Before you finish for the year you might want to make sure that you've added everything you need to add to your ALCS (Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society) page. You'll find some of the available downloads useful. And best of all if you have any qualifying work it will eventually mean you'll get payments.
A big thank you to writer Vivian Hampshire who mentioned DACS on the Talkback forum.
This is similar to ALCS but for visual artists- and if you're a writer who has had your photos or artwork used in a UK magazine, in books, or broadcast on certain TV channels, then you may be eligible for future payments.
You have to claim each year, and it's too late for 2012's Payback, but it will relaunch in summer 2013, so if you're eligible sign up now ready for next year.
So remember:
"If you are a photographer, illustrator, sculptor, cartoonist, fine artist, animator, architect, designer or craftsperson, and your work has been reproduced in UK publications or on UK television, you can claim your royalties due."
So find out more here.
Don't forget PLR (Public Lending Rights), register your print books there- do it by the end of June each year.
E-books currently don't qualify for payment, but I was told by the Licencing section of the ALCS this week to submit the details so they were on record; even very short stories in anthologies qualify.
Who knows, if there's enough presence of e-books, and library lending of e-books becomes more widely available, it may help the case for future payments- it's been recommended that library loans for e-books should get PLR, but it's not been put into action yet.
Merry Christmas...
image courtesy of digitalart/ http://freedigitalphotos.net