11 Over 70 Why We Oppose Morals Clauses Writers on the Brink

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WINTER 2018—SPRING 2019

16 11 Over 70 25 Why We Oppose Morals Clauses 44 Writers on the Brink

Articles THE AUTHORS GUILD OFFICERS BULLETIN 08 President Q&A: D.T. Max Executive Director Douglas Preston 13 Titles and Trademarks Mary Rasenberger Vice President General Counsel Monique Truong 16 11 Over 70: Writers Who Persevere Cheryl L. Davis Secretary 22 Editor Rachel Vail Hybrid Publishing: What You Need to Know Martha Fay Treasurer 25 Why We Oppose Morals Clauses in Digital Content Director Peter Petre Jennifer Simms Members of the Council Book Contracts Copy Editors Deirdre Bair Heather Rodino Rich Benjamin 28 Harper Lee and Estate Planning for Authors Hallie Einhorn Amy Bloom 34 Art Direction Alexander Chee The Owner of the Los Angeles Times Wants Studio Elana Schlenker Pat Cummings Sylvia Day Rights to Books Written by Staff Cover Art + Illustration W. Ralph Eubanks 44 Writers on The Brink Antoine Cossé Peter Gethers All non-staff contributors Annette Gordon-Reed to the Bulletin retain Lauren Groff copyright to the articles Tayari Jones that appear in these pages. Brendan Kiely Guild members seeking Min Jin Lee Departments information on contributors’ Nicholas Lemann other publications are Steven Levy 02 Short Takes invited to contact the John R. MacArthur Guild office. Published by D.T. Max 04 A Farewell Message from James Gleick The Authors Guild, Inc. Daniel Okrent Michelle Richmond 06 From the Home Office The Authors Guild, Julia Sanches the oldest and largest James Shapiro 26 Agent’s Corner association of published Hampton Sides authors in the United T.J. Stiles 36 Legal Watch States, works to protect Jonathan Taplin and promote the Nicholas Weinstock 38 Advocacy News professional interests Ex-Officio & of its members. The Guild’s Honorary Members 50 Books by Members forerunner, The Authors of the Council League of America, was Roger Angell 56 Members Make News founded in 1912. The Bulletin Roy Blount Jr. was first published Barbara Taylor Bradford 58 In Memoriam in 1912 as The Authors Robert A. Caro League Newsletter. Susan Cheever The Authors Guild Anne Edwards 31 East 32nd Street, 7th Floor James Gleick New York, NY 10016 Erica Jong t: (212) 563-5904 Stephen Manes f: (212) 564-5363 Robert K. Massie e: [email protected] Victor S. Navasky authorsguild.org Sidney Offit Mary Pope Osborne Letty Cottin Pogrebin Roxana Robinson Jean Strouse Nick Taylor Scott Turow Advisory Council Sherman Alexie Judy Blume Jennifer Egan Louise Erdrich CJ Lyons Frederic Martini Cathleen Schine Georges Ugeux Meg Wolitzer “ OVERHEARD ”

“Advertising dollars that used to go to the Times, that used to go to the Atlantic, that used to go to the sources that are actually producing the articles that we read?... those advertising dollars have left those sources and they’ve gone directly to Facebook and Google.”

Richard Russo, Who Owns the Word, Part I: Journalism, November 15, 2018 (see p. 49) BOOKSELLER My 500 Extraordinary Days in At Slate, Mike Pesca cautioned the Trump White House by former against assigning blame to “fake news” EXTRAORDINAIRE: staffer Cliff Sim. The first-time or missteps by individual journalists, QUELLE ANNÉE! author’s career got a generous which tend to get disproportionate boost from Trump, whose negative attention. Like Lee, he pointed to the “The publishing world made Tweet about Sims pushed the Facebook-Google “duopoly,” citing headlines in 2018,” the Washington book from number 12 on Amazon’s a Pivotal report that found these Post reported in December, bestseller list to number 6 within two companies “control almost three- “and not always by design.” a matter of hours. quarters of digital ad dollars.” Or, as Variety phrased it: Many communities will be “President Donald Trump may not JOURNALISM’S affected by the Gannett cuts, with be much of a reader, but he’s been a SHRINKING NUMBERS layoffs at the Dallas Morning News, gift to book publishers.” The market Indianapolis Star, Knoxville News research company NPD Group Sentinel, The Tennessean, and New found that sales of political books Newspapers and media companies have been steadily contracting Jersey’s The Record, among others. were up by 25 percent by September, And since local reporting informs the same month that Business in recent years, with mergers, budget cuts, and layoffs becoming the national discussion, the loss will Insider counted fifteen books increasingly familiar features surely be felt more widely. about the Trump administration of the industry. January, however, Columbia Journalism that were published in 2018. was a particularly painful month: Review highlighted, in particular, There were also, of course, The Huffington Post, Yahoo, the layoffs of veteran Dallas books by James Comey, Anita Hill, and AOL—all owned by Verizon— Morning News reporters who Michelle Obama, and Bill Clinton, as well as BuzzFeed and Gannett, cover immigration, energy and who co-authored The President owner of USA Today, and many the environment, and Hispanic is Missing with James Patterson. local newspapers, announced immigrant communities. Their on- Politics and publishing intertwined significant layoffs. Altogether, the-ground reporting is irreplaceable. again when American Media, Inc., about 1,000 people lost their jobs. (See the Guild’s February 6 publisher of the National Enquirer, Journalists spoke up on statement on the layoffs, p. 7.) hit the news again and again with Twitter and elsewhere, announcing its “catch-and-kill” practice. job losses, promoting colleagues MAGAZINE The Post’s “not always in need of work, and analyzing INDUSTRY STILL by design” review of 2018 also the reasons for the layoffs. In an discussed the wave of writers and interview with NPR’s “All Things IN FLUX—FROM media figures who were drawn into Considered,” New York Times media TOP TO BOTTOM the spotlight following #MeToo- reporter Edmund Lee pointed inspired reports of misbehavior. to insufficient advertising income News of Quad Graphics’ purchase The year 2018 ended with the as a major factor. Even large media of LSC Communications may not news that Margaret Atwood was companies cannot compete with the have drawn the attention of most writing a sequel to The Handmaid’s behemoths Facebook and Google, writers, but journalist and business Tale, the book and TV series he explained: “The BuzzFeeds executive Tony Silber raised considered by many as a “defining and the Vices and the Vox Medias concerns about the union of the dystopian text for the current time,” of the world—their audiences two largest American magazine according to the Post. pale in comparison.” An advertising- printers. In a November 1 Forbes And as 2019 dawned, yet based business model is no longer column, Silber reeled off a list another selling title landed sustainable, he said, predicting of defunct magazine printers, in bookstores, Team of Vipers: “big mergers” in the near future. all of them shut down in the last

2 Authors Guild Bulletin fifteen years, and highlighted that journalists across the state Goats was viewed 5.6 million other indicators of the magazine are losing work because of this times in public library digital industry’s poor health. case. Reuters has stopped using catalogs around the world and had Wholesalers have evaporated, freelancers in California because 130,000 checkouts; its Amazon with 180 companies operating in of the ruling, and the president of the Kindle sales rank soared from 1995 and only two today. Newsstand Society of American Travel Writers below 200,000 to 7,833; more than magazine sales are dropping at tells me that his group’s California 13,000 Goodreads members alarming rates. Publishers continue to members—and he himself—will soon added the title to their bookshelves; consolidate, with two major mergers lose significant work because a and the book’s sales skyrocketed, in 2018: Meredith’s acquisition of New Jersey-based company is afraid by 818 percent for the e-book Time Inc. and Hearst’s purchase of of the effects of the Dynamex case.” and 201 percent for the print Rodale. Silber offered no solutions, The Authors Guild joined edition. Sales remained high after but he warned that new technology forces with Dotinga and other the campaign ended. companies are unlikely to save the journalists and organizations to Panorama Project will industry: “They view magazine media lobby the new California state continue monitoring sales to as among their potential verticals legislature to clarify the rules so that understand the long-term impact of rather than jumping in as fully legitimate freelance journalists can the campaign. In time, their reports committed providers.” continue to work as freelancers if they should provide a more refined “[T]he pain is being shared widely, choose. Legislation is being drafted understanding of how exactly the both downstream and upstream by the California State legislature nearly 15,000 participating libraries from the publisher,” Silber reported, to enact the decision into law, and made the campaign a success. and Quad Graphic’s purchase of LSC the Guild is working with the group The Guild is working with Communications should serve as a to draft an acceptable carve out. OverDrive on a potential portal reminder that the magazine industry for authors to see which libraries is still in transition. THE PANORAMA have licensed digital copies PROJECT (e-books or audiobooks) of their CALIFORNIA books and how many. WRITERS & The Panorama Project is a major JOURNALISTS research program studying the THE FUTURE impact of public libraries on book LIBRARY LOSING WORK sales, the first of its kind. Funded DUE TO NEW by the digital distributor OverDrive, Scottish artist Katie Paterson COURT RULING the Panorama Project is led by has founded the Future Library, a council of representatives from an artistic project that began Writers and journalists may be publishers, booksellers, and libraries. with the planting of 1,000 spruce losing out on work as a result of The program will aggregate and trees in a protected forest north an April 2018 California Supreme analyze data from all corners of of Oslo, Norway. The trees will Court ruling that restricts who the industry, with three areas of grow until 2114, when they will be can be declared a freelancer. While focus: book discovery, author/brand used as the paper supply for a the ruling in Dynamex Operations development, and retail sales. collection of 100 books. West Inc. vs. Superior Court of Panorama Project’s first Paterson and her fellow Los Angeles was intended to prevent report was released on November 29, trustees are inviting writers to employers from reclassifying certain 2018. The “Community Reading contribute unpublished books types of workers as contractors as Event Impact Report” analyzed in any genre or language. These a way to avoid providing them with OverDrive’s Big Library Read works are given to the Future the same benefits and opportunities campaign, a library-led “global e-book Library in a Handover Ceremony, as full-time workers, the ruling club.” The campaign addressed described by the New York Times has had unintended negative in the report was held in April 2018, Style Magazine as “a modest ritual” consequences for those workers with participants reading Jennifer featuring a performance by a who are legitimate freelancers and McGaha’s debut, Flat Broke with Norwegian folk singer. who wish to have the option to Two Goats: A Memoir. Given the surfeit of gloomy remain independent contractors. The report found that the prognoses for print, trees, and Journalist Randy Dotinga, who program was financially significant the books they make possible, the serves on the board of the American for the author and her publisher, project stands out as a particularly Society of Journalists, reported to Sourcebooks. During the 15-day optimistic 21st century investment. the Authors Guild: “We’re hearing campaign, Flat Broke with Two Let’s hope it pays off.

