Maximising Income

How UK writers can access free money to which they’re entitled

Note: This article first appeared in Writing Magazine in March 2015.

Money © Simon Whaley

Writers are facing tough times financially. But then, haven’t we always? According to an authors’ earnings survey carried out in 2017 by the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society, the typical, or median, income of a professional writer, those who claimed it was their full time job, was just under £11,000. There are thousands of other writers who supplement their writing income with either part-time work, or income from other side hustles.

However, there are ways in which we can access free money, if we have published work. But to do so, it’s important that we make a claim.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an article, a short story, or a book, a few minutes of your time notifying the relevant organisations can pay dividends. Literally. There are organisations out there whose responsibility it is to collect money generated from the secondary use of a writer’s work and then distribute that income to writers.

Secondary uses might include photocopying, or the reciting of a poem at a literary festival, or even the borrowing of a book from a library. However, to access this money we either need to submit a claim on an annual basis, or we need to…