Since 1977, ALCS has been working continuously to make sure writers’ rights are preserved, and that they are paid the money that is due to them.
 
While the most tangible result of this is the money members receive from ALCS (over £450 million since 1977), these payments would be made much more difficult to harvest without ALCS’s lobbying and campaigning work to ensure that writers’ rights are recognised and rewarded.
 
Our varied lobbying and campaigning encompasses everything from press campaigns to gain media coverage for issues of topical importance, to direct lobbying of government on vital matters of policy which directly affect writers.
 
Through this work ALCS aims both to protect the existing secondary rights of UK writers and, in this digital era, to secure recognition for their rights in new and developing areas of content provision, for example digital downloads.

ALCS’S POLITICAL BACKGROUND

The formation of ALCS was brought about in the wake of the campaign for PLR in the UK by the Writers’ Action Group (WAG). ALCS was ably assisted at the time by its first president, Lord Ted Willis, who was a writer himself. From the start, politicians have always played a pivotal role in the history of ALCS and ensuring that the voices of writers have been heard. 
 
The campaign for PLR took 30 years to come to fruition, with many politicians taking up the cause including AP Herbert MP, Lord Goodman, John Gorst MP, Lord Eccles, David James MP and Michael Foot MP, many of whom were also published writers.
 
It was also no coincidence that the first ALCS General Secretary was Elizabeth Thomas, former assistant to Michael Foot who had supported WAG throughout the 1970s. Thomas had a blend of experience that made her perfect for the role, including a background in journalism and ten years as a literary editor. This, combined with her political experience and involvement in the campaign for PLR, meant she embodied all the elements needed in a General Secretary of ALCS.

NOTABLE MILESTONES FROM THE PAST 15 YEARS

2005

WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH?

ALCS published ground-breaking research into writers’ incomes, the largest of its kind ever conducted, and the first that systematically set authors’ income into a context of earnings data available for other professions and in other countries. Conducted by the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy & Management at Bournemouth University, it found that that the typical income for a professional author was one third below the national average wage.

2007

FAIR TRADE OR FOUL PLAY? –  A copyright debate

ALCS held a debate looking at issues around copyright. Does it suffer from a lack of public legitimacy? How has market growth affected authors’ rights? Is copyright still achieving its original goal? Among the panellists was Dr Ian Gibson MP, who went on to help ALCS establish a Parliamentary All Party Writers Group (APWG) and act as its first Chair.

THE ALL PARTY WRITERS GROUP (APWG)

The All Party Writers Group (APWG) was launched at the ALCS AGM in November 2007. It aims to “represent the interests of all writers; to safeguard their intellectual property rights and ensure they receive a fair level of recognition and reward for their contribution to the economy and society as a whole.”

The APWG gives both MPs and Lords the impetus to help keep both Government and Opposition parties informed of opinion inside and outside Parliament on specific issues relating to writers and the creative industries.
 
Over the past decade, it has raised the profile of writers and their contribution to the creative industries, thanks to the work of such past and present APWG members as Janet Anderson, Jim Dowd, Lord Alf Dubs, Dr Ian Gibson (pictured right with ALCS Board member Maggie Gee), Ian Stewart, Lord Chris Smith, Ed Vaizey, John Whittingdale, Pete Wishart and the late Baroness (Ruth) Rendell.

2010

DIGITAL ECONOMY ACT PART 1 (EXTENDING PLR TO AUDIOBOOKS)

The Digital Economy Act was passed in the dying days of the last Labour government and following a lengthy campaign by ALCS among others, the extension of Public Lending Right to audiobooks and e-books (in certain situations) was included.

2012

EDUCATIONAL EXCEPTIONS

As part of the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property, the government considered ‘fair use’ copyright reforms which included restricting the existing licensing schemes in the educational sector. If this legislation had gone ahead, then fees collected for ALCS members via the Copyright Licensing Agency from educational sources would have been significantly reduced.

ALCS members were asked to write to their local MP, and to contact the minister involved and to send us testimonials describing how the proposed changes would affect them.
 
Following over 1000 responses from members and meetings with over 40 parliamentarians as part of the campaign, we were assured by the Minister’s officials that the message had been received loud and clear. 
 
The proposal didn’t go ahead.

2013

THE INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS FORUM (IAF)

ALCS took a lead role in establishing The International Authors Forum (IAF), a forum for discussion, where authors’ organisations worldwide can share information and take action on issues affecting them. The IAF was formally constituted in 2013 and now represents nearly 600,000 authors through its 59 member organisations on all continents.

2014

WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH NOW?

ALCS commissioned and published shocking new research into authors’ incomes which was widely covered in the national media. Carried out by Queen Mary, University of London among almost 2500 working writers, the survey found that increasingly few professional authors are able to earn a living from their writing, with just 11.5% of professional authors (defined as those who dedicate the majority of their time to writing) earning their incomes solely from writing in 2013.

2016 – 2017

IN THE PAST YEAR ALONE, ALCS HAS CAMPAIGNED AND LOBBIED ON THE FOLLOWING ISSUES:

• Given a joint briefing with The Society of Authors on the Digital Economy Bill, calling for it to be amended to include the safeguards for authors and performers announced in the EU draft directive.
• Provided written evidence on the likely effect of Brexit on copyright, and the livelihoods of authors, and outlined policy priorities after leaving the European Union.
• Submitted its views to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on the subject of modernising the European Copyright Framework.

THE EXTENSION OF PLR TO E-LENDING

Most recently, ALCS with the Society of Authors concluded a successful campaign for Public Lending Right to be extended to the remote e-lending of books (as part of the Digital Economy Act Part 2).   Read more about the work behind this, and those involved.