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 3 A FAREWELL MESSAGE FROM JAMES GLEICK

government in compensation of Congress. Eventually, in the for the free library lending of their Reagan era, the effort died. books. Over the past half-century, But overseas the evident all these nations have established justice and utility of PLR systems of Public Lending Right. systems has persuaded country That’s an awkward and somewhat after country. Last year our opaque term, so for now let’s just counterparts in the U.K., the use initials: PLR. Society of Authors, led a successful PLR recognizes two effort to extend their program fundamental principles: the to include e-lending. Beginning need for society to provide free July 1, authors became eligible access to books, and the right for payments for library lending of authors to be remunerated of their e-books and audiobooks. for their work. These principles More than 22,000 authors You’ve probably heard that the should not be in conflict. The there receive payments of up to Authors Guild last year conducted Authors Guild believes in both. £6,600 a year—a modest sum, the most comprehensive survey We plan to work with the nation’s but enough to make a real of author earnings in recent libraries to create a system that difference in some writers’ ability memory—which is to say that will benefit authors and libraries to sustain a career. we spent a lot of money and alike. The Authors Guild Council The system we envision effort confirming something you considered the issue at our should be more generous, already know: It’s getting harder meeting in December and voted and of course the U.S. market and harder to make a living by unanimously in favor. is much larger. Authors would writing books. If you’re a longtime Guild register—the system might We surveyed our membership member and your memory be administered, for example, (thank you, if you filled out the extends to the ancient past, you by the National Endowment daunting questionnaire) and the may think you’re experiencing for the Humanities. Each year members of fourteen other writers déjà vu. You’re right. The Guild libraries nationwide would report organizations. The result, our fought a version of this battle aggregate lending statistics for 2018 Author Income Survey, can be almost forty years ago, when the each book (protecting the privacy consulted at authorsguild.org/ idea of PLR was relatively new. of borrowers, of course). The 2018incomesurvey. It’s a big basket At our annual meeting in 1980, systems for handling the data of bad news. The question is, what we invited Lord Willis, visiting collection are mostly already in are we going to do about it? from the U.K., to describe place, so the costs should be The answer is this: We’re the new British system to our negligible, but in any case, they going to begin a national campaign members. “I particularly wish to must not be borne by the libraries. in support of a Public Lending stress that paying authors The maximum payment to any Right in the United States. for library loans is not a charity,” one author would be capped: Here’s something interesting he said, “it’s a right: a payment the idea is not to reward J. K. that will come as a surprise for the service of borrowing Rowling (no offense, Joanne) to most Americans. Thirty-five an author’s work.” Robert Caro, but to provide some much-needed countries—including the United Barbara Tuchman, and Anne help for midlist authors. Kingdom, every country in Europe, Edwards were among the well- The idea of creating a Canada, Israel, and Australia— known authors who championed new government entitlement support their authors with cash the cause. Preliminary bills program may seem insanely payments from the national were introduced in both houses ambitious—and we all see the

4 Authors Guild Bulletin current dysfunction in Washington. United States does not—and will But change has to start somewhere. not, ever. Our national bibliophobia We’re embarking on what will be is about as old as Dutch elm a long-term effort, hoping that disease; and as lethal.” Stay Informed we may someday have a President Gore’s cynicism was legendary, and Congress willing to spend and it was often justified. I think Stay up to date on Authors Guild money investing in culture and the we can prove him wrong this time. advocacy efforts and valuable arts once again. We’ve still got more bibliophiles resources for your writing I believe that the time than bibliophobes. business by following us on social to restart the discussion is now, Our earnings report finds media and making sure you are in the age of widespread e-lending. that more and more authors receiving our newsletter. Libraries are eager to lend e-books are forced to subsidize their * Follow us on Twitter: as widely and freely as possible, books with secondary sources and Instagram and they are resentful when of income, and that some naïve @authorsguild publishers put obstacles in their readers increasingly expect * Like us on Facebook: way, while publishers worry that them to work for free. These are facebook.com/authorsguild sales of e-books in particular dangerous trends. Authors make are being cannibalized by apps a vital contribution to education, * Subscribe to our that make it easy to download to literacy, and to the shared email newsletter: library copies. We never want culture on which our society rests. bit.ly/AGMemberEmail to tell a library not to lend our Impoverishing authors threatens To ensure that your Authors books—love of libraries is at the to impoverish that culture. Guild email messages always core of who we are. At the same We welcome your comments, make it to your inbox, add time, librarians themselves are dear members. And we’re going [email protected] and recognizing that they need the to need your help and support. [email protected] to your professional author to survive. email address book. If you are Meanwhile, author This letter is also a farewell: a gmail user, simply move one of income that once came from My term as president has come our emails from your promotions the use of books in classrooms to an end. It has been an honor tab to your primary tab. has been evaporating. Expensive for me to serve the Authors high-speed scanners are now Guild in a time of change for standard equipment in university the profession of authorship as Did you know we provide department offices, and university well as for our organization. more than just contract libraries increasingly believe it I’ve been with the Guild so long reviews? is their right to distribute digital that I remember when our fiercest * We help you get paid when copies of chapters and whole books and most powerful adversaries it’s taking too long. throughout their communities. were publishers. If only that were * We provide international This turns authors into still true. Instead, the threat to press passes for journalists. forced unpaid donors. A robust authorship—and it is a grave * We provide copyright, libel, PLR system would restore some threat indeed—comes from large and other legal advice. fairness. When university libraries interests that have colonized distribute all or parts of books, the online world, gaining financial * We offer an online those “loans” should be routinely and political power while exploiting community for discussions recorded, and the authors the work of individual writers. with fellow writers. should receive compensation. Authors are accustomed Whether you are a journalist, This stream of government to working in solitude. When traditionally published, funding should be thought of I wrote my first book, I had no or a self-published writer, as supporting education and thought of joining a community. we are your Guild and are here authorship together. But it turns out that I have joined to help! Just contact us Can our politicians be one after all. Thank you all for at [email protected] or persuaded? The late, great Gore helping to build and sustain this visit authorsguild.org. Vidal didn’t think so. When the Guild, dedicated to preserving Guild’s previous effort foundered the writing life and defending the in the 1980s, he complained: rights of creators. “Since all civilized countries of the West have a Public Lending Right — James Gleick Law, it is only natural that the The Authors Guild

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 5 FROM THE HOME OFFICE

adding his insight, clarity of and to make royalty statements vision and passion (not to mention more transparent, in keeping his prodigious writing skills). with our new model contract terms Thank you, Jim! (forthcoming this spring). By now, you have likely seen We are continually working our 2018 Author Income Survey. to improve our educational offerings, I would like to thank all of you who and we welcome suggestions participated in it. for new topics or programs. The survey showed that New this year is an eight-part median author incomes are series on marketing called at new lows (see p. 47), but amid “The Age of the Storyteller,” which all the bad news, we can report you can find on the website. some good news. Many authors Next, we hope to roll out several have increased their incomes from programs that will identify Dear Authors Guild Members, “writing-related” sources other additional sources of writing- As most of you know, than royalties or advances. Also, related income, such as coaching Authors Guild President James the number of authors who self- new writers, editing and television Gleick stepped down from publish or publish “independently” script writing. Whatever the that role at our annual members’ is on the rise and those authors’ challenges to making a living meeting on March 12. On behalf median incomes are almost twice writing books these days, the need of the entire Authors Guild what they were five years ago. for good storytelling and writers’ staff and Council, I would like One goal of the survey skills will never go away; if anything, to give Jim a huge thanks for was to learn how best to align the demand for well-conceived his two years of selfless dedication our work with today’s authors and well-written stories is increasing. to the Guild and its causes, and needs. Where we see income We want to make sure authors, for his passionate and intelligent sources drying up, we want to and not just their intermediaries leadership during a period of determine why and what we can in publishing, are positioned to time that has often been trying do to salvage them; and to the profit from these trends. for the nation’s writers and extent new opportunities exist, One of my secret pleasures journalists. Jim has been incredibly we want to let you know how to at the Guild is working late generous with his time and has take advantage of them. into the night in the quiet worked relentlessly on behalf The survey also tells of the empty office and taking of the Guild’s members to ensure us that we should press ahead a break to play ball with my that we achieved our goals. He with our advocacy efforts in dog, Simon. We wander the long is personally responsible for the Congress and continue to pressure corridors, which are lined with success of our biggest initiatives publishers to increase authors’ an eclectic collection of books these last two years. In particular, revenue share. Among our major accumulated over more than we could not have conducted legislative initiatives, as described a century: books that members the author income survey and in “Legislative Priorities” (p. 41), have sent in over the years, report, launched the new online is a call for a public lending right. books about copyright and related communities, or extended our online We will soon launch a campaign legal topics, books for which reach as far as we have without to keep remainders and other low- we administer the rights because him. I am especially grateful for or no-royalty-bearing books out generous authors bequeathed his willingness to write or punch of the Amazon reseller market, to their copyrights to the Guild, up our statements and blog posts— minimize the use of deep-discount and plenty of books about the often on a moment’s notice— sales (which pay lower royalties) publishing industry.

