In a very bad decision for authors, the US Supreme Court decided not to hear the Authors Guild (AG) appeal of the Google Book Scanning Project, terminating on April 15 a decade-long case that has struck at the heart of the publishing industry. This decision comes after two separate appeals courts ruled that Google did […]
EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GCD
The Grievance and Contract Division’s semi-annual report for the second half of 2015 has just been posted here. We hope you’ll take the time to peruse it. The GCD is made up of about twenty volunteers at any given time. A lot of people think that all we do is collect money for writers who […]
A Day At Literary Women’s Festival of Authors
In early March, my friend, Barbara Shoag, invited me to the 34-year-old Literary Women: 2016 Long Beach Festival of Authors, which featured a delightful assembly of celebrated female writers. The most exciting aspect of the experience for me was learning about the authors’ varied processes. One writer who stood out was Karen Abbott, who’s historical […]
Tax Tips for Writers
NWU member and tax accountant Therese Francis spoke at a recent NorCal event. These are points she covered in her talk on taxes for writers: Think like a business, look like a business, be seen as a business and, most of all, take advantage of tax laws for businesses. The IRS recognizes two types of […]
“Freelance Isn’t Free” Advances in the NY City Council
New York City – February 29: “The company closed, the owners took the furniture and equipment out of the office and disappeared. There was no bankruptcy, no one was notified—they simply closed…Freelancers got nothing! The total loss to 40 workers exceeds $300,000. I was owed more than $20,000.” That was a part of NWU VP […]
NWU VPs Testimony to the NY City Council
Mauricio Niebla Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about my experience as a freelancer.My name is Mauricio Niebla, I’m a writer, and as most writers, I am a freelancer. I have been a freelancer my entire professional life, for almost 30 years. I have been unpaid for jobs many times, but the most […]
NWU Statement on the Freelance Isn’t Free Act
The National Writers Union/ UAW Local 1981, supports the Freelancers Union’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, and we urge the New York City Council to make it law. Our members, who are writers in all genres, in all media and on all platforms, are no strangers to nonpayment. We know how hard it can be to […]
Accountant Shares Tips at ‘Taxes for Writers’ Event
Therese Francis, PhD, an NWU member from New Mexico, led an informative and timely session, Taxes for Writers, on January 7 in San Francisco. NWU’s Northern California Chapter and the Mechanics’ Institute Library and Chess Room co-sponsored the workshop. A writer, publisher and accountant, Francis kicked off the current tax season with the lunchtime event […]
SOME THEFT IS LEGAL
Members have told us that they’ve pitched an idea for an article, and a similar article turned up under someone else’s name. They say they wrote books about teenage vampires or nerdy supervillains, and then watched other people make millions from their plot lines. They think that copyright law should protect them. In most cases, […]
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
OUR DIGITAL OUTREACH PROJECT In 2013, we identified improving internal and external digital communication as our greatest strategic need, and followed up by launching a 2-year project to upgrade our website and database. In that spirit, I’m proposing a Digital Outreach Project that will be conducted mainly through Twitter and Facebook, helping us to draw […]
NWU is the sole provider of IFJ Press Passes to freelance journalists in the U.S.