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TBR (To Be Read): Should S’pore authors be paid each time their books are borrowed from the library?
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Public Lending Right allows authors to receive some form of payment with library loans of their books, ensuring their labour is better rewarded over time with each.
PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE – Being an author is tough anywhere, but especially so in Singapore, which has recently ranked among the most expensive cities.
Local publishers cannot afford the six-figure advances doled out in larger markets. Floundering book sales hardly guarantee sufficient payment, unless one’s name is Sonny Liew, author of all-time bestseller The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015).
