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ALCS again!

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  • I am currently employed as a text writer for the SATs Companion which is an online national revision resource for primary children. It's not in print, I now realise...

    Would this be eligible for ALCS payments, does anyone know? It wouldn't have an ISSN number, I imagine.
  • If in doubt email ALCS.
  • Yes, just done that! I hate bothering people, but I couldn't find anything on the website pertaining to my query.
  • They're very helpful.
  • It has to be available in a hard copy so that it can be 'copied'. Something online is always available. You wouldn't be bothering them - they're paid to reply to queries.
  • What BB said.
  • Ah, I thought as much. Such a shame as my contribution has been substantial. Thought it was in print when I agreed to be a writer for it.
  • No, I have handed over all rights.
  • I just do the creative stuff, not the analysis!
  • No, I have handed over all rights.
    In that case you can't claim even if they do a physical version.
  • Another reason worth considering when you are faced with the decision whether to hand over your rights or not.
    (Not criticising you, TN - I'm sure you had your reasons.)
  • I imagine with this type of work it is quite usual - and you either take it or leave it.
  • I suspect you're right heather.

  • No, I have handed over all rights.
    In that case you can't claim even if they do a physical version.
    I believe you can; just read something about this the other day.

  • edited July 2018
    You can only claim from ALCS if it's in print and you hold copyright, or in special circumstances if the person who holds copyright agrees that you can claim and has agreed this with ALCS.

    If you have given up all your rights then you have given up copyright.
  • I wonder what I was reading the other day? Maybe it was PLR? Is this what the magazine thing is about?
  • I wonder what I was reading the other day? Maybe it was PLR? Is this what the magazine thing is about?
    The magazine issue is about a rights grab by Woman's Weekly, though PLR is a side issue.

    ALCS have said that the story writers can claim ALCS even when selling all rights, if the publisher gives consent- WW say they will. But these are print publications.



  • My employer says he's happy to support any claim.

    Ordinarily, I would retain rights. However, in this sort of work I have to write stories to order, and they can't be used anywhere else as that would defeat the object of providing original passages to be read in test situations. That's fine. I can write this sort of thing easily, and at any time.
  • This morning I bumped into a local writer – she’s written books about ‘how to crochet’ and runs workshops and online courses. When we first met four years ago I told her about ALCS – she also writes articles for relevant magazines and creates patterns. I knew she’d done well from her ALCS earnings over the years but this morning she told me that her first payment had been for more than £1200. All she had to do to earn that was register the relevant work.

    I'm sharing this now to demonstrate how much one can earn – obviously you have to write the stuff first.
  • Don't forget to check your ALCS account! My September payment just came in :)
  • Mine is STAGGERINGLY tiny. I can't understand it, just one of my books, out last year and used extensively in schools has sold 8,000 copies... it makes NO sense.
  • I have got a September payment too- first time I've had one in September.

    Liz, actual sales don't make any difference to the ALCS.

    The only time sales make any difference is your publisher's royalty statements.
  • I know how it works - i've seen loads of poems photocopied and used by schools from this particular book, I have seen that on the internet, and in schools, and in as much as many of the 8,000 will be in schools (the biggest market for children's books of this nature) then the money from ALCs should be much higher.
  • edited September 2018
    You'd need to ask the ALCS how it allocates the money in relation to poetry.

    You'll probably receive more next March...

    Plus each year membership increases so the money that comes in has to be spread wider.

  • I was getting hundreds a few years ago just by having poems in a lot of books... each one of those books shared by another 60 or so poets, at minimum. The share you get is never bigger than that which it would be if everyone asked for their share. i still have poems in a lot of books, but now I should get a bigger share in three books in particular.
  • I know how it works - i've seen loads of poems photocopied and used by schools from this particular book, I have seen that on the internet, and in schools, and in as much as many of the 8,000 will be in schools (the biggest market for children's books of this nature) then the money from ALCs should be much higher.
    ALCS won't have any knowledge of how many copies have been taken. It's not that sophisticated a system. It's the same with libraries - they don't record which books and magazines have had sections copied.