6 Authors Guild Bulletin Late one night recently, 2. The publisher pays I noticed a couple of books on an up-front fee and a new sum a bottom shelf that I had never with each new printing (generally seen before. Both provided some about 1,500 copies were made Authors Guild interesting perspective on the per printing). John Milton had a Statement profession of writing. contract for Paradise Lost that gave The first was American him a meager £5 up front, with an on Journalist Authors and Books: 1640 to the additional £5 for each subsequent Layoffs Present Day—the “present day” printing. When he died shortly after at the time being 1962, updated the second printing his publisher “The recent cuts in digital from the 1943 original—by W. J. went on to make a considerable media journalist jobs follow Burke and Will D. Howe, augmented fortune. His heirs? Not a penny. a long trend of newsroom and revised by Irving Weiss 3. An author would presell layoffs, which is a crisis that (Crown Publishers). The book subscriptions to a book and then affects us all. The quality of is first an encyclopedia of hire a publisher as a service provider news suffers, as do journalists. “all American authors and books,” to fill the orders, with the author Like the newspapers and and “secondarily about as many keeping most of the profits. print magazines that came other aspects of American 4. In an arrangement before it, BuzzFeed will literature writing and publishing, much like vanity publishing or need to rehire reporters and as could be treated in a handy self-publishing today, the author editors as freelancers, forcing one volume format.” What would hire a publisher to print them to work for less pay is remarkable is that the authors the book, without the guaranteed and without health insurance felt confident that they had subscriptions, and would keep most and other benefits. In the documented—in 834 pages— of the profits to himself. U.S., newspaper jobs declined all American authorship and 5. A fifty-fifty agreement: by 60% between 1990 and publishing to that date. You could like today’s hybrid publishing, 2016. The Authors Guild not fit the titles of the one the author and the publisher is working to ensure that million—plus books published split costs and profits. freelancers are paid a livable last year in a single book. Hepburn concluded that wage, are given protections The next book I pulled out even if “the question of literary under the law, and have access was The Author’s Empty Purse agency has been answered by to affordable healthcare and the Rise of the Literary history, another question remains coverage and other benefits Agent by James Hepburn (Oxford unsolved—the one that people (which employers and not University Press, 1968). While thought literary agency would the government provide it is primarily a history of literary solve: the plight of the author.” in the U.S.); otherwise, the agency, it is also incidentally a Despite the ways that literary most experienced journalists history of how authors have been agents have improved things for will have no choice but to financially disadvantaged in the authors, “authors remain poor.” transition to other careers. industry since the earliest days And that was in 1964. The Authors Guild is committed of publishing. Literary agency arose Throughout the twentieth to elevating the issue of a in large part to help protect authors century, the standard payment uthors’ ability to sustain viable from unscrupulous publishers, method for trade authors was careers to the national stage.” and Hepburn describes the various the royalty system, with advances forms of publishing agreements of varying value. Today’s new that were used from 1710, when business models, though they authors were first given copyright, don’t work for all authors or all through the late 1800s, when books, do offer more options and agents became more common potentially more opportunities. and the royalty system began to It turns out that some of these dominate the business. Surprisingly, “new” business models are not so there were quite a few different new after all and that the ingenuity models for publication: and determination of authors 1. The author’s copyright is alive and well—a silver lining to would be sold outright, which meant a long history of struggle. that if a book was unexpectedly successful the publisher profited, — Mary Rasenberger but not the writer. Executive Director

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 7 D. T. Max is the author of the best-selling Every Q&A: Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (2012) and The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery (2006). He has been a D.T. MAX staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010 and has written for The New York Times, The New Republic, Everybody’s The American Scholar and many other publications. A member of the Authors Guild since 1992, he was life as a writer voted onto the Guild’s Council in March 2018. is different. IH: You’re a book author and magazine writer, but you also worked as an editor. Is that correct? DTM: The first five years of my career right after That’s how it college were spent as an editor. I began at Wash- ington Square Press, which is a part of Simon & should be. Schuster. And then I was an editor at Houghton Mifflin for about a year. Washington Square Press is a paperback Interview by Isabel Howe house, so we did a lot of reprints of quality fiction. At Houghton Mifflin I was involved in paperbacks and finding new hardcovers. IH: How did working in publishing inform your approach to writing? DTM: I don’t think it informed my approach to writing if we’re talking about words on the page. I certainly got an inside look at how editors think, how publishers think. The extent to which publishing is an art, the extent to which it’s more a business. What a really good editor does and how important that is to an author. I don’t think the industry has fundamentally changed, although this was the late ’80s. The biggest innovation has been BookScan. BookScan gives information to authors and agents and com- peting publishers that they didn’t have at that time, when they were dependent on the publisher of a book for sales data. My time certainly was informative and I still carry what I learned with me. IH: Did it help to have been an editor when you shifted to writing full-time? DTM: One thing to remember is that I didn’t publish my first book until 2006. I spent a lot of years entirely in the magazine world, at which point my

8 Authors Guild Bulletin memories of being an editor were pretty faded. In the intervening years I reviewed a lot and I wrote a lot of feature magazine pieces, but I wasn’t chomp- ing at the bit to get a book out. I just think I never found anything I was committed to enough that I wanted to spend the amount of time you have to spend on something to make it a book. Maybe I thought also I just didn’t have the chops. I was not graced with a long attention span at the time. I started my writing career writing about publishing. I took the literal knowledge I had from publishing and applied it as a journalist. I was the publishing columnist for The New York Observer and for Variety in the early ’90s, and then I branched out from there. IH: How long did The Family That Couldn’t Sleep take from conception to publication? DTM: It began as a New York Times Magazine piece in 2001. I had a very good agent who immediately said to me, “This could be a book.” It’s this gothic story of an Italian family that has an inherited insomnia—it sounds like fiction. What I’ve said about writing a book is that I had grown accustomed to the length of mag- you un-pave all the things you pave over when you azine pieces and to their content, their pacing. write a magazine article, all the rabbit holes you What I didn’t know at that point was how you turn knew the constraints of the article precluded you a magazine piece into a book. Even though I had from exploring. When you write a book, you can read hundreds of books, I had to start looking at allow yourself to fall down those holes, explore them in a whole different, analytic way. them, and if you’re lucky, make it back out before I had also mostly edited and pursued fiction, your reader abandons you to check her e-mail. so I wasn’t an editor who had a deep experience in IH: So something that might be a paragraph in nonfiction, even though that’s the writer I became. the magazine article can be a whole chapter in I’d never really thought about how a book is con- the book. structed. How each chapter has to move the idea DTM: Totally. And that’s the best way to write a forward, and sometimes you can swerve and take book, I think. Well, a best way. the idea sideways, but you always have to keep IH:Your agent suggested turning the article into your reader with you. I learned all of that writ - a book. Was your approach more flexible than if ing The Family That Couldn’t Sleep. At the start it you’d originally conceived of the idea as a book, was really nearly a tabula rasa. Almost anything not an article? could go into that book as long as it lived some - DTM: What was useful to me about having an agent where within a triangle defined by mad scientists, is that an agent is somebody who is working on human mortality and stranger-than-fiction dis- your behalf and on his or her behalf in a very de- eases. There’s a chapter on whether humans were fined way. It’s a unique relationship for a writer. ever actually cannibals, which is actually open I found that really helpful. My agent, Elyse Cheney, to doubt. There’s a chapter on diseases in sheep was looking for projects for me and knew how to that are precursors to the insomnia the family has. do that in a way I didn’t. Beef is big and so are weird facts about sleep. IH: When did you get an agent?

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 9 I’d had agents before I signed with Elyse— mine have been. But there are some who are more kind of starter agents—but Elyse approached me impresarios. Years ago, Seymour Lawrence was after I wrote an article in 1998 about Raymond one. I used to work with him at Houghton Mifflin. Carver and how Gordon Lish had aggressively He had this gift for lifting writers onto the front edited his earlier stories. It was an article that page of the Times Book Review but I don’t think he got a lot of readers. And, actually, still gets read - edited them per se. ers—it’s 20 years old now, which in human years I became a staff writer for The New Yorker would be something like 140. Sort of dog-life after almost 20 years of writing. I’ve written for math in reverse. any number of magazines, including a dozen that The Lish-Carver battle was in some ways a have since gone out of business: Manhattan, inc. perfect story, and very much a publishing story, too. New York Women. Connoisseur. We’ll call them the You just couldn’t read it passively. What transpired honorable dead. You know the line from the poem, was so...so raw. Suffering writer meets predatory “I had not thought death had undone so many”? editor? Or mediocre talent shot into the literary More or less that. The magazine industry is much firmament by brilliant Svengali? It still makes contracted, especially in the areas where I’ve people take sides. Some are on Lish’s; probably worked. The book industry seems to have adjusted more people are on Carver’s. And I, of course, was much better to the electronic era. I don’t know why, on the side of the article. The energy and the con- but it’s impressive. The number of books that still flict between them made the story really unusual. come out is just remarkable. I just had to get out of the way. And so Elyse and IH: You wrote an acclaimed biography of David I met at that point. Foster Wallace. What was it like to delve into an- We kicked ideas around for a few years. I was other writer’s personal and professional life? happy writing magazine pieces. I liked the rhythm DTM: Everything I do comes out of a personal con- of it, I liked the connection to editors, an area in nection. As I write in the last chapter of The Fam- which I’ve been super-lucky. My editor still is ily That Couldn’t Sleep, I have a genetic condition the fellow who helped me find my way on the that made me feel connected to people who have Carver-Lish article, Daniel Zalewski at The New genetic issues. Not remotely similar but to use the Yorker. Magazine editors are quite different from Wallace Stevens’ line, “The natives of the rain are book editors. rainy men.” Most of us know what it is to have a bit When the time came to do a book, the first edi- of precipitation fall on us. I know I do. tor who bought it, Robert Jones, died very soon after I always felt like Wallace was a more intense I signed. It was taken over by Daniel Menaker, who version of who I was—of who many, many writers was at HarperCollins and then went to Random are. He was a quixotic figure, because his life was House. He brought me with him. I really felt quite certainly flawed; he was always aspiring to be bet- loved by that gesture. He told me, “I have children ter and purer in ways that most of us don’t have the that I’ve adopted; I know what it is to adopt.” I was time or inclination to aspire to. I very much took taken with that statement. He adopted me. that to heart when I was researching the book. IH: Can you expand on the idea that a writer’s re- It wasn’t an arm’s-length study at all. He was a guy lationship with magazine editors is different than who inspired me in my behavior. I think most of us with book editors? revert to the mean in the end, but for a while I was DTM: A book editor is concerned with all sorts of trying to behave as David Foster Wallace tried to things a magazine editor doesn’t generally have behave in the world. to be concerned with, like marketing and cover Not that either of us had that much suc- art, which are not, I think, central concerns for cess. There’s a wonderful phrase in one of his a magazine editor. Not all book editors are con- essays where he talks about how he wants to be cerned at a granular level with the text, though more than just a shrewd, self-preserving animal.

