Shake that magic money tree
Why registering for ALCS could be the best decision you make
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There are some freelance secrets that you can really kick yourself you didn’t know sooner. Over at FFJ Headquarters, the existence of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is at the very top of that list. With the next deadline for updating your account looming, Emma gives the lowdown on what you need to know about this amazing organisation.
I have been freelance since 2006 but it took me years to learn about the ALCS and once I did I was highly annoyed at myself that I didn’t know about it sooner.
Essentially you sign up and tell them about all your work as a writer and they make sure you get the money you’re entitled to when it is copied or used anywhere in the world.
Luckily once I did figure it out, I could add in articles I had written going back three years. In the two years since (payments for articles are made once a year in March) I have received a four-figure sum each time. This is money that I was owed for my own work that I had absolutely no clue about.
If you are already a member, you need to make sure your list of works is up to date by 30th November and if you’re not a member and you write for journals or magazines (print and online) or you write books or scripts, we would urge you to sign up immediately. They have all the detail you will ever need on their website (https://www.alcs.co.uk) but we have put together a brief little explainer to get you started.
This does sound like magic, how does it work?
ALCS is a not-for-profit organisation, owned by its members who are writers of all shapes and sizes including journalists. They collect money owed for secondary uses of written work from all over the world. For magazine and journal articles this money can come from photocopying, scanning and digital reuse of electronic and online publications.
Members just need to keep their online account up to date with eligible work and ALCS does the rest. We should stress this is for articles published in the UK but books can be published anywhere as long as they have an ISBN.
Can anyone join?
Any writer is welcome to join. Note if you only work for newspapers your work is not eligible neither are newspaper supplements (some of which used to be) but they are starting to collect information about websites and blogs that members write for. The goal is to assess possible schemes to collect money on secondary uses for this type of work at some point down the line.
The ALCS is mainly a UK organisation but overseas writers whose work is eligible can join. They are not the only collecting society though and there may be a local one that would be more appropriate for you. They do have reciprocal arrangements which mean they can transfer money they may have collected on your work. If you’re unsure, do get in touch and ask as I can testify they are also a very friendly and helpful bunch!
The website does have the option of a royalty search where those thinking of signing up can see if any money has already been collected on their behalf.
What will it cost me?
When people first hear about the ALCS they can’t quite believe what a good deal it is but have faith, it really is as great as it seems and the rumours of the magic money tree are true. It costs £36 for lifetime membership and that fee is taken from your first payment - so if you are not owed anything it won’t cost you anything.
Commission is charged on any money paid out which at the moment is 9.5% and this is what keeps the ALCS going. If you’re registered as self-employed this commission can also be included a business expense.
Remember this is all money that you did not know you were owed. So anything you get is a bonus. FFJ community members have reported receiving anywhere from £40 to many thousands of pounds. And it can vary from year to year depending on the type of work you have done. It may be you get a bigger payout that first year if you go and put three years of work on there in one go, as happened to me.
When do you get the money?
There are two payment runs a year - March and September - but for most journalists the March one is the key date as that is when journal and magazine article payments are made. You get a statement that shows you where the money has come from, although in my experience this hasn’t really given me much detail or helped me decide which works to upload (so I do them all).
As we’ve said it does fluctuate (for various complicated reasons related to how the money is collected) and it’s impossible to tell what you will get until it arrives, so don’t make any big financial decisions based on a guess of what your payment might be.
In March this year 97,976 members were paid a share of £28 million (and £4.6 million of that was to overseas members). Imagine not wanting part of that!
Anything else I need to know?
They also have lots of resources and guidance around copyright in general and navigating your rights as a writer and they do research on issues facing writers in their work including earnings.
I have done my bit in sharing my wisdom on this, the rest is up to you. I’m off now to update my list of works with everything I’ve done this year. It may take me a day to sort but if the past two years are anything to go by, that’ll be the most profitable days work I’ve ever done.
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Triumph of the week
Getting an exclusive from a PR, before sending a quick email to a friendly editor and getting a commission all in the space of five minutes.
That feeling when
The social media platform you have cultivated to be a large source of story ideas and contacts seems to be going out in a ball of flames.
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Bye for now!
