Application for ECL License in the UK withdrawn

The UK Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) has withdrawn its application to the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for a license to operate an Extended Collective Licensing (ECL) scheme that would have included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 […]

NWU to Partner with VLA NY

NWU is partnering with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts NY. This is a new member benefit that our members will have access to in navigating the difficult world of building a freelance writing career.  NWU became a non-profit institutional member of VLA and the first fruit of this new relationship is that VLA will represent […]

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 […]

RIP Sister Ursula K. Le Guin

It is with great sorrow and the deepest respect that we bid farewell to Sister Ursula K. Le Guin, a  ground-breaking author, radical, feminist and revolutionary as well as a literary giant. What’s more, she was one of us, a member of NWU.  She was the author of more than 20 novels, a dozen books […]

French Law Favoring Publishers Repealed

The French government earlier this year repealed a terrible law giving the country’s publishers the “right” to issue or license new editions of “out of print” books and pocket the revenues. The law, which was overturned last June, allowed print publishers to profit from these newly issued digital editions, regardless of the availability of previous versions of […]

NWU Endorses U.S. Copyright Reform Bills

The NWU has endorsed two bipartisan proposals introduced in the current Congress for reform of U.S. copyright law. Neither of these proposed laws would adequately address the fundamental problems for writers with current copyright law, but each of them would be a step in the right direction.  One of these bills, H.R. 3495, would create […]

Growing Coalition of Writers Renews Call for Reform of Copyright Registration

Back in January of 2017, the National Writers Union was joined by three other national organizations of writers in a variety of genres, media, and formats –– the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and Horror Writers Association (HWA) — in a formal Petition for Rulemaking asking […]