Zusak, Fox top 2015-16 lending rights surveys

Books by Markus Zusak and Mem Fox have topped the lists of the highest scoring books in the most recent report on the Public Lending Rights (PLR) and Educational Lending Rights (ELR) schemes.

The Book Thief (Picador) was the highest scoring book on the PLR chart for 2013-14 to 2015-16, which takes in the results of the three most recent PLR surveys. Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Vintage) and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project (Text) were second and third respectively.

Mem Fox’s Possum Magic (Omnibus) topped the ELR chart for 2015-16, followed by Emily Rodda’s Rowan of Win (Omnibus) and Fox’s Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (Omnibus).

Zusak has also taken top spot on the PLR’s highest scoring books for 1974-75 to 2013-14, ahead of Bryce Courtenay’s Tommo & Hawk and The Potato Factory (both Penguin) in second and third.

PLR, ELR up slightly

In the PLR scheme, payments were up marginally on 2014-15, rising from $9.74m to $9.83m.

Payment was distributed to 7492 claimants (down from 7658 in 2014-15), of which 7240 were creators (down from 7409) and 252 were publishers (up from 249). Of the creators, 3814 were women and 3426 were men.

The rate per copy rose in 2015-16 to $2.11 (up from $2.02) for creators and to 52.75 cents (up from 50.5 cents) for publishers.

In the ELR scheme, payments rose to $12.02m in 2015-16, up from $11.86m in 2014-15.

The number of claimants fell to 9656 in 2015-16, down from 9998 the previous year. Of the claimants, 9299 were creators (down from 9641) and 357 were publishers (consistent with the previous year). The gender breakdown of the creators was 4972 women and 4327 men.

To read the full 2015-16 annual report, click here.

Category: Local news