10 Q&A: D.T. Max That was something I had up on the wall but, well, the tape dried out eventually. But it’s still in my head. It’s easiest to write about subjects that present THERE ARE A LOT their own energy. And he obviously did, because OF ISSUES FOR WRITERS. of the intensity with which he presented himself and tried to negotiate in the world. FREEDOM TO WRITE, IH: Would you write about a writer again? INCLUSION, OUR OWN DTM: I’d absolutely do it again. I’d certainly write PERSONAL EFFORTS another biography of someone who had that much of a grip on me. You have to see what na- TOWARDS EXCELLENCE— ture provides for you when you write nonfiction. ALL VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. Unlike with fiction, you can’t ideate the world be- forehand. You’ve got to see what the tide left on BUT NONE OF IT REALLY the shore. WORKS WITHOUT A When I was a child, I was an avid shell col- ROBUST ECONOMY AROUND lector. I lived in the Bahamas with my family for a year. I remember going out every morning to US, UNLESS WRITING see what the storm had thrown up on the beach. IS GOING TO BECOME I think in some ways being a nonfiction writer, especially when you’re looking for articles or SOMETHING PROFESSORS books, is not entirely unlike that. You walk the DO ON THE SIDE OR beach, you look down and sometimes... AN AVOCATION FOR THE IH: Have you had a writer-mentor? DTM: You know, I never did. There’s that long-term UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS. relationship with my editor at The New Yorker that’s absolutely central to my success as a writer. But that came a little bit later in my career. My first years were on my own. For many years I wrote for a lot of different places. I enjoyed the variety, I enjoyed trying on you leave it for another one. I definitely don’t have different voices: the voice of a business magazine, a specialty and I very much like it that way. the voice of a women’s magazine, the voice of a I just came back from the city of Prato, in Italy, literary reviewer. That was more my kind of thing. where I wrote a piece about the Chinese garment It was only later that I became interested in the industry. [The New Yorker, April 4, 2018.] Before world where writers read each other’s stuff before that I wrote on computational science. I enjoy publication, where we learn from each other. projects where you don’t know much and then you The whole community of writers is an amaz- know a lot. ing community. A friendship with another writer is IH: What motivated you to join the Authors Guild a wonderful relationship to have—I think I would Council? have benefited from them, been a better writer, had DTM: I’m interested in the economic life of I had them earlier. authors. Not just mine, but everybody’s. I think I didn’t go to journalism school either. I’m everybody has felt the sources of funding and kind of a self-taught person. I think of my work as creative opportunities narrowing with the years. an endless education. The perfect graduate school, I’ve been an Authors Guild member since the ’90s. where just when you get frustrated with a subject, Always wrote my check and thought, “Good thing

Authors Guild Bulletin 11 we have the Authors Guild.” Because we don’t have also the lobster. So substitute “writer” for “lob- a union, there’s really no one who’s looking out ster” and you have the reason for being for the for the weird grab bag of people who are authors Authors Guild: we have to consider ourselves. in America. I connect economic freedom and creative free- I’ve spent a lot of time in other countries, dom very closely. There’s more than one way to especially South American countries and Europe, wind up lunch. and I’m aware that especially in the nonfiction It was eye-opening to me to be in countries, field, American authors are in a unique position. including European countries, where there’s no We have a market, we have editors who are inter- strong tradition of funding nonfiction; therefore ested in our work, we have agents who want to rep- there is no tradition of nonfiction. America and resent us, and we have significant possibilities for England are unique in boasting a history of well- income—which is not true everywhere. In many funded nonfiction both in magazine and book form. countries, being an author is an avocation, practi- I think that’s connected to a healthy democracy. cally. I desperately don’t want that to be the way Nonfiction that’s accurate and fully funded and this country goes. adequately researched, all of which depends on a I wanted to join the Council in order to be, let’s sound economic model that works for all parties, say, present and useful in whatever way I can be. strengthens democratic culture. I don’t have a “thing,” or an issue. I want to learn. I’m sitting here with a copy of Mark Bowden’s People are doing very good work at the Authors book, Hue 1968, about the Tet Offensive. It’s, what, Guild and have been for a long time. 600 pages? The world has moved on from this There are a lot of issues for writers. Freedom moment, but he, through the magic of being an to write, inclusion, our own personal efforts adequately funded nonfiction writer, has gone towards excellence—all very, very important. back and looked at things that none of us will ever I can’t emphasize how important enough, but have time to look at and created a story that has none of it really works without a robust econo - a lesson for us today. This book could not have my around us, unless writing is going to become existed without the economic model that made it something professors do on the side or an avoca- possible. I don’t know how many years this book tion for the upper-middle class. If it’s going to be must have taken him. Somebody had to pay for vibrant, if it’s going to be varied, if it’s going to mat- everything in his life while he was doing it. And ter and we’re going to be able to take risks, there it has to also work for the publisher and the book- has to be a sound economic ecosystem around us. stores and websites that sell books and everybody. That’s something that matters deeply to me. The libraries, the schools. IH: The Authors Guild Council is unusual in that The way I see it authors are not important it is composed of the same community it serves: people individually—99 percent of us pass unre- professional writers. marked-upon in the street. I certainly do. But as DTM: There’s something exciting and democra- a group, no one does more to make people stand tizing about authors controlling their own fate and up and take notice. Stalin, who knew us enough to working together. That’s what’s special about the fear us, called us the engineers of the human soul. Guild: it’s us. I like that idea, because we spend so And I think of the Authors Guild as a place for much time alone. a cross section of us to get together to make sure Everybody’s life as a writer is slightly differ- the machine’s running well. ent. That’s as it should be. David Foster Wallace wrote a famous essay called “Consider the Lobster,” Isabel Howe is Executive Director of the Authors basically about the cruelty of killing [lobsters] League Fund, a sister organization to the Authors out of the whim to eat something tasty. But one Guild that provides emergency aid to professional of the embedded ideas in his essay is that we are writers. She is a regular contributor to the Bulletin.

12 Q&A: D.T. Max If you read about the “Cocky” case in our blogs, 1 TITLES AND you know that the Authors Guild and the Romance Writers of America teamed up to stop a romance author from claiming and enforcing a monopoly on TRADEMARKS the use of the word “cocky” in romance titles. What can you do to make sure that you pick a title that you What can you do can claim as “yours” and that isn’t likely to result in a trademark infringement claim against you? to make sure that For purposes of this article, a “trademark” is a word, phrase or slogan2 that indicates that prod- you pick a title that uct” comes from a certain source and, therefore, is of a certain quality. When we talk about a series title, the source of the “products,” i.e., the books, is you can claim as usually the author, while the concept of “quality” refers to intangible literary characteristics of the “yours” and that books, such as the characters, the geographical setting, the subject matter or even the style of writ- isn’t likely to result ing. (Think of the Junie B. Jones children’s series.) It also may just mean an association with other lit- in a trademark erary or creative properties. For example, if there were a series of children’s books called The Lion infringement claim King, then the “quality” conveyed by the series title would be the themes and characters associ- against you? ated with the movie of that name. If someone has “trademark rights” in a series title, that person has the exclusive right to use that By Jessica R. Friedman series title for books, at least for a particular kind or genre of book, such as fiction books for children, in a certain geographical territory, such as the United States. You cannot claim trademark rights in the title of a single book. If you apply to register a particular name or phrase as the title of a series, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will not register that mark without evidence that it has been displayed on more than one book. Two books, however, can constitute a series for this purpose. The legal purpose of trademarks is to protect consumers by helping them distinguish among various products in the marketplace. When

1 https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/can-trademark-title; https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/quantumgate-son- of-cockygate 2 A logo can also serve as a trademark.

Authors Guild Bulletin 13 term with your product (in this case, your series), or in the language of trademark law, that the term has “acquired distinctiveness” or has come to have IF YOU WANT A SERIES a “secondary meaning.” For instance, TV GUIDE is TITLE YOU CAN PREVENT obviously merely descriptive of a publication that provides television listings, but that name has come OTHERS FROM USING, to be identified with one particular publication. YOUR BEST BET IS TO USE Proving that a series title (or any other trade- A TOTALLY ARBITRARY mark) has “acquired distinctiveness” is not easy. First, you must show that you have used that title OR FANCIFUL TITLE. for a long time; that you have spent substantial amounts of money to promote the title; and that you have made substantial sales of the series in your target market. Courts also look for other evidence of reader recognition, such as customer sur- veys or unsolicited media coverage of your books. Compiling this evidence can take hundreds of Company A sues Company B for trademark hours, and it can cost a fortune for your attorneys infringement, Company A is concerned about pro- to prepare the data for submission to the court. tecting its profits; it doesn’t want to lose customers If “acquired distinctiveness” looks like the only to Company B. But at the same time, by stopping way you will be able to keep others from using your Company B from using its trademarks, Company series title, you’re better off choosing another one A is protecting consumers from being confused to start with. about whose products they are actually buying. If you want a series title you can prevent oth- (More on this below.) ers from using, your best bet is to use a totally Not every word or phrase can serve as a trade- arbitrary or fanciful title, such as the name or title mark. For example, a word or phrase that “merely of a fictional character in the series (The Clifton describes” the subject matter, a feature of your Chronicles), the name of the fictional world in series, or your intended audience, such as “The Baby which the stories are set (Discworld), a key set- Boomer Diet,” will not be recognized as a valid ting or part of the storyline (The Magic Tree House trademark for cookbooks,3 and you cannot stop and The Magic School Bus), the name of a fictional others from using it. The same is true of a word phenomenon or force in the books (The Stormlight that is commonly used in the relevant industry so Archive), or a line from a work that you quote in that it is not capable of serving as a distinct iden- the series (His Dark Materials, which is a refer- tifier. One of the grounds for the decision in the ence from Paradise Lost). Or, if you want the title “Cocky” case was the fact that the word “cocky” is to give prospective readers some clue to the books’ commonly used as a descriptive term in the titles contents, choose one that suggests the subject but of romance novels to refer to characters in those requires some thought on the reader’s part, such as books. A descriptive or common term can serve as On the Field With for a series about athletes. a trademark, however, if you can prove that con- Once you’re satisfied that you’ve chosen a title sumers have come to identify a certain descriptive that is capable of functioning as a trademark, you need to think about whether that title is going to infringe someone else’s trademark. Trademark A 3 The PTO refused to register The Baby Boomer Diet as a trademark for a series of cookbooks on the grounds that the word “diet” referred to the books’ infringes Trademark B when (1) Trademark B was subject matter and the phrase “baby boomer” referred to the audience. Trade- in use first, and (2) consumers who see Trademark A mark use and trademark registration are not the same thing, but an explanation of the difference is beyond the scope of this article. on items are likely to be confused into thinking

