Would you take a job offer from a company you’ve never heard of without checking up on it? Would you accept a marriage proposal without knowing anything about your intended partner’s family? But a lot of authors take the first book contract they’re offered, even though they’ve never heard of the publisher. Then, when the […]
Grievance and Contract Report to 2018 DA
A fond farewell to Amy Rose We are sad to report that Amy Rose, our National Grievance Officer since 2005, has resigned. We will miss her dedication, competence, leadership, and wisdom; and we wish her the best in future ventures. Amy was not only an effective grievance officer herself, but also an outstanding mentor to […]
Get to Know Us
More than 40 people joined the NWU to get grievance assistance or contract advice during the first six months of 2018. And roughly half of all members who request service—not counting group grievances—are new members. If you’re one of them, welcome to the National Writers Union! If you joined to pursue a grievance, you may […]
New Addendum To Book Contracts Guide
Over the past few years, we’ve had increasing numbers of inquiries about the treatment of electronic books (e-books) within book contracts. While they were traditionally considered subsidiary rights that compensated authors at 50 percent of net sales, many publishers have begun to see them as a windfall, and have tried to get members to accept […]
Question The Publisher Before You Sign
A member who is a published author recently sent us a book contract for review. She wasn’t comfortable with the often-seen clause about granting all subsidiary rights to the publisher in all media now existing or heretofore to be discovered or invented. She didn’t want to assign the publisher the right of first refusal on […]
When Your Publisher Finds You “A New Home”
Tate Publishing, a well-known subsidy press, announced on January 17 that it was suspending operations. Its website told authors that it was trying to negotiate with other publishers to “find a new home” for them. Meanwhile the company posted an online form that authors could fill out to terminate their contracts and get their files […]
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