Authors Call on the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, to Spare Book Lending Funding From Further Cuts

LONDON, September 9, 2010 - Over 4,000 authors have now signed a statement urging the Government to
maintain the current level of funding for Public Lending Right (PLR) in the
forthcoming Spending Review. The petition, instigated by the Society of
Authors and supported by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society and
the Royal Society of Literature, is being drawn to the attention of Jeremy
Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Ed Vaizey,
Minister for Culture, today.

The Public Lending Right scheme provides authors with a modest payment -
currently 6p - each time one of their books is borrowed from a public
library. PLR is designed to balance the social need for free public access to
books against an author's right to be remunerated for the use of their work.
Individual PLR payments are capped in order to benefit those most in need;
many elderly writers whose books are no longer in print rely on their annual
PLR payments, which they see as a form of pension. Although PLR is a legal
right rather than a grant or subsidy, its funding has already been subject to
significant cuts in the last three years amounting to over 10% in real terms.

Crime writer and President of the Society of Authors, PD James, has
written to Jeremy Hunt drawing attention to the petition, which has been
signed by such well-known authors as Alan Ayckbourn, Iain Banks, Raymond
Briggs, AS Byatt, Wendy Cope, Margaret Drabble, Helen Dunmore, Stella Duffy,
Antonia Fraser, Joanne Harris, Tom Holland, Doris Lessing, Ruth Padel,
Phillip Pullman, Ali Smith, Joanna Trollope, Minette Walters, Sarah Waters
and Jacqueline Wilson amongst others. The text of Baroness James's letter is
attached.

Less familiar names feature among the high earners from PLR, and receive
valuable portions of their income from the scheme.

Mark Le Fanu, General Secretary of the Society of Authors, said "Authors
are proud of Britain's Public Lending Right scheme, which is internationally
admired and very tightly run. It provides them with modest payments when
their books are borrowed. The funding has already been cut back. Authors are
anxious that it should not be reduced still further."

The petition, with the full list of signatories, can be viewed at
www.alcs.co.uk/petition.

This petition is also supported by the Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals (CILIP) and the British Copyright Council (BCC).

Text of Baroness James' letter to Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of
State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Public Lending Right

As you are probably aware, there is great anxiety among writers about PLR
funding, which they feel should be maintained at its present level (or
thereabouts) in the Spending Review. We think it important to recognise that
PLR has been operating with reduced budgets over the past three years, while
public expenditure generally has been rising.

PLR is a statutory right, very efficiently and economically managed by a
tiny staff.

Authors greatly value the modest income they receive when their books are
read by library users free of charge. Many writers whose books are no longer
in print rely on their annual PLR payments which they see as a form of
pension.

In order to test our impression that writers are hugely supportive of
Britain's exemplary PLR system, The Society of Authors, the Authors'
Licensing and Collecting Society and the Royal Society of Literature asked
members to consider adding their names to a short statement, which is
attached to this letter. In a matter of days over 4,000 did so, including, as
you will see, many of this country's most eminent writers.

The Spending Review is clearly going to present the Department with some
difficult choices. We ask you to take into account that PLR is a legal right
rather than a grant or subsidy, that it has already been reduced
significantly and that it is a vital 'front line' service on which authors
depend.

Text of Petition

Statement on PLR by Authors

The Public Lending Right scheme, under which authors receive 6p when a
book is borrowed from a public library, is funded by the Department for
Culture Media and Sport. Over the last three years, while public spending has
been buoyant, PLR's allocation has fallen by 3%: over 10% in real terms.

While accepting that DCMS has been instructed to reduce its budget, we
ask the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, to recognise that the GBP7.5m spent
on PLR gives effect to a legal right and is not a subsidy. It provides
working writers with a modest income when their books are read by library
users free of charge. PLR is particularly important to authors whose books
are sold mainly to libraries and to those whose books are no longer in print
but are still being used.

Press coverage tends to focus on a few successful authors, yet most
struggle to make ends meet. PLR provides a significant and much-valued part
of authors' incomes. The GBP6,600 upper limit ensures that the fund helps
those most in need.

The admirably efficient PLR Office has already cut its running costs very
substantially. Any reduction in PLR will have an immediate and detrimental
effect on the 'front line' payments to authors.

Notes for editors

Society of Authors

The Society of Authors has been serving the interests of professional
writers for more than a century. Today it has more than 8,800 members (from
novelists to doctors, textbook writers to ghost writers, broadcasters to
academics, illustrators to translators) writing in all areas of the
profession. Services include the confidential, individual vetting of
contracts, and help with professional disputes. In addition, the Society
holds meetings and seminars, publishes a quarterly journal, The Author, and
maintains a database of members' specializations. It administers a wide range
of prizes, as well as the Authors' Foundation, which is one of the very few
bodies making grants to help with work in progress for established writers.

Website: www.societyofauthors.org

ALCS

ALCS collects fees on behalf of the whole spectrum of UK writers:
novelists, film & TV script writers, literary prize winners, poets and
playwrights, freelance journalists, translators and adaptors. All writers are
eligible to join ALCS: further details on membership can be found at
www.alcs.co.uk

Set up in 1977 in the wake of the original campaign for Public Lending
Right (led by ALCS Honorary President - Maureen Duffy, Brigid Brophy and Lord
Ted Willis among others) the Society collects fees that are difficult,
time-consuming or legally impossible for writers and their representatives to
claim on an individual basis: money that is nonetheless due to them. Fees
collected are distributed to writers twice a year in March and September.
Since its inception, ALCS has distributed over GBP235 million to the nation's
writers.

Website: www.alcs.co.uk

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature was founded by King George IV in 1820, to
'reward literary merit and excite literary talent'.

President of the RSL is the travel writer Colin Thubron, and the Chair is
biographer Anne Chisholm. Vice Presidents of the RSL include Maggie Gee,
Victoria Glendinning, Phillip Pullman and Hilary Mantel. A Council of Fellows
meet monthly to oversee the RSL programme of lectures, debates and poetry
readings, and to address issues of importance to the RSL and writers in
general.

The Society has some 500 Fellows, they include novelists, short-story
writers, poets, playwrights, biographers, historians, literary critics and
scriptwriters.

Website: www.rslit.org

For further information please contact: Mark Le Fanu, Society of Authors: +44(0)20-7373-6642 or Alison Baxter, ALCS: +44(0)20-7264-5700. Contact information: The Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10 9SB. Tel: +44(0)20-7373-6642; email: info at societyofauthors.org. Contact information: ALCS, The Writers' House, 13 Haydon Street, London EC3N 1DB . Tel: +44(0)20-7264-5700; email: alcs at alcs.co.uk. Contact information: The Royal Society of Literature, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA. Tel: +44(0)20-7845-4676; email: info at rslit.org.