The Bookseller reports that UK ebook  authors will soon be earning more money:

"Authors will be paid from a government fund that compensates authors for loaning their works for free from public Libraries.

The catalyst for the change stems from a judgement in November in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It held the definition of lending by public libraries in European copyright law also includes remote electronic lending, thus removing the final barrier to its expansion.

The UK is one of the first countries to extend its library lending compensation scheme to remote e-lending, following amendments to the Digital Economy Bill."

The British Library reports that in the year to April 2016 there were 4 million loans of ebooks and almost one million audiobooks.

The amounts earned by individual authors under this program will be small but at least the principle has been established.