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

NWU Joins the Call to Block Further Monopolization of Book Publishing

The National Writers Union, Authors Guild, Sisters in Crime and several others organizations representing book authors—along with a leading anti-monopoly think tank—teamed up to send a joint letter to the Biden Administration. Together we urged the US Department of Justice’s Anti-Trust Division to block a proposal by the German conglomerate Bertelsmann to buy Simon & […]

What’s Ahead in 2021 from the Copyright Office and Congress?

Writers can expect further gains in U.S. Copyright Office procedures in 2021, but we may have a fight ahead in Congress to block yet another attempt to effectively revoke copyright protection for so-called “orphan works,” including those central to some NWU members’ and other writers’ livelihoods.

Saying Goodbye to Susan: Writer, Editor, Activist, Comrade

Susan E. Davis, a beloved National Writers Union (NWU) leader who championed a better world, died peacefully in her sleep on September 26. A month earlier she’d suffered a massive stroke in her Manhattan home. She gave generously to her NWU sisters and brothers by serving in a multitude of roles for upwards of two […]