W.W. Norton issued a memo on April 27 that it will permanently take Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth out of print in response to credible allegations that Mr. Bailey sexually assaulted multiple women and behaved inappropriately toward his students when teaching eighth grade English. The Authors Guild condemns sexual assault and sexual harassment. Nevertheless, …
Authors Guild Foundation to Honor Louise Erdrich, Ibram X. Kendi and Chris Jackson at 2021 Virtual Gala on May 18 at 7 PM Hosted by Full Frontal’s Samantha Bee with special appearances by Isabel Allende, John Grisham, David Baldacci, Gloria Steinem, Janet Mock, Alice Wong, Rita Dove and more New York (April 20, 2021): The Authors …
The Guild also releases model translation contract for those hired to translate a foreign-language book into English New York (April 15, 2021): The Authors Guild today announced that for the first time in at least 70 years, it is making its Model Trade Book Contract available to the public. Previously, the Model Trade Book Contract …
In its first copyright case to address the question of “fair use” in more than 25 years, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Google’s unauthorized use of Oracle’s computer “declaring code” to create software for Google’s new Android platform was a fair use. Rather than using this opportunity to bring much-needed clarity to the “transformative …
In a January blog post, we reported that, per our demands, ACX/Audible was building a new reporting system to offer greater transparency in reporting returns and exchanges, and that system has now arrived. On March 30, 2021, ACX announced that updates to its Sales Dashboard have gone live, allowing users to view and download returns …
We are sharing with you a letter to McGraw-Hill's CEO Simon Allen and General Counsel David Stafford to demand that the company immediately end its practice of charging freelance contractors a 2.2% fee for processing their invoices. McGraw-Hill claims that this so-called "Small Supplier Fee" is being applied to support the company's compliance costs, including …
The PRO Act, as passed by the House and currently in the Senate, is the most sweeping, comprehensive labor bill in decades. It amends the National Labor Relations Act to strengthen collective bargaining rights, and it would give many professional freelancers the same rights as employees to collectively bargain with the companies that employ them. …
Need for Collective Bargaining Authors, freelance journalists, and other creators need the ability to collectively demand better treatment and terms for their work from those they work for. They work on a freelance basis for publishers under standard contracts and often for low pay, with almost no ability to negotiate better terms. The specifics differ …
We are saddened by the loss of Beverly Cleary, one of the most deeply cherished authors and the inspiration to so many for the love of reading. Miss Cleary joined the Authors Guild in 1957 and remained a member the rest of her life. We are humbled to have called her a member all these years. …
The “ABC test” is a legal test used by many states in employment-related laws, such as for workers’ compensation or unemployment compensation, to determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. It is a three-factor test, hence the name “ABC.” The ABC test gained notoriety last year when California incorporated it into a …
What is the PRO Act? The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 (PRO Act) amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by providing stronger collective bargaining rights and expanding the group of workers who qualify for collective bargaining. If enacted, it would create major changes to U.S. labor law. The PRO Act passed …
What’s in the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan? A Breakdown of Congress’s Latest Relief Package On March 11, 2020, President Biden signed a third major stimulus package into law, providing much-needed relief to the millions of struggling American families, businesses, as well as state and local governments. Called the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the $1.9 …
On March 10, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act was reintroduced in Congress with bipartisan support. This bill (which was originally introduced in 2019) would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with digital platforms such as Google and Facebook for the use of their stories on these online platforms for at least the next four …
Edited by Margaret Atwood, the novel includes contributions by some of today’s most renowned writers. New York (March 18, 2021): The Authors Guild Foundation announced a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media to publish Fourteen Days: An Unauthorized Gathering, a unique collaborative novel edited by Margaret Atwood and with original contributions from dozens …
