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Tuesday 22 December 2015

Bev Robitai is renovating for Christmas


T’was the night before Christmas – the house wasn’t done

No chance for the poor Robitailles to have fun

Four months they had toiled by day and by night

Their clothing in tatters, their hair looked a fright.

 

They’d landscaped the garden with digger and truck

When it bogged in the driveway poor Eddie said f*…!

They built stronger muscles from shovelling dirt

Effective for weight loss but hell how it hurt!

 

The house was all painted in stylish BlackWhite

New tiles, new carpets - it changed overnight.

New showers, new toilets, a stone kitchen bench

Designed to delight the most fussy young wench.

 

And once the inside was all shiny and clean

They started on fencing, in Karaka green.

Bev painted for hours on trellis and tin

While Ed measured timber and put the posts in.

 

They’re on the last stages now – new steps and gates

Thankful for all of the help from their mates.

In the month after Christmas it goes on the market

(Assuming they handle the pace and don’t cark it.)

When the work is all done and they get a good price

They can rest and relax then – won’t that be nice?

 

Wishing all our blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season. See you back here in the New Year when new adventures await!

 

Bev Robitai

Friday 11 December 2015

Payment to authors for library copies.

I've seen more authors than usual posting about getting payments from the library system this year so I wondered if they'd changed the rules. Apparently not, according to the website - you still need 50 copies of a single title to quality. Here's their definition of the Public Lending Right.

Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors

The Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors scheme was established in 2008 to compensate New Zealand authors, illustrators, and editors for the use of your books in New Zealand libraries.
As an author registered with the scheme, you’re entitled to receive annual compensation based on the number of copies of your title held in New Zealand libraries. This number is determined by a regular survey.

Registering for the scheme

You must register with the scheme each year in order to be eligible for payment, whether or not you have any new books.
You need to be a New Zealand resident to register, meaning you have been in New Zealand for at least half of the last year, or you have a permanent abode here.
The registration period is between 1 January and 30 April each year. We make any owed payments in December.
Registration for 2015 is now closed.

Payments from the PLR fund

The Public Lending Right fund ($2,000,000 annually) is divided among registered authors, based on how many copies of their works are held by libraries.
See how the fund has been distributed so far
If you’re eligible for a payment, you’ll receive it by December 31, directly into your nominated bank account.
In the unfortunate event that you die after registering, the payment will go to your estate. However, your heirs may not re-register for you in subsequent years.
We cannot make payment for years when you were not registered.

Titles included in the scheme

The scheme makes payments for books published by 31 March of the registration year, and doesn’t include ebooks or audiobooks.
  • Adult books must be at least 48 pages long.
  • Children’s books must be at least 24 pages of text or text and illustrations
  • Poetry must be at least 24 pages in length.
  • Editors registering must have contributed at least 48 pages to the book they are editing.
You need to have at least 50 copies of a title in New Zealand libraries to get a payment.
You must be entitled to receive a royalty payment or income from the sale of your book. Self published books are eligible.

More information

Send registrations, requests for information and queries to:
Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Coordinator
PO Box 1467
Wellington 6140
Email PLR@dia.govt.nz
Phone (04) 470 4528

Operation of the scheme

The Public Lending Right Advisory Group advises the Chief Executive on regulatory proposals, policy, and administrative matters relating to the scheme.
The National Library pays for the scheme’s operation, and the fund goes entirely to registered authors, illustrators, and editors.

Surveying New Zealand libraries

We count titles by surveying a sample of New Zealand libraries, based on advice from Statistics New Zealand. The nature of the survey alternates each year, between counting all titles, and only counting new titles.
We survey the National Library, all the large public libraries, the university libraries, consortia like SMART, and a rotating selection of the rest of New Zealand libraries
All the print copies of a title held by the library being surveyed are counted.
This weighted survey methodology gives us an estimated count – you may find your title count is 58.5 copies, or (frustratingly) 49.9. To maintain the fairness of the fund, we can’t round counts up to meet the threshold for payment.
Title counts may go up or down each year as we survey different libraries, or as they purchase or dispose of copies.
While you could boost your numbers by donating copies to libraries, it’s not likely to be cost-effective.

