Register your work with the Lending Rights Scheme and the Australian Copyright Agency - https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/australian-lending-right-schemes-elrplr
Deadline for submitting new claims is 31 March each year.
Authors, illustrators, publishers and translators can receive income from books that are borrowed from lending libraries. Registering with the Lending Rights Scheme is quite easy and it’s free to join. Simply go to the website, get your unique user number and provide your bank details. Then enter the details of at least one work:
• Name of publication
• ISBN
• Form (print, ebook, large print edition etc) — enter each form separately
• If you are self-published, register the book twice — first as ‘claimant’ (author, illustrator) and then as ‘publisher’.
Hints:
• The book must be registered with the National eDeposit at the National Library
• If the ISBN takes on a green background the system recognises it
• Write the ISBN as a row of numbers, no spaces or dashes
Next, register your works with the Australian Copyright Agency, a nonprofit organisation with a mission to advocate for the rights of creatives. Eligible works include books, magazine articles, short stories, poetry and more. Did you publish a story, poem or article in Women’s Ink! over the past year? If so, register it. Did your story appear in an anthology? Did you publish a book? Any publication with an ISBN or ISSN can be part of the scheme.
The process for registering with the Australian Copyright Agency is also quite easy and the instructions for entering your work are very clear. Go to the website and under ‘membership’, click on ‘join us’ and then ‘join now’. Every year, the ACA collects copyright fees from a range of sources and distributes them to members. Make sure you register your work by 31 March to be eligible. It’s free to join.
Jude Chapman