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.

Each year the Authors' Fund conducts a survey of the books that are lent by public and school libraries. The survey covers the reference stock as well.

Data is collected from all computerized library systems in Sweden. For the year 2009 data was collected and processed for 64.6 million loans and for 815,000 reference copies. Collection and registration of the information from the libraries, as well as the processing and coding of the data, is carried out by the secretariat of the Fund.

The Authors' Fund has compiled an extensive database of bibliographical data and information on how the remunerations should be divided for individual creators. The collected loans data is matched against this database and the main part is processed automatically. From the remaining material a sample is drawn for further processing of the secretariat of the Fund. The loans data is processed the year after the books have been on 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 0.79 per loan in 2010. The rate for translations is SEK 0.395 (half the rate for books originally written in Swedish). Authors who write in Swedish, translators who translate into Swedish 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 1,580 (i.e. 2,000 loans of original books), he/she 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.

Guaranteed Remuneration
The Board of the Fund may decide to disburse a larger amount than that which has been calculated statistically; this is known as guaranteed remuneration. An originator is eligible for guaranteed remuneration if (s)he has published books eligible for compensation and intends to work primarily as an author, translator or illustrator. An additional number of criteria regarding his or her production have to be fulfilled.

A recipient of guaranteed remuneration may not simultaneously be employed more than half-time. (S)he may only receive guaranteed remuneration up to the age of 70.

The guaranteed sum for 2010 amounts to SEK 171,000. At present about 181 authors, translators and illustrators receive guaranteed remuneration. It is taxable and the recipients must pay social security contributions on the amounts they receive.