14 Titles and Trademarks that those items come from the same source as much it has been promoted); whether you intend- items with Trademark B. If I pick up a can labeled ed to copy the title of the earlier series or other Coke, I want to be sure that it is really a can of Coke products; whether consumers in the relevant mar- and not a can of copy-cat cola. In the case of book ket are sophisticated enough to be able to tell the series titles, the question is whether someone difference between the two titles; and whether, to is likely to be confused into buying a book in your the extent that there is some difference in sub - series because she thinks that she is buying a book ject matter or target market, the first user of the from another series. To put it another way, when a title intends to “bridge the gap” by publishing a young reader or her parent buys a book that shows series of books like yours—or if we are comparing the name Magic Tree House, she wants to know that a series title to other products, whether the first she is getting a book in the children’s book series user intends to start publishing books at all. written by Mary Pope Osborne. Someone also Even if your proposed series title doesn’t might be confused into thinking that your series is infringe someone else’s trademark, it still may related to a TV or online series with a name that is “dilute” that trademark. Trademark dilution occurs similar to your proposed title. If your books are for when someone uses a mark that someone else is children, and there happens to be a collection of using for entirely different goods or services, but toys with the same name as your proposed series the second user’s use of the mark tends to weaken title, parents seeing your books may think that the the mark’s distinctive cachet. For example, use books are associated with or are endorsed by the of the mark Tiffany & Co. for a low-priced pizza toy manufacturer. If your book series title resem- chain would dilute the famous Tiffany mark for bles the title of a movie, consumers may think that jewelry, even though no one would actually think your series books are movie tie-ins. And so on. that the jewelry company had anything to do with The fact that so many companies have multiple the pizza chain. business segments, so that many unrelated prod- The most effective way to avoid such conflicts ucts may come from the same source, complicates is to have a trademark lawyer conduct a full trade- the problem. On the other hand, if you want to use mark search, which will tell you whether names the hypothetical name Down the Drain as the title similar to your proposed title are being used else- of a series about how people waste money, even if where or if they’re covered by registrations or there is a plumbing company by that name, that applications in the PTO, or by state registrations is such an unrelated business that there is almost or applications. If any such marks do turn up, your certainly no likelihood of confusion. trademark lawyer can tell you whether they actu- Whether there is a “likelihood of confusion” ally raise problems and, if so, how to proceed. It is depends on several factors. One, not surprisingly, is not enough to run an Internet search or check whether the two titles create the same “commercial the PTO online database, although the reasons impression.” Do they look the same, have the same why are beyond the scope of this article. (There meaning or sound alike, even if they are not identi- are services that will claim to clear the rights to a cal? Slight differences in spelling are not enough to trademark for a very low fee, when they are doing avoid potential consumer confusion. Neither is the only the most cursory search and only for identical fact that your title appears in one font and the other titles. The trademark applications filed by many of title appears in a different font, or the fact that your these services are often defective as well.) title includes a graphic element. Also relevant is At the end of the day, it is best to err on the how similar the two series—or your series and the side of caution when adopting a series title. Even other product line—are in terms of subject matter, though you may be able to make a good argument target audience and style. about why confusion or dilution is not likely, your Other criteria are the “strength” of the first- life will be a lot easier if you don’t have to pay a law- used title (how long it has been used and how yer to make that argument on your behalf.

Authors Guild Bulletin 15 LOOKING BEYOND THE CULT OF 11 Over 70: LITERARY YOUTH Writers Who Persevere

By Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Every year—more like every month— one of those annoying lists comes out: “20 Under 40,” “30 Debut Novels You Must Read,” “17 Debut Authors.” I groan and think: What about older writers?

16 Authors Guild Bulletin Antoine Cossé Antoine

Fall 2018–Winter 2019 17 Writers over 40 tend to be my favorites. This could They settle down for a minute, but like a be because I’m closer to 60 than 50, or it may be cell phone solicitor, they’re back, this time with, because older writers are better writers. (Ouch.) “You should think about planning.” In Journal of a Solitude, May Sarton—who Alas, planning’s never been my forte. wrote dozens of books, including poetry, fiction, Fortunately, many writers who’ve gone the children’s books and nonfiction into her early distance persevere and offer hope along the way. eighties—quotes Humphry Trevelyan on Goethe: “It seems that two qualities are necessary if a great Retirement artist is to remain creative to the end of a long life: he must on the one hand retain an abnormally I’m gratified by writers who are as annoyed by keen awareness of life, he must never grow com- the question of retirement as I am. Los Angeles placent, never be content with life, must always poet Donna Hilbert, author of a new collection, demand the impossible and when he cannot have Gravity, is one. it, must despair.” “One of the most annoying questions I field Despair is a common theme in many writers’ from non-writers is ‘Are you still writing?’” says lives, but that despair is usually linked to fears of Hilbert. “Might as well ask if I’m still breathing. growing older and losing one’s mojo, or losing the As a poet, the product of my effort might not be interest of agents and publishers, or the ability to apparent, but it’s ongoing, with the same joy of dis- generate a living from writing. covery as when I began to think of myself as a writer Yet, many writers prove that writing works for and will continue as long as I can hold a pen.” the long haul and is suited to the marathon runner: For many, the work continues—even, perhaps, Alice Munro, Toni Morrison, Margaret Drabble, with a bit less pressure and stress. Award- winning Edna O’Brien, Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, writer Lynne Sharon Schwartz says she never con- Isabel Allende, Roger Angell, Cormac McCarthy. sidered retiring. Two of her books came out last McCarthy achieved cult status in his seventies year and she’s preparing a collection of her recent with No Country for Old Men and The Road. Stan stories and essays, several of which were pub- Lee, creator of Marvel Comics, who died last lished in the Best American Stories and O. Henry November at the age of 95, kept going till the very Prize Stories series. She also teaches at Bennington end. Margaret Atwood redefined herself and her Writing Seminars. work in her mid-seventies when The Handmaid’s “I’m sure I could find plenty to do [if I retired],” Tale, published in 1985, reached the small but pow- she says, “but writing and pursuing my career is erful screen in 2017. (The sequel to the novel will really the only activity I care deeply about.” be published in September 2019.) For some, a variation on retirement might be Some writers don’t even get started until they the lessening of the pressure of deadlines imposed are past retirement age. Harriet Doerr launched by a publisher or by oneself. her literary career at age 73 with the National Novelist Sue Miller says, “I can’t imagine Book Award-winning novel Stones for Ibarra and wanting to stop writing, though I can imagine the continued writing for almost 20 years. wish to be free of a deadline. So perhaps ‘retire- Those pesky debut author lists irk me almost ment’ for me might be the sense that I don’t neces- as much as the question I get from friends who are sarily need to try to publish what I’m working on, thinking about retiring or have retired: “When do that it can be a private fictional puzzle.” you plan to retire?” I’m sure I look befuddled when I say some- Ageism thing like: “Writers and artists tend to go until they can’t go on any longer” or “Retirement is for people Ageism is a topic that’s hard to avoid in any line of who don’t love their jobs. I love my job.” work, in the arts, and in every aspect of our culture.

18 11 Over 70: Writers Who Persevere When my son was little, I talked with him about how Asian cultures and even our own Italian culture honor the older folks. (Time will tell whether any of it stuck.) “ONE OF THE MOST But ageism can inspire. Author and activ - ANNOYING QUESTIONS ist Alix Kates Shulman says, “Ageism, like sexism, racism and classism, is my enemy, which operates I FIELD FROM NON- to get my juices flowing. Opposing it has expand- WRITERS IS ‘ARE YOU ed my purpose.” As Emma Goldman said, ‘The STILL WRITING?’ MIGHT more opposition I encountered, the more I was in my element.’” AS WELL ASK IF I’M Others respond to ageism with a sense of humor. STILL BREATHING.” “If you don’t have a face lift, it’s more difficult, if not impossible, to lie about your age,” says biographer —DONNA HILBERT, POET Patricia Bosworth. “So now I don’t. But I don’t shout it from the rooftops either. You can figure it out if I say I graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1955. But what matters is what I’ve accomplished—or tried to accomplish in 50 years of writing.” To some, ageism remains a concept rather Claire Roberts, founder of Global Literary than a practical concern. “I was never confronted Management, also in New York City, says, “In tak- with ageism from publishers, editors or agents ing on a client, the most important thing for me is (or even readers),” says fiction writer and poet how I feel about the author’s work. If the manu- Hilma Wolitzer. “After all, I had a novel published script is strong, if I can see the readership for it in my early eighties...The ageism I encounter is and if I know editors who would love the book too, self-imposed, or maybe it’s just aging.” those are the key elements for me. Older writers And maybe any increase in ageism is a misper- have many books successfully published, and I ception. Some think it’s never really been any dif- would never dismiss a work out of hand due to the ferent, that publishers have always inclined to the author’s age.” latest and youngest. Los Angeles literary agent Betsy Amster con- Author Jay Neugeboren says, “Surely publish- curs: “I never consider an author’s age when I take ers would sooner publish a first novel by a 30-year- them on. It can be hard to keep authors’ careers old writer than a 75-year-old veteran writer, no going over time because publishers make so matter how distinguished the career, but this many decisions based on their sales track, which was always more or less true. Unless your recent often trends down. I don’t think that should stop book or books have sold exceptionally well, it’s a anyone though!” rough market for a new book, no matter its quality. This is less so for nonfiction than fiction.” A changing industry Yet literary agents say that age doesn’t figure into whether they take on a client or not. One of the upsides—and I suppose downsides—of a New York City literary agent Vicky Bijur says long career is having a front row seat to the changes she doesn’t mention age when she submits a book in the publishing business. “Publishing has utterly to a publisher and doubts that any other agent changed,” says Paul Theroux, who published his does “unless the author’s extreme youth is a sell- first novel in 1967 at the age of 26, and his most ing point.” She has clients over 70 “whose powers recent, Mother Land, in 2017. “I remember when it are undiminished if not stronger than ever.” was hardly a business, more a series of friendships—

