ALCS August Distribution:a glimpse at the bottom end of authors' earnings

The August 2013 issue of the Authors' Licensing and Copyright Society (ALCS) News has now been published.  One of the most interesting items this month is entitled "The August Distribution".  In brief:

"This month ALCS is paying over £7.5 million to more than 21,000 Members. Here's our guide to the second of this year's two distributions".

That works out at around £370 per member -- certainly not enough to live on, and a far cry from the earnings of the world's most commercially successful novelists. Anyway, if you've ever wondered how authors' collecting societies function, this item will shed a little light.