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

What is the Internet Archive doing with our books?

The NWU presented a public informational webinar on “What is the Internet Archive doing with our books?” on April 27 and May 5, 2020. The webinar explains “Controlled Digital Lending”, the “National Emergency Library”, and “One Web Page for Every Page of Every Book”: Video of webinar Slides from webinar Related articles: We Need Federal […]

Coronavirus Relief for Writers

Every working person has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. As freelance writers and authors, we’ve seen gigs fall through, projects put on hold, and book tours canceled as the world does all it can to stop the spread. If we fall ill, we have no employee benefits to help us cover that lost […]

NWU meets with Europeans on plans for “out-of-commerce” works

Representatives of the NWU, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) participated in a workshop on implementation of the provisions of the EU copyright directive for “out-of-commerce” works hosted by IFRRO in Brussels on February 23, 2020. IFRRO and IFJ were the only global organizations represented at the workshop, and […]