Authors Guild Bulletin 19 Paul Theroux adds, “After publishing four novels I applied for a Guggenheim and was turned down. I applied again a few years later and was CERTAINLY, WE’VE ALL BEEN turned down again. I was dismayed but I learned AWARE OF WRITERS WHO a valuable lesson: a writer does not really need a Genius Grant or a fellowship, or a position in a WE WISHED HAD STOPPED university, and indeed may for various reasons be EARLIER...BUT THERE impeded by such things. I have never gotten any ARE ALWAYS WONDERFUL free money. If you write well, and keep at it, and occasionally resort to reportage, you can make EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE— a living. Many writers fail for obvious reasons— PENELOPE FITZGERALD because they write badly or are bereft or ideas. The one-book author often complains to large COMES TO MIND INSTANTLY. audiences of how hard it is to write a second book. Does it not occur to that person that he or she has nothing to say?” Sue Miller doesn’t think writing necessar- ily gets better with age. “Certainly, we’ve all been aware of writers who we wished had stopped ear- lunches, letters, long phone calls. That ended in the lier, the later work seemed such a falling off. But mid-to-late 1980s, when marketers and trend-spot- if you’re a writer, what are you to do? (Though ters took over, and small publishers were absorbed Roth seems to have enjoyed the not-writing of his by the corporate giants, the big money people and last years.) But there are always wonderful excep- the bluffers. This was the end of any true risk-taking tions to the rule—Penelope Fitzgerald comes in publishing, oddly enough.” to mind instantly.” Neugeboren says since he started publishing Patricia Bosworth says, “I believe you can half a century ago, “The market for novels is less keep going as a writer if you think you have some- friendly...harder to get my books into print, but I thing more you want to say, something you long do manage to get them there...Three of my recent to share. I. B. Singer once said, ‘The more mem- novels went to more than 30 publishers before ories you have, the more you have lived.’ Right finding homes, and then received splendid reviews now I’m researching a book about racism and and decent sales. Then again, two decades ago, my sex and politics just before the Cold War and the most commercially successful book, Imagining time I lived through and observed as a little girl. Robert, was passed on by 41 publishers before it This excites me, keeps me going. It’s the most found a home, yet went on to be a New York Times challenging, complicated, difficult project I’ve Notable Book, the basis for a PBS documentary, ever tackled. I like to think I’ll be able to pull it a Book of the Month club selection, etcetera.” off because I am a slightly better writer, and yes, I am wiser, too.” Improving with age? Redefining the writerly self “Many writers have only one book in them, no matter what their age,” says Vicky Bijur. “I know of Hilma Wolitzer, a self-proclaimed late bloomer, fiction writers in their late seventies who make a has lately found herself writing poems. decision not to continue publishing novels, even if “They’re a lot shorter than novels, but not real- a publisher would buy them, because they feel they ly easier,” she says. “Some have been published are no longer at the top of their game.” and others not. I hadn’t dealt with rejection for

20 11 Over 70: Writers Who Persevere ages and waiting six months to hear about a poem the Times Book Review called ‘The Literati.’ Yes, at 88 isn’t easy...I don’t think I have the same fre- I’m 90. And, yes, I intend to continue to write netic energy that stoked my early work (or some and draw. If my children ever found out that I of those handy nouns), but I’m still awakened at didn’t have any more deadlines, they’d ask me night sometimes by the lines of a poem.” to take their children off their hands for a day. Other changes have to do with productivity No thanks.” and energy. And then there is his friend Jules Feiffer, who “Having just finished a novel,” says Sue Miller, also turned 90 this winter, and whose overlapping “I can say that I was aware of it taking more con- careers as a cartoonist (Village Voice and Playboy), scious concentration, more willed attentiveness playwright (Little Murders), screenwriter (Carnal to the whole, than has been the case in the past. Knowledge) and children’s book author turned out And it certainly took longer to write than I’ve been to be an extended tune-up—proof that your cre- used to taking.” ative life can get better with age and blossom in In the last decade Lynne Sharon Schwartz has unexpected ways. In his eighties, when his hear- also started publishing poetry and has three col- ing was increasingly a problem and “the notion lections out. The nature of her short stories has of doing more theater touched on the ridiculous,” changed. “It seems a new voice has emerged,” she he moved to Long Island and started writing a says. “Not exactly surreal but somewhat removed three-volume noir graphic novel, fulfilling his from reality—an ironic, skeptical and wryly comic childhood dream of becoming a professional voice. I love this new development; it feels like a cartoonist. The first volume made The New York kind of freedom. As if now that I don’t have to Times bestseller list. A few months ago, The establish a reputation, I can do whatever I like, Tablet, an online lefty Jewish magazine, offered explore and experiment.” him a regular spot as a cartoonist: Feiffer’s Some writers are busier than ever. At 80, American Follies. Beverly Lowry is often on the road. She’s work- “It’s as much excitement as I’ve had in a very ing on her 11th book, “a nonfiction book requir- long time,” he says. “In my dotage, everything I’ve ing interviews, courthouse and library archival been doing is more exciting than anything research, travel. I just returned from a 350-mile I’ve done in a very long time, and it’s all very acci- each way trip to various locales in Mississippi... dental. I’ve lived a life of entire improvisation and I work hard to keep in shape both physically and it’s a wonderful life.” mentally, so that I can do what I most want to do, which is deeply think and write and think.” Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is a writer in Southern After illustrator Ed Sorel’s 25-year association California. She is the host of Writers on Writing with The New Yorker ended, he turned his atten- on KUCI-FM and teaches at Gotham Writer’s tion to books. Workshop. Her work appears in USA Noir: Best of “I still regard myself as essentially an art- the Akashic Noir Series and her book, Pen on Fire: ist, but one who sometimes writes. Mary Astor’s A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Purple Diary landed me on the front page of The Within is in its 11th printing. New York Times Book Review, with a rave from Woody Allen. That encouraged me to continue writing for adults. I’m now at work on a memoir that will reproduce some of my political satires and will also expose some of the criminal activities of the last 13 presidents. I’m fortunate to have Ann Close, my long-time editor at Knopf, still on hand to help me. I also do a monthly page in

Authors Guild Bulletin 21 It is increasingly common for authors to ask HYBRID themselves whether they would be better off publishing a particular book on their own or mov - ing to self-publishing altogether. The inability PUBLISHING: to sell a book to a publisher, bad contract terms, disagreements with an editor, low royalties and WHAT YOU delays in receiving royalties, or the runaway success of an acquaintance’s self-published book— NEED TO any number of factors can cause authors to think about taking matters into their own hands. Given these and other reasons, self-publishing KNOW can make a lot of sense. Authors, after all, have exclusive rights to their works, the fruits of their labor. Why shouldn’t they be the ones making Self-publishing decisions about the life of their books instead of corporations? Why should they suffer rejections, gives authors far wait months or years for their books to come out, share their income or chase past-due royalty more control over checks? Self-publishing gives authors far more control over the publication of their books—but, the publication of as anyone who has self-published knows, it also comes with a lot more responsibility and work their books—but than traditional publishing. If writing a book can take over an author’s it comes with a lot life, publishing it and getting it into the hands of readers doubles the drain on one’s financial more responsibility. and personal resources. Self-publishing authors must lay out the text and images, hire copy editors, proofreaders and cover designers—or per- By Umair Kazi form these tasks themselves in order to get their manuscript ready for print. They must choose one or more entities to create e-book and print- on-demand (POD) files and distribute the book. Authors who want a high-quality print book must find printers and distributors, pay warehouse fees and, of course, taxes. Once that is all accomplished, authors have to market the book themselves, send out review copies and manage e-mail blasts and social media campaigns—all before the book’s launch. After publication comes the process of managing returns and keeping track of invoices. Authors who publish only e-books can avoid some of these tasks, but e-books create their own unique challenges, such as ensuring

22 Authors Guild Bulletin formatting and device compatibility and policing for piracy. It’s no wonder that authors overwhelmingly choose to sign traditional publishing contracts. AUTHORS TODAY NOW But authors today now have a middle road as HAVE A MIDDLE ROAD well, collectively known as “hybrid publishers.” Despite skepticism from some corners of the COLLECTIVELY KNOWN publishing world, the number of hybrid publish- AS “HYBRID PUBLISHERS”.... ers is growing because of a demand from authors THESE NEW AUTHOR- that traditional publishers are unable to meet. These new author-subsidized publishing models SUBSIDIZED PUBLISHING allow authors greater say in editorial and pub- MODELS ALLOW AUTHORS lishing decisions and offer much higher royalty rates, effectively occupying the space between GREATER SAY IN EDITORIAL pure self-publishing and traditional publishing. AND PUBLISHING DECISIONS Unlike traditional publishers, they do not pay AND OFFER MUCH advances and they require the author to pay part (often half) of the up-front costs. The model is HIGHER ROYALTY RATES, more of a partnership where both parties share EFFECTIVELY OCCUPYING the costs and profits equally. Such publishing arrangements are an especially attractive alter- THE SPACE BETWEEN PURE native for authors who are juggling writing with SELF-PUBLISHING AND a day job and who have little time to devote to the TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING. many tasks involved in self-publishing. Because many hybrid publishers are relatively new to the market, there have been reports of bad actors trying to take advantage of authors, and it has been hard to know which hybrid publishers are trustworthy and will provide the most support. to have a clearly defined editorial mission and As a result, earlier this year, the Independent submissions vetting process, policies that vanity Book Publishers Association (IBPA), with input publishing lacks. Another states that hybrid pub- from the Authors Guild, issued a set of criteria lishers must publish under their own imprints for hybrid publishing—the first of its kind in the and assign their own ISBNs. By aligning hybrid- industry. These criteria were developed with publishing practices with traditional publish- the goal of harmonizing and setting concrete ing, the risks to authors will be reduced and the standards for publishing’s newest sector, and quality of books published this way improved. inspiring confidence among authors interested Indeed, some hybrid publishers act as traditional in hybrid publishing who might otherwise be publishers in every way, aside from the cost- and deterred by the uncertainty and risk. The crite- profit-sharing model. ria also serve to draw clear distinctions between The first thing to request from a hybrid pub- hybrid publishing and the various author-sub- lisher is a list of every service they provide and sidized publishing models commonly known as the cost of each to you. Sometimes, they will “vanity publishing,” which allow anyone to pub- tell you that costs will depend on the length of lish as long as they pay the costs. For instance, the book, the number of images, if printed, the one IBPA criterion requires hybrid publishers type of paper, etc. Make sure you get as close an

