We join European publishers and booksellers in welcoming last week’s announcement from the European Commission to allow member states to reduce VAT on ebooks. The European Commission has proposed new tax rules which will enable member states to “apply the same VAT rate to e-publications such as e-books and online newspapers as for their printed…
Novelist and human rights activist Aslı Erdoğan, as well as linguist Necmiye Alpay, were re-arrested last week (23 November) and charged with “membership of a terrorist organisation” by the Turkish government. In August, following an attempted coup against president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the government closed 29 publishing houses and seized all assets, including publishing rights,…
This week’s Government commitment following the European Court ruling last month is a welcome next step towards PLR for remote digital loans in line with loans of printed publications. In November, we hailed the European Court of Justice ruling on the case of Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken v Stichting Leenrecht as removing “the final barrier to…
The organisers of Oxford Literary Festival have announced that they will pay an author fee of £150 to all authors who appear at the festival from 2017 onwards. They say they have “conferred with interested parties and, recognising the strength of feeling, have rebalanced our budgets to enable this to happen.” Oxford Literary Festival hit…
14 November 2016 We are delighted to reveal the three outstanding books, covering maths, art and Shakespeare, that have been shortlisted for the 2016 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, this year focusing on the 11-18 age group. The 2016 shortlist was chosen by judges Jonathan Lomas, Nicola Morgan and Nicky Ransley. Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare by David…
Our view: European Court ruling on Netherlands case removes the final barrier to applying Public Lending Right (PLR) to the remote public lending of ebooks and audiobooks. The Society of Authors welcomes yesterday’s judgment from the European Court of Justice on the case of Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken v Stichting Leenrecht, which concludes that ‘the public…
As the Government assesses the likely impact of Brexit, a consultation run by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has invited evidence of how Brexit could affect the creative industries, tourism and the digital single market. Download our full submission on Brexit here. Our own submission to the consultation was an opportunity to reiterate many…
A new EC study on authors’ remuneration, in which many members of The Society of Authors participated, surveyed authors, journalists translators and illustrators across Europe, and makes important recommendations to improve the contractual position for writers. Download our full briefing on the study here. Findings and recommendations The study found that: Average annual incomes for…
The 2017 judging panel will comprise novelist and Booker Prize winning author and short story writer Anne Enright, broadcast journalist and author Mark Lawson, Man Booker shortlisted author Neel Mukherjee, and Orange Prize winning novelist and short story writer Rose Tremain. Andrew Holgate, Literary Editor of The Sunday Times completes the line-up. The award is…
We are delighted to announce the judges for the 2016 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s only award for educational writing. This year the award will focus on books for 11-18 year olds, published in 2014 and 2015. Each year the award is judged by a teacher, a school librarian and an author and this…
The election ballot for seats on the SoA’s Management Committee is now open until noon on 26 October and we urge all Members to exercise their democratic right. Members* of the SoA should shortly receive ballot papers and candidates’ statements for the 2016 Management Committee elections with their copy of the Autumn issue of The Author,…
I welcome this draft directive, especially for its emphasis on transparency and the bestseller clause. Authors badly need the sort of natural justice that these clauses embody, not least because our work contributes substantially to the wealth of the nation. I hope that our government will see the rightness of these proposals and embody them…
