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  • Statements are now available in the Members Area.
    At least, mine was so I assume others are too. There has been quite a lot of downtime over the last few days, but site was Ok about an hour ago.
  • Can't get in now.
  • Nor me. It's usually down when they're processing the payments.
  • When I looked it said the member area was unavailable, but I was still able to log in and see how much I'll get.
  • The closed sign is down. Sadly I decided to try and enter my password without checking it - three strikes and I'm out for 24 hours. For some reason I decided to check my password...afterwards.
  • Couldn't get into Members Area last night, but payment is in bank account this morning :)
  • That's good news for members.
  • Can't log in because my 24 hours isn't up yet, but the money's in my bank so that's okay.
  • Need to find my login details - and I still have articles to add that I haven't got round to putting on!
  • I have just received my first payment from ALCS and to say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Whilst I appreciate that as a first payment there is an element of back listing to anyone who is hesitating to join because they think they have only had a few items published I would say "go for it." Many thanks to those who have continually highlighted this issue.
  • edited March 2014
    I agree Wordy - almost everyone is surprised by what they get in the first year. It is three years' worth, but even so. I didn't expect to get enough to cover the joining fee of £25 but it did that many times over. The following two years have been less than the first, but still in three figures, so if anyone who has eligible published items is still wondering whether to bother - please do!
  • I was amazed to get anything - expected a few pence, to be honest. I've covered my joining fee, yippee!
  • I've just applied for membership, after hearing how beneficial the service is and having been meaning to get around to signing up for months. I'm already kicking myself that I've missed the chance to register a story I had printed in Writers' Forum because that was more than three years ago.

    I don't have all that many 'works' to add to my list, as most of my successes have resulted in online publication. However, I have two stories that will go into printed collections later this year and I just wanted to ask how I'd register those (I'm assuming some of you have stories in anthologies as well as magazine articles and full books of your own). Is it just a case of registering the anthology as one of "your" books, listing its publisher, editor, etc, and giving the title of your story or is it more complicated than that?

    I tried to find a FAQs page on the site, but if there is one it's eluded me!
  • In the 'Add Works' part you can either include it as an essay/chapter/poem in a book, or Add the book and list the number of other contributors etc as you've said above. I'm afraid I don't know what the difference is! I added mine by adding the book, but they seem to show up under the chapters bit when I view them too, and I'm sure I didn't add them twice.
    They are very responsive to email queries, so if you find out you can let me know!
  • Always best to phone if you have a query.
  • I'm jumping the gun a bit as I'm yet to send in my signed application form, but it's good to know it doesn't sound too difficult to register an individual story. I'll get in touch with them if I have any problems but it sounds like your method is working, Heather.

    If nothing else, membership will be yet another incentive for me to write more and try to score more publications.
  • I've never heard of this!
    So, in a nutshell, if you've had something published and you've registered, you get a payment?
  • Provided it is in the UK and has an ISSN or ISBN and, if a magazine, is in the last 3 years. (Not sure if time limit applies to books, but I think not).
    You have to register yourself, then each individual work, but it's not as fiddly as it sounds.
  • If you've been included in an anthology, yes you can.

    E-books don't count, but let them know if there's an e-book version of a print version. Just look for an ISBN in that case.
  • You only get a payment if the article has been photocopied or used in eduction etc, don't you?
  • No - they couldn't possibly keep track of what had actually been photocopied. There is a pot of money from people who have paid for photocopying licences etc that it is divvied up amongst the registered writers according to some mysterious formula based on what has potential for having been photocopied by virtue of having been published!
  • Makes my head spin! I'm glad they're working it out and not us!
  • However, I have two stories that will go into printed collections later this year and I just wanted to ask how I'd register those
    I had to query something else with ALCS yesterday so I asked them this too.
    You should include it under the Chapter/Essay/poem section, not under books.
  • Thanks, Heather - I've done it that way. Just waiting for approval. Fingers crossed!
  • And when the New Writer comes out you'll be able to add that one too!

    I assume you've already added your short story collection. Anything that has an ISBN is fine, even if self-published, as long as it is available in print.
  • I added my stories in the OW Anthology print version when I signed up last year, and it was great to receive some money this year from the ALCS.
  • Yes, I couldn't find anything about whether or not self-published stuff was acceptable so I listed it on the off-chance. I got confirmation it had been added to 'my books', so I'm pleased I did.

    I also listed a few stories I've had published in competition anthologies. I wasn't sure about these as they're POD books, but as you say they have an ISBN, so I've put them in and am just waiting for those to be approved / rejected.

    For these stories, I've noticed the book title and story title have somehow swapped over. I definitely put them in the right way around, but when I look at my submitted works, it shows them incorrectly. Has anyone else noticed the same thing happening? I'll contact them, as it'll slow things down if they're looking for a book with the wrong title, but I thought I'd check to see if this had happened to anyone else.
  • No - they couldn't possibly keep track of what had actually been photocopied. There is a pot of money from people who have paid for photocopying licences etc that it is divvied up amongst the registered writers according to some mysterious formula based on what has potential for having been photocopied by virtue of having been published!
    That doesn't make sense, because only some of the books I'm in have been mentioned on the payment thingy...
  • Dan:
    The POD stories should be fine - mine were.
    The switchy thing has happened to me too on a recent addition that hasn't been approved yet- I hadn't noticed before. Let us know what they say!

    Liz:
    It may not make sense but it is how they do it for the photocopying money. Some of the book money comes from foreign PLR, so maybe that is why some were named. I just got a couple of different 'general' amounts for books on my statement - none of mine were named specifically.
  • ALCS administer PLR for Dutch, German and Austrian payments.
  • I agree Wordy - almost everyone is surprised by what they get in the first year. It is three years' worth, but even so. I didn't expect to get enough to cover the joining fee of £25 but it did that many times over. The following two years have been less than the first, but still in three figures, so if anyone who has eligible published items is still wondering whether to bother - please do!
    I was thinking it wasn't worth paying £25 to register but having read this I'm going to go and investigate now!
    Many thanks all.

  • You don't physically pay the registration fee, it's just deducted from the first year, so you won't necessarily miss it.
  • I didn't expect to get more than enough to cover my joining fee, but I did. It is well worth it...
  • And don't forget DACS for images...
  • With both ALCS and DACS I found I was able to list a couple of titles where articles of mine appeared for which I had received no payment so did get something out of writing them after all. The mags had ISSN numbers so were in the system. These were small circulation mags with small budgets.
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