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 23 estimate as they can provide and a list of every up-front costs or a lower royalty on the back end cost you will be responsible for. Once you have a as compensation, make sure that the contract clear understanding of costs, ask for the contract. includes a detailed list that clearly defines the The Authors Guild legal department has created activities the publisher has agreed to undertake a checklist, which we share with members during and discuss how those activities will pay off. their negotiations with hybrid publishers, to help A general to market promise is not enough. them decide whether the publisher is right for An author’s dilemma about whether to take them. Not infrequently, we see hybrid publish- the hybrid publishing route neither begins nor ing contracts from new publishers that contain ends with the contract. Even with strong con- major red flags. These include: tract terms, you will want to make sure that the 1. A perpetual, or lifetime, grant of copyright publisher delivers the quality it promises at the and/or termination clauses that make it very start, when it is trying to get your investment. In difficult for authors to end the contract and get this regard, there’s no more important resource their rights back. Hybrid publishing agreements than the author community itself. The Guild should have a fixed term with an option to extend. keeps a record of complaints we receive about They should never be perpetual. all types of publishers, including hybrid press- 2. Overreaching by asking for the right to es, so you can always contact us with questions exploit the work in other formats, especially in about a certain publisher’s reputation. There high-value media such as film, television, multi- are also numerous blogs and online communi - media, character, world or merchandising. Series ties—including the newly launched AG Member writers should be especially cautious of any Communities—where you can seek input and terms that allow the publisher to create “deriva- guidance from other authors about their experi- tive” content. This could be a way for a predatory ences. The author-investment aspect of hybrid publisher to capture rights in characters or set- publishing does make it riskier than traditional ting and exploit them without restriction. Also, publishing, but with research and the right guid- you should always retain the audiobook rights, ance, you can separate the wheat from the chaff unless you believe the publisher is your best bet and put your book in trustworthy hands. for exploiting them. 3. Unclear payment terms and hidden ser - vice charges. Hybrid publishing contracts should define clearly what the service charges are and if any deductions from royalty income will be taken. Authors should keep in mind that “net proceeds” from a book commonly means sales income less taxes and discounts. Make sure the definition of “net proceeds” is clearly understood and watch out for any definitions that include additional deductions, such as commissions, credit card transaction fees, etc. 4. A royalty share of net proceeds lower than 50 percent. In general, the more responsibility the publisher takes for marketing the book the lower the royalty becomes, but you should still try to keep your share of the net proceeds at 50 percent or higher. If the publisher has promised to do marketing and you have agreed to more

24 Hybrid Publishing: What You Need to Know Why We What constitutes behavior Sample Morals “subject to widespread public Clauses from Oppose Morals condemnation,” “moral turpitude” Current Publishing Clauses in or similar terms used in these clauses Agreements Book Contracts varies widely and often has as much “In the event that Author is as anything to do with a nation’s publicly accused of the violation The Authors Guild objects to current sociopolitical climate. of law, the infringement or publishers’ new and increasing use Before McCarthyism came to an invasion of the rights of any third of so-called “morals clauses”—or end in 1954, it destroyed the careers party, inciting infringement or “morality clauses”—in book contracts. of a significant number of writers, invasion of third-party rights These contract provisions allow filmmakers, artists, academics and by others, or is otherwise accused publishers to terminate a contract, other left-leaning intellectuals. of libel, slander, or defamatory and may even require an author to In 1990, before the courts declared conduct, or any other conduct that repay portions of the advance already such pledges unconstitutional, the subjects, or could be reasonably received, if the author is accused National Endowment for the Arts, anticipated to subject Author of immoral, illegal or publicly bowing to pressure from cultural or Publisher to ridicule, contempt, scorn, hatred, or censure by condemned behavior. Publishers conservatives, mandated that grant the general public or which is insist they need the clauses to protect applicants had to sign “obscenity likely to materially diminish themselves in the event an author’s pledges,” promising not to use public the sales of the Work, Publisher reputation becomes so tarnished funds to create works of a morally may terminate...” that it will hurt sales. But most of questionable nature. Now publishers “Publisher may terminate... these clauses are too broad and allow apparently want the ability to if Author’s conduct evidences a publisher to terminate based on terminate authors’ contracts for a lack of due regard for public individual accusations or the vague failing to predict how their words will conventions and morals, or notion of “public condemnation”— be received by a changing public. Author commits a crime or which can occur all too easily in these This is a business risk like any other, any other act that will tend to days of viral social media. yet publishers are attempting to lay bring Author into serious the risk solely at the feet of authors. The ambiguity and subjectivity contempt, and such behavior Worst of all, morals clauses of these clauses (see samples below) would materially damage the chill free speech. A writer at risk of make them ripe for abuse. Publishers Work’s reputation or sales.” losing a book deal is likely to refrain should not have sole discretion to “Publisher may at any from voicing a controversial opinion decide whether accusations are true. time prior to publication choose or taking an unusual stand on an And if the accusations are false, not to publish the Work if past the publisher should not subject the important issue. Women writers and or future illegal conduct of author to termination. Publishing writers of color, already potential the Author, inconsistent with houses should perform due diligence trolling targets, may choose not to the Author’s reputation at the and determine whether the book speak out in their own defense for time this Agreement is executed and its author fit their objectives fear of drawing Internet fire that and unknown to Publisher, before entering into agreements. might result in a contract termination. is made public and results Broad morals clauses give publishers The voices and opinions of those in sustained, widespread public yet another unfair way out of a who are already most at risk of being condemnation of the Author contract when they decide they silenced are put at even greater risk that materially diminishes don’t want to publish a book for any by these overbroad clauses. They give the sales potential of the Work. number of reasons. the publisher the power to police an Should Publisher elect not to The moral conduct of an author’s behavior and speech. publish the Work pursuant to author is not germane to the author’s In the rare instance when this section, Publisher shall fulfillment of the contract; nor an author has been convicted of give the Author timely written should it be a basis for termination, an illegal act or has publicly admitted notice of such decision, all rights much less returning the advance. to immoral behavior so deleterious in the Work shall revert to the The author’s side of the bargain that it compels the publisher to Author, no further advances shall is to deliver the book promised in end its relationship with the author, be payable, and the Author a timely manner, not to uphold any other provisions exist that allow for shall not be required to repay unspecified standards of behavior. the termination of a book contract. any sums paid to date.”

Authors Guild Bulletin 25 AGENT’S CORNER

ARE MORALITY a clear way to terminate a contract if What’s Behind CLAUSES IMMORAL? an author’s reputation was damaged Morality Clauses? in a manner that would negatively From the viewpoint of publishers, AN AGENT’S affect the sales of the book. the provision is ostensibly designed PERSPECTIVE The clauses devised by to put authors on notice that their various publishers differ in often misdeeds can harm their reputation, As a literary agent I’ve never significant ways, with some far more cost them money or even destroy felt the need to perform a stringent than others. What they their career. All of which is true. But background check on my clients. all have in common is the publisher’s it also gives publishers another way But the growing appearance right to terminate a contract to get out of the publishing contract, of so-called morality clauses in its sole discretion if actions or because the addition of morality in publishing contracts has alleged actions of the author lead language provides the publisher made me wonder if I should to public condemnation. with remedies for conduct that do be investigating whether my Here is an example of such not have a valid place in the contract. authors have ever been accused a clause, which may help us In short, we are talking about of domestic abuse or sexual identify some of the problems the application of legal sanctions to molestation or driving while inherent in them: moral transgressions, though there intoxicated or shoplifting. is seldom any relationship between Authors who don’t believe that’s In the event Author is publicly the performance of a book and the their publisher’s or agent’s accused of an act of moral character of its author. business should read their latest turpitude (substantiated by book contract. Unfortunately, the preponderance of evidence, Defining Immorality your personal life is becoming a court decision, or Author’s If the language of morality clauses our business—or could be if a own admission), a violation were as highly detailed as that publisher terminates your contract of any Federal law or any other of criminal codes, and if the burden for a violation of the morality conduct which subjects or of proof approached the level of provision. Some clauses might could be reasonably anticipated a court trial, agents might not have require a full refund of all advances. to subject Author or Publisher as much concern as many now How did this intolerable to public ridicule, contempt, do. But a close reading of many of situation arise? scorn, hatred or censure, or the provisions offers no assurance Morality clauses were could materially diminish the that publishers need to be diligent created by publishers to address potential sale of the Work, in applying them. For example, situations where authors Publisher will have the right scarcely a word or phrase in the under contract are the subject to terminate this agreement above example carries an objective, of accusations of criminal or upon written notice to Author concrete meaning. To agents scandalous conduct that the of the public disclosure of such trained to scrutinize contractual publishers believe will damage conduct or alleged conduct. language, phrases like “moral their reputation and/or harm Publisher will have the right turpitude,” “ridicule,” “contempt,” their ability to profitably sell to demand from Author and “scorn,” “hatred” and “censure” beg the authors’ books. They were receive payment within thirty for definition. But they beg in vain. seldom found in contracts until (30) days of the demand, “Violation of any Federal law”? recently, when social media a sum equal to all advances Which of the tens of thousands— made public accusations more paid to Author under the terms or is it hundreds of thousands?— common. Publishers realized of this Agreement that have of statutes are we talking about? that nothing in their existing not been recouped by Publisher Even such legalisms as contract boilerplates gave them prior to said termination. “preponderance of evidence,” “court

