How writers monetize words: The marketplaces for writing in digital formats

The Internet is often depicted as a threat to traditional print publishing and traditional print publishers — which it is. But the Internet has also created many new digital publishing and income opportunities for tech-savvy, innovative, and entrepreneurial writers. This includes ways to make money from business models and types of writing that would be […]

Response to our appeal and FAQ from proponents of “Controlled Digital Lending”

There’s been no direct response from the Internet Archive in the month since the NWU and dozens of other organizations launched our campaign against so-called Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). Unauthorized scanning and distribution of digital copies of printed books continues, unchecked. The defenders of CDL have, however, posted their own new FAQ which is obviously […]

NWU and allies urge easier, cheaper copyright registration for online work

The NWU and National Press Photographers Association filed written comments yesterday with the US Copyright Office to create a new procedure to register multiple written works first distributed online. The intent is that the collection of works can be registered for a single fee and with a single application. This proposalwas made in response to a petition initiated by the […]

NWU denounces “Controlled Digital Lending”

National Writers Union calls for dialogue with libraries on Internet Archive book scanning Today the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981, AFL-CIO) joins authors and contributors to books from around the world to denounce the scanning and distribution of complete copies of hundreds of thousands of books by the Internet Archive and its library “partners” […]

Copyright Office Proposes Cheaper, Easier Copyright Registration in Response to NWU Petition

In response to a petition by a coalition of writers’ organizations, the US Copyright Office today proposed to create a new category and procedure for “group registration” of copyright in multiple “short online literary works.” Co-signers of the petition for rulemaking which led to today’s action included: National Writers Union (NWU) American Society of Journalists […]

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 […]

Writers Ask U.S. Copyright Office for Copyright Registration Reform

Washington, DC, May 8, 2018 — Representatives of the NWU, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), and the Authors Guild (AG) converged on Washington this week to call on the US Copyright Office to create a “group registration” procedure by which a writer could […]

Application for ECL License in the UK withdrawn

The UK Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) has withdrawn its application to the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for a license to operate an Extended Collective Licensing (ECL) scheme that would have included all written works by US writers. The NWU had opposed this application as likely to interfere with the revenues of US writers from […]

Checks Are in the Mail for May Day!

As of today, International Workers’ Day, checks for approximately $9.5 million are in the mail to almost 2,500 freelance writers whose works were copied and distributed in electronic form by publishers of print periodicals who had neither paid for nor acquired digital rights to these articles. These payments today of millions of dollars to thousands […]