Join ALCSWhat we can do for you

Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

What ALCS can do for youALCS is a membership organisation, open to all kinds of writer. We offer a unique range of services to our Members.

ALCS COLLECTS monies owed

ALCS collects money due to Members for secondary uses of their work. These include activities such as photocopying, cable retransmission in the UK and overseas, digital reproduction, educational recording and repeat use via the internet. This sort of income is typically made up of small transactions that are difficult for individual writers to monitor, but can be tracked by ALCS using our bespoke systems.

ALCS PAYS monies due

ALCS makes payments twice a year to writer Members owed money for any secondary uses of their work.

ALCS CAMPAIGNS on behalf of writers

ALCS campaigns on behalf of writers both on a national and an international level.

Through our advocacy work, ALCS aims to ensure that writers receive fair and adequate payment for the use of their work, and that writers’ rights are recognised and respected.

RAISES awareness of issues that affect writers

ALCS strives to keep our Members aware of any issues that may affect them as writers, such as the latest UK or EU copyright legislation.

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Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

JoiningWhy become a Member of ALCS?

By joining ALCS you can ensure that you receive a share of any secondary royalties to which you are entitled as well as a range of other benefits.

Who is eligible to join ALCS?

ALCS membership is open to all types of writers and the successors to deceased writers’ estates.

All types of writers

Academic writers, fiction, non-fiction, translators, adaptors, scriptwriters, journalists, editors and children’s writers are all eligible to be ALCS Members.

Writers’ estates

In accordance with UK copyright law, ALCS pays the successors to writers’ estates any monies to which they are entitled for 70 years following a writer’s death.

Our Members:

More than 60% of ALCS Members don’t consider themselves to be ‘a writer’.

What we mean is, many have another, primary, profession and write as part of their professional development or in their spare time.

For example, a large number of our Members work in the medical and legal professions or in academia and write books and articles about their specialisms.

Of course we have lots of Members who do write full time for print and screen too so the bottom line is – if you’ve written something and had it published or produced – then ALCS membership is for you.

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Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

How much does it cost?

To become an ALCS Member you pay a one-off lifetime fee of £25 (this is only payable once we have collected royalties for you). Successor Members are charged a £10 administration fee to join.

Members of these organisations are entitled to free membership of ALCS:

• British Association of Journalists (BAJ)

• Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIOJ)

• National Union of Journalists (NUJ)

• Society of Authors (SoA)

• Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB)

What do I get as a Member?

• Payment of any money collected on your behalf via one (or both) of our twice yearly distributions

• A membership card and handbook which explains where we collect the money from and how you can help us to maximise your income.

• Invitations to Members’ only events such as our Annual General Meeting and any events held in your local area.

• Ordinary Members (UK only) can sign up for the Members’ area of our website where you can manage your account and add new works to your record online via your computer or through our Members’ app available for iPhone, iPad and android.

• Access to information that we think will be of interest to Members via our regular e-newsletter - ALCS News - and the ALCS Members’ app plus regular twitter and facebook updates.

• Access to the Members’ Room at the Writers’ House in London.

• Entitlement to vote in any elections held to elect Directors to the ALCS Board.

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Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

• Using our online application tool at www.alcs.co.uk/join

• Completing a paper application form. Download the paper application from www.alcs.co.uk/forms or contact us on 020 7264 5700 and we’ll

Let us know what you’ve written

It’s important you let us know what you’ve written so that you can maximise your income. After you’ve joined we’ll be in contact to let you know how you can keep us updated.

Application forms can be returned to us at:

ALCS Freepost

How to joinAll you need to do is complete an ALCS Members application form. You can do this by either:

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Freepost RRKC-HULL-LAZH (UK Only)13 Haydon StreetLondonEC3N 1DB

Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

Mission and values

ALCS is dedicated to protecting and promoting authors’ rights:

• by encouraging the establishment of collective licensing schemes, where appropriate, and ensuring that fees resulting from such schemes are efficiently collected and distributed, and

• by building an understanding of the contribution writers make to the economy and society as a whole.

The collective management of rights

Each Member grants ALCS the authority to exercise rights on their behalf as part of schemes for the collective administration of royalties in the UK and internationally.

This does not involve a formal transfer of the copyright in the works; the Society is simply appointed to administer the rights in situations where collective

administration is the most appropriate option i.e., where the fees cannot practically be obtained through any other means.

This authority entitles ALCS in agreed circumstances to permit or forbid the exercise of the rights, grant licences, collect fees for use and damages for misuse and take action to defend and protect the rights. Please note that the services that ALCS offers to its Members in no way impinge on any existing primary contracts that you have with your publisher.

The Rights

The rights that constitute the current ALCS mandate can be viewed on our website at:

www.alcs.co.uk/mandate

Although the mandate may appear broad it should be noted that, in practice, the rights are only applied in specific circumstances, in many cases under the detailed terms of prescribed licensing schemes.

About us

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Information about joining ALCS

We pay money to writers, all writers

Within the existing categories of rights, any extension to current licensing schemes or other agreements is subject to extensive consultation processes.

Depending on the type of rights, writers and usage involved, such consultation may involve, among others, the Society of Authors and Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, representatives of authors’ agents and ALCS Members.

The list of rights available online are accompanied by examples of how the rights may be exercised in practice.

How are we funded?

ALCS is a not for profit organisation and is funded by a commission fee that we deduct from the royalties we pay to writers.

At the end of each financial year any savings made from our operating budget are paid back to Members in a commission refund.

For details of our current commission rate please visit our website at:

www.alcs.co.uk

How ALCS began

ALCS was founded in 1977 as a result of a long running campaign in the United Kingdom by the Writers’ Action Group (WAG) for writers to receive remuneration for the lending of their works by libraries.

The Authors’ Lending and Copyright Society, as it was first known, was incorporated on 23 March 1977 with its first Council of Management consisting of Brigid Brophy, Maureen Duffy, Ted Willis, Colin Spencer, Michael Levey, Elizabeth Jane Howard and Joyce Marlow. Its purpose at that time was to deal with:• Payments from VG Wort for German

Public Lending Right (PLR)• British PLR• Belgian cable TV• Reprography i.e. photocopying

royalties

ALCS’ origins may have stemmed from the fight for remuneration for the lending of books in libraries but it ultimately did not need to become the organisation to distribute those fees. This is the Public Lending Right:

PLR, Richard House Sorbonne Close Stockton-On-Tees TS17 6DA

www.plr.uk.com

Quick links: 7

To join ALCS: www.alcs.co.uk/join

Membership forms: www.alcs.co.uk/forms

Information on the mandate: www.alcs.co.uk/mandate

Frequently asked questions: www.alcs.co.uk/faq

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society The Writers’ House 13 Haydon Street London EC3N 1DB

Website: www.alcs.co.uk Email: alcs@alcs.co.uk Tel: 020 7264 5700 Fax: 020 7264 5755

www.twitter.com/alcs_uk

www.facebook.com (search for ALCS)