Our Story.
Not sure where to start, so let’s just dive in, and then get to the point! ….. It all started with picture book illustrator Tina Macnaughton and her husband Basil. Every time one of Tina’s books is published she gets at least one copy from her publisher. When we say every time, we mean if one of her books came out as a hardback she gets a copy. Then another one when the paperback came out. Then when the board book and also anytime the book is translated into another language. Not only a copy in each language, but a copy in each format in each language too. After several years of illustrating books, Tina, and her husband had several boxes of books, not just in their garage and loft, but also in Tina’s parents place too. They needed to do something about this ….. and when we say they, we mean he! …. The books needed to be sorted and catalogued.
Over the next few weeks Basil researched how to best make a book register. This was quite a dull task to begin with. During the process he came across an article about how to use an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) to claim Public Lending Rights (PLR). PLR gives published authors, illustrators, and other contributors to books, a legal right to payment, each time their books are borrowed from public libraries. Things were starting to get interesting. The more he looked into it, the more he discovered that PLR systems exist in 27 different countries including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. They didn’t need a register of all the books in boxes anymore, they needed a full log of every one of Tina’s books in every format, and in every language. They needed a full on Asset Register.
They started by scouring the internet for details of Tina’s books; collecting titles; formats; ISBNs (International Standard Book Number); languages; authors; translators; narrators; and any other details available, that might be relevant to have in an asset register. The more they trawled the internet the more they found. After months of hard work they ended up with an asset register of over 650 publications, in 40 different languages. This included 500 books, that they physically had in boxes, now all in one place, and archived.
As they were building the asset register they would, from time to time, log in to the various PLR systems, and register all the books they had found to date. It didn’t take long for the money to start coming in. Initially in small sums, which quickly grew, to a now quite sizable amount each year. It continues to grow each time Tina completes another book.
You make your own luck in life, and here again they were very lucky with what happened during their trawling of the internet, looking for books.
One day during all this they stumbled on an article about Amazon’s Author Central. They learnt that as an author, or picture book illustrator, Amazon provide you with the facility to create your own author profile and link all your books being sold on Amazon to it. Another job for them to do and all they needed was internet access, so they got started. This was another task that took months to do, as Amazon has 12 domains worldwide. and each domain is not linked to the other. They had to create the profile in each domain (where possible), and then link each of Tina’s books to each domain separately. As you can imagine there are more than one seller on Amazon, so when we say each book, we actually mean each book, from each seller. They soon learnt that there are more than a 1000 of Tina’s books available on the various Amazon domains ….. that’s more than 1000 times they had to link a book to a profile …… it took a very long time!
At the end of all that Tina and Basil decided to write several articles on how to maximise your income as an author, illustrator, translator, narrator, photographer, and any other type of contributor to published work. These articles were initially published online and on social media, as well as on Tina’s own website. Then it dawned on them both that many authors and illustrators and other contributors to published work simply don’t have the time, or maybe not even the inclination, to do all that they had done. It takes a lot of time and energy away from doing what they love, which is not collecting data, filling in forms and other not very interesting stuff. It was then that the idea of Squeeze that Lemon was born. A platform where they could share their knowledge and experience with others for free, and offer services for those who would rather someone else do it all for them, freeing up their time to focus on what they do best.
“If I could illustrate like my wife, or author a book of any sort, I know what I would be doing!” ….. Basil – founder of Squeeze that Lemon.
Recommended Reading
How to start maximising your income as an Author, Illustrator etc.
Setting up a digital record of all your work from scratch.
How to join and make claims in as many places as possible!
How to claim DACS Payback (this article is for visual artists only).
How to claim secondary use royalties through ALCS
What is an ISBN or an ISSN and why should I care?