Oxford county council leader, Keith Mitchell, claims authors are out for themselves by campaigning against library closures: http://bit.ly/hei9lN
This makes me so angry! Authors are paid 6.25p each time one of our books is loaned out, up to a maximum of £6,600 a year (and only the top 250 authors collected the maximum amount last year). If libraries closed and people bought my books instead of lending them – I’d be much better off.
So, why would authors fight to keep libraries open if not for our own gain?
We stand against library closures because we are passionate about getting people reading and raising literacy levels. Closing valuable resources such as libraries works against that.
Please tell people about this case if you can; we need to put an end to the attitude that we are fighting against library closures for selfish reasons. I have tried hard to keep politics out of this blog, but matters may have to change if ill-considered, self-centred comments like this keep being made. Just because Keith Mitchell thinks of himself before others doesn’t mean that everyone else does.
Tommy
I agree whole-heartedly Tommy! The man clearly knows nothing about the miniscule amounts authors earn through library loabs of our books. I made £500 from library loans for this last year, which while welcome, would hardly energise me to get out there protesting! In fact, if I were paid by the hour or had a ‘proper’ yearly salary like Keith Mitchell, that £500 would barely pay for the hours I’ve already spent campaigning against the Oxfordshire library closures.
We do it, as Philip Pullman pointed out, for love. For the principal of free, publicly owned public libraries. Sadly, I don’t suppose he can understand that.
hello tommy i love your books scream street the werewolfs foot cool
sean