says, “The Hit Rate for 2020-21 was $63.47 per title”, so it would appear this is an amount applied to any author in that year.

If there is only one author on a book, the percentage share would be 1 or 100%.

The time adjustment decreases over time, however, a new title (0-5 years) receives 100%, whereas a title that is 16-25 years, receives only 60%. 

If you are a Canadian author, you can check your eligibility at www.publiclendingright.ca

Sign up and they will notify you.

— Cindy