REMUNERATION

Lending Based Remuneration

The Swedish Authors' Fund calculates and disburses remuneration based on lending frequency to individual authors and translators for the loans of library books to the public.

The amount disbursed to the individual author, translator or illustrator depends on the number of times his or her books are borrowed from a public or school library. Compensation is also paid for use of reference copies, i.e. books not available for home loan.

Disbursement of the remuneration takes place once a year, generally at year end. The remuneration is taxable and the recipients must pay social security contributions on the amounts they receive. The costs of conducting the statistical survey are covered by the Authors' Fund.

Remuneration is paid to originators of literary works and to illustrators of picture books. The rate is SEK 1.32 per loan in 2025. The rate for translations is SEK 0.66 (half the rate for books originally written in Swedish). Authors who write in Swedish, translators who translate into or from the Swedish language and originators of literary works permanently living in Sweden are entitled to receive remuneration.

If there are two or three authors or translators of a book, the remuneration is divided equally among them. There is no individual remuneration for books with more than three authors or translators.

If the remuneration due to an originator is less than SEK 2,640 (i.e. 2,000 loans of original books), (s)he is not remunerated. At higher loan frequencies, the rate of compensation drops gradually, starting with 200,000 loans per year of original books and 400,000 loans per year of translations.

In the case of death, the remuneration is transferred to the originator's heirs, in compliance with the law of succession, for as long as copyright exists, i.e. up to and including the seventieth year following the death of the author or translator.