Problems and disputes

If there is any dispute about a book, we check the received information against a copy from our collections, or contact the publisher directly.
To query a payment, contact us in writing at the above address before 15 April of the following year.
If there is a dispute about the royalty entitlement we may ask for evidence of your royalty payment, or contact the publisher directly and review the contracts.
End of quote from the NZ National Library site.


Several authors I know have received unexpected payments for their books, so it seems like a good idea to register for next year and see if some of the lovely money will come your way next Christmas.
Good luck!
Bev Robitai

Friday 4 December 2015

Evan Andrew asks "Is This The Reason One Buys A Book?"



A few weeks ago one of my fellow writers Vicky Adin asked the question, what makes you buy a book?

I too, have asked myself this question, and find there seems to be no easy answer to this question, as like books, people are different too, with their own reasons and foibles, that there is no easy answer to.

I am not an impulsive person, but sometimes things just happen.

One hot, sunny day in late August whilst I was on holiday at Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, I was just finishing drinking a cup of coffee outside in the lovely Sunshine Plaza, at Maroochydore, when I noticed a well known Australian bookstore was having a sale outside their store.

The banner read ‘Give Away Prices.’

I can never resist a bookshop.

 So, coffee finished I wandered over to the outside tables, and browsed around seeing all the variety of books from children to cooking, sports star, fiction, non-fiction, through to the classics of Shakespeare and Austen.

One stack of books caught my eye.

Smaller in size than the traditional book, but quite thick, with a buff coloured grained cover, it screamed good taste and quality.

The title said it all, ‘The Death of Lyndon Wilder,’ and the Consequences Thereof.

I knew immediately it was an historical novel, even before I saw the small tasteful cameo picture beneath the title, and I was hooked.

I turned it over, and read the two paragraphs from the novel at the back.

Eagerly, I opened the book, read the flyleaf, flicked through to the middle of the book, read a few paragraphs more, felt the quality of the paper, and the clarity of the print, and I was completely hooked.

The author, E.A.Dineley is female, and lives in London. This is her first novel, said the oh so brief, two lines in the back of the fly leaf.

I immediately took my copy to the bored looking girl beside the cash register at the table, and for the princely sum of two Australian dollars, the book was mine.

Crazy, ridiculous, I could hardly believe it!

All I could think of was what it must have cost to produce the book, and what royalties the author could expect, if they were giving it away like this!

I couldn’t believe my luck though, as I was desperate for something to read, and I knew I’d struck a winner here.

 I was aglow with pleasure at my purchase, however as a fellow author, all I could think of was why are they throwing this excellent, quality book out. Sure, they had a stack of them, but two dollars?

To cut a long story short, I devoured the book and it lived up to my expectations in every way. It started off slowly, and just got better and better.

Even though you knew, (or thought you knew), before you got to the end, you read on, loving every part of it, and not wanting it to end.

The research, English, descriptive passages, as well as the characters, could not be faulted in any way, so full marks to the author.

The really good news is that when I Googled Ms Dinerey, I found that she had written a second book, ‘Castle Orchard.’

This book, an identical copy to the first, apart from the title and small cameo picture, (they call it branding), takes one of the lead characters from the first book, and weaves another complete story, with a fresh heroine thrown in.

This book was equally as good as the first, and I am awaiting eagerly the arrival of another book, appearing soon.

Which brings me back to Vicky’s original question of why did I buy the book?

I think it was the cover design, title, quality, period, substance, and the impact of the author’s writing as well.

I must confess the reason for my original perusal of the books was the drawcard of all books at $2.00, but that couldn’t have been the reason.

Or could it?

 

Evan G Andrew