  • They must have. Because the amount of money next to each book varies depending on how many times it has been used. If it was a flat fee for that book having been used at all, then the money would not vary.
  • When I've copied sections from books and magazines in libraries, they haven't even been aware of the items I've used - let alone how many pages I've copied.
  • edited September 2018
    When I contacted ALCS re the Woman's Weekly article, they explained that the amounts allocated to publishers and to members are agreed.

    So the money allocated to the members then has to be distributed among the members on however each thing is allocated. As membership increases- which it has done (especially over the last five years) that pot of money has to stretch further, so everyone gets a smaller portion.

    Liz, you aren't getting ALCS mixed up with PLR by any chance?
  • Ooh, must look, or do they email? I think I deleted an ALCS email the other day, without reading it...
  • Ooh, must look, or do they email? I think I deleted an ALCS email the other day, without reading it...
    I logged into my account and checked. My statement wasn't yet ready for download but it told me how much I was getting.



  • Liz, you aren't getting ALCS mixed up with PLR by any chance?
    Nope. I don't get anything hardly for PLR.

    ALCS has always been my big earner and each book is listed plus an amount for it - sometimes a small amount, sometimes a much bigger one. Sometimes the same book with have a big payment one year and then the next a small payment. So it is not JUST the fact it has been used, or anything to do with the number of people applying.

  • FLUCTUATIONS IN PAYMENTS
    The amount of money you receive from us can fluctuate from year to year. This depends on a combination of factors, including the type(s) of work you produce, what sources of income we’ve received within a given timescale, and the way your work is used.

    Depending on the type of work you do, fluctuations can occur for any of the following reasons:

    Payment fluctuations in books royalties
    Payments for copying and scanning books come from the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), which licenses educational establishments, public bodies and commercial businesses to copy extracts of your work. The CLA carries out regular data collections and audits of institutions to see which works are being copied. It does this among a representative selection of organisations within a given sector (for example, schools) on a continually rotating basis. The data collections capture an ongoing representative sample of works being copied. The CLA applies licence fees to them, and fluctuations can occur as the samples being monitored change over a period of time.

    Payments come from different licence groups (such as business licences or further education licences) at different times throughout the year, and this determines whether you receive a payment in the September or March distribution – so some fluctuations are simply down to timing.
  • I also got a payment when I've never had a September one before - magazines are usually in March but this one said it was for 'magazines Sept 13 and Dec 15'. Quite chuffed when expecting nothing!
    (If it says 'not ready for download' click on 'request statement download ' and wait a few minutes. Then it changes to 'ready for download'. Well, mine did anyway!)
  • Thanks BR for the reminder to check. I had an email earlier this month but didn't follow it up as I have never had a September payment before. (Interesting to see that you have had a September payment for the first time, too, Carol.) However, I see there is a small sum listed for this round. It has also reminded me to list the latest published pieces. I seem very lax about doing that.
  • Yes, I read that earlier, Baggy. Maybe the collections of schools this time are not actually doing any copying. but every other September for the pat x number of years September has been the healthiest payout for me and March practically zilch.
  • I didn't follow the last email up either, as I've never received payment in September before.
  • I don't recall the email but that doesn't mean I didn't receive and delete one. ;)
  • I didn't get an email.
    I don't care.
    I got CASH!
  • Heather, thanks for the info about clicking request statement download. It worked.

    Wordy it's worth trying to remember to add new works when they come out.
  • Carol, you are right but sometimes it is the last thing I think of and then I get that email asking people to update their lists by the deadline and have to frantically search them all out.

    Heather, I think mine were also for that period so maybe this is some information that has only just filtered through to be included.
  • That's what I thought, Wordy.
  • Liz, March is the big payout for books. September is magazines and sundries. So you should get your main sum in March.
  • But I got payments for books listed... *confused*
  • September isn't usually for magazines at all. This is the first time there has been any since I've been a member. It is a lot of audio visual etc. I only get a little bit for books and that is in March too. So I'm not sure how they split it but March is definitely the main one.
  • I wonder if some of it isn't that ALCS have received money that covered an earlier time and that's why writers who don't usually get any money in September have received some this time.
  • I checked. Didn't get a September payment.
  • Carol, I'm sure that's the case for magazines.

    TN - sorry to hear that :(
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