Book Division

The NWU Book Division represents authors, contributors, and ghostwriters of books of all types in all genres and formats: fiction or non-fiction, single-author or anthology, published by large or small commercial or academic publishers or self-published, distributed on paper or as audiobooks or e-books.

The Book Division provides a place for networking, information sharing, and mutual support in our working lives as authors, especially through the NWU-BOOK email discussion list. The Book Division also takes a leading role in the NWU’s advocacy work on copyright and other issues of particular concern to book authors.

The Book Division is a national caucus within the NWU. Book authors are members of their respective local NWU chapters as well as of the Book Division.

The Book Division has published a variety of resources and advisories for authors about book contracts, copyrights, e-books, licensing, and other issues. NWU members are also eligible to receive assistance and advice from the NWU Grievance and Contract Division (GCD) on book contracts or disputes with publishers or others.

The Chair or Co-Chairs of the Book Division are unpaid member volunteers elected by the NWU’s triennial Delegate Assembly.  The current Book Division Chair elected at the 2021 Delegate Assembly is Dan McCrory, (Southern California Chapter), writingbiz@yahoo.com, phone 323-719-2173.

Contact the Book Division Chair if you would like to be part of this work or have ideas for what the Book Division should be doing.

    • Report infringements of your copyrights (including infringements by publishers) to the U.S. National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. Reporting is essential to document the nature and extent of infringement problems.

Latest Division News

Copyright registration should be easier, less costly

In January 2017, the NWU and three other national organizations of writers petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office to establish “group registration” procedures that would allow a writer to register multiple stories, articles, blog posts, Web pages, or other short-form works with a single form and a single fee. Since then, our petition has been endorsed […]

Report to the NWU Delegate Assembly on International Activities, 2015-2018

The market for writing is global, as is the need for solidarity of working writers. Writers from around the world compete for jobs and freelance assignments with publishers around the world. We market and distribute our writing to, and earn revenues from, readers around the world, indirectly (through publishers and licensing agreements) and directly (as self-publishers, especially in […]

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 […]