26 Authors Guild Bulletin decision” or “author’s own admission” The potential for abuse of can be ambiguous. Tell-all memoirs, this process is unsettling, for it gives for instance, are often dependent publishers an easy way to cancel on admissions of shocking conduct, contracts about which they have Presenting and indeed publishers often second thoughts. If, for instance, a New Column encourage authors to make the kinds the first book of an expensive multi- of revelations that sell more books book contract flops, an allegation We are happy to launch but also tend to provoke strong of immoral behavior by the author our most recent addition to objections and even outrage by could make it easier to break the the Bulletin, Agents Corner. offended readers. And, of course, contract for the remaining books. The column will appear it is not uncommon for sales of a The mere existence of a morality occasionally in future issues, book to be boosted by allegations clause is a form of intimidation with the unique perspective of its author’s moral turpitude. whose dampening impact cannot of experienced agents adding Finally, in the sample clause be underestimated, for it may be to the broader conversation. quoted above, the publisher not only the first step down the slippery has the right to terminate a contract slope of self-censorship, publisher on the basis of “public disclosure” censorship or political censorship. of detrimental conduct but even disclosure of alleged conduct. One Solutions does not have to be an eminent The advent of the 24-hour news jurist to find such vague language cycle and the rise of social media disturbing and potentially dangerous. have substantially raised the To the extent the clauses incidence of charges—whether true are based on “immoral” conduct, or false—against public (and indeed moral values are both inherently private) figures, including authors. subjective and defined by Because publishers have deep community standards. But which community? For every interest pockets, they are big targets for group there is an opposite interest lawsuits or for pressure by aggrieved group. What may arouse scorn parties to terminate contracts among black people may not offend or recall published books. So it’s others; what gay people find hateful no surprise that there has been may be a matter of indifference to an increase in the use of morality some straight people. When you boil clauses and in publisher resistance it down to its essence, a publisher’s to efforts to completely eliminate decision to cancel or withdraw a them from agreements. But I hope book on the grounds that the author I have made it clear that as things has given offense to somebody stand, authors are in genuine or subjected himself or herself or jeopardy of being victimized by the the publisher to “ridicule, contempt, hasty or irresponsible application scorn or censure” may too often of those clauses. As policing boil down to yielding to whoever author behavior is a non-starter yells the loudest, whether the for agents and publishers, the accusation has been verified or not. logical course is to negotiate with Some morality clause publishers to modify the egregious prohibitions may make sense for features I have cited. The language authors writing for religious publishers, must be revisited and every term where moral codes (based, for scrupulously defined so that instance, on the Ten Commandments) publishers and authors may both are, understandably, more explicit. feel reasonably protected. But for those writing for the general trade book market, the idea of —Richard Curtis a publisher being able to terminate a contract based on its claim of Richard Curtis is a literary agent, a breach of moral standards raises author and author advocate. He is a grave First Amendment and other former president of the Association Constitutional issues. of Authors’ Representatives.

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 27 THE HARPER LEE CASE HIGHLIGHTS Harper Lee THE NEED FOR AUTHORS TO PLAN FOR THE and Estate DISPOSITION OF THEIR PROPERTY Planning for RIGHTS. Authors

By Edward M. McCoyd Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, has made headlines during the past few years regarding decision-making over her works late in her life and after her death. The press coverage raises issues relevant to other writers as they consider the handling of their books and other copyright-protected properties after they pass away.

28 Authors Guild Bulletin Go Set a Watchman characters. In May, the estate and the production company announced that they had settled their In 2015, 55 years after the publication of To Kill dispute, and that the production would proceed on a Mockingbird, and when Ms. Lee was 89 years schedule, and it opened on December 13, 2018. old, her second novel, Go Set a Watchman, was published. Although marketed as a sequel to Unsealing of Last Will Mockingbird, Watchman is actually a first draft and Testament of Mockingbird that Ms. Lee wrote in the 1950s. Watchman’s emergence created shock waves in Ms. Lee executed a will in February 2016, eight the literary community, given its starkly different days before she died. Following Ms. Lee’s death, representation of Atticus Finch, the attorney who Ms. Carter persuaded the local probate court fights against racial injustice in the Great Depres- where Ms. Lee had lived to seal the will from pub- sion-era rural American South in Mockingbird. lic access, based on the author’s desire for privacy. In Watchman, he is portrayed as a segregationist Typically, a deceased person’s will becomes when he is an older man. a public document once it has been filed in court The release of Watchman drew public scru- with a request that it be probated, i.e., its valid- tiny of Tonja B. Carter, an attorney who rep- ity established and the executor named in the will resented Ms. Lee during her lifetime, and who authorized to collect any property the deceased has handled the author’s estate following her person (the “decedent”) has left behind; to pay death in 2016. Some wondered if Ms. Carter had any outstanding taxes, expenses, and debts; and to pressured the elderly Ms. Lee into allowing the distribute the remaining assets to beneficiaries as novel’s publication. directed in the will. The New York Times sued to overturn the Harper Lee’s Literary Estate sealing of the will, on the grounds that wills filed in probate courts in Alabama are typically public In any case, Ms. Carter has been an active steward records. The estate relented, the will was made of Ms. Lee’s literary legacy. She helps run a non- available, and the Times and other media outlets profit organization created by Ms. Lee during her reported on its contents extensively. lifetime. It presents a theatrical version of Mock- ingbird in Monroeville, Alabama, the novelist’s Ms. Lee’s Estate Plan hometown, each year. The estate also approved a graphic novel adaptation of Mockingbird by Fred The will made reference to a trust called the Fordham that was published by HarperCollins in Mockingbird Trust, created by Ms. Lee five years October 2018 and is planning the establishment earlier. The Times reported that the will was what of a Harper Lee museum and related attractions is known as a “pour-over will,” providing that any in Monroeville. property remaining in the estate of the “testa- On the protective side, Ms. Carter filed liti- tor”—the person making the will—be added to the gation in 2018 against a theater production com- trust after her death. It also reported that the in- pany to which Ms. Lee had licensed stage rights to tellectual property rights to Ms. Lee’s novels were Mockingbird in 2015. The lawsuit sought a declar- granted to the trust. atory judgment from a federal court in Alabama, The Times story stated that, according to the charging that the version of Mockingbird that court file, Ms. Lee’s closest living relatives at the Aaron Sorkin had written for the play would vio- time of her death were a niece and three nephews late a requirement in the licensing agreement that (Ms. Lee never married or had children), and that the play not derogate or depart in any manner from these four individuals were to receive an undisclosed the spirit of the Ms. Lee’s novel nor alter any of its portion of the estate as beneficiaries of the trust.

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 29 Finally, the Times reported that Ms. Lee’s will A trust agreement will also provide direction named Ms. Carter as executor of the estate gen- regarding the trustee’s distribution of trust assets, erally, and that Ms. Carter was given significant such as periodic distributions of income or prin- authority to manage Ms. Lee’s literary properties. cipal to one or more beneficiaries during speci- The will also provided for Ms. Carter to receive fied time frames or for certain purposes. (Many of compensation for her role in handling the estate. these trust provisions have significant income and estate tax implications, the details of which are Authors Take Note beyond the scope of this article, but which should be discussed with tax professionals.) The Harper Lee case highlights the need for au- Again, by way of example, in New York State thors to plan for the ultimate disposition of their a grantor who sets up a lifetime trust can be a co- unique property rights in the event of their inca- trustee of the trust as well as the sole beneficiary. pacity or death. This article is intended to provide Lifetime trust agreements often name the grantor an outline of the matters they should consider and as beneficiary until death, at which time one or implement in doing so. more other individuals—such as a spouse and or children—will themselves become the beneficia- Trusts, Wills, and Other Methods ries either of outright distribution, or ongoing of Transferring Property management and distribution, of the trust income and property. A successor trustee will also be Unlike a will, whose provisions are carried out named, especially if the grantor is the only trustee after the person making the will dies, some trusts at the time of death. can be set up to manage and distribute a person’s Neither a will nor a trust is inherently better property during his or her lifetime. Such trusts are for directing how property is to be handled and known as “lifetime trusts” or “inter vivos trusts.” distributed after a person dies. The preferability A person can also direct through a will that “testa- of methods for end-of-life planning vary based on mentary trusts” be created and funded with estate the individual circumstances, needs, and wishes of assets after the individual’s death. the person creating her estate plan. While probated wills can be viewed by the Oft-cited advantages of trusts include privacy, public, lifetime trusts are private contracts not avoiding probate, sheltering assets from estate available for public examination. In New York or income tax, Medicaid planning purposes, or State, a lifetime trust is created through a written protection from creditors or estranged spouses. and signed agreement between the person who In addition, a trust may provide for a person’s own places her property into the trust (the “grantor”), care if the person eventually becomes incapacitat- and at least one trustee. In some cases, the grantor ed and unable to effectively manage her or his own may also be the trustee. property and affairs (when making a will people In addition to naming a trustee or co-trust- often grant someone a power of attorney simulta- ees to manage the property in the trust, the trust neously, for the same purpose). agreement names one or more persons or entities On the other hand, a will is often a simpler (such as a charity) as “beneficiaries” of the trust. and less expensive method of implementing a cli- The grantor can be the sole beneficiary of the trust. ent’s wishes for the disposition of assets, literary There may also be multiple beneficiaries. The trust or otherwise, after death. Although a probate pro- agreement lists specific powers of the trustee, ceeding can become drawn out and costly if any of such as to invest assets in the trust, sell or rent real the surviving family members contest the validity property, hire accountants and other experts, and of the will, most probates are uncontested, with take additional steps to protect the interests of the the court validating the will and empowering the trust beneficiaries. executor to begin collecting the estate property

30 Harper Lee and Estate Planning for Authors within a relatively short period of time. Even when a will is contested, the court can quickly authorize preliminary letters to the nominated executor to enable him or her to collect and sell estate assets WITH THOUGHTFUL and take all other steps necessary to administer PLANNING, AUTHORS the estate, short of making distributions to beneficiaries, while the probate contest is pending. CAN PROVIDE FOR THEIR In Surrogate courts in New York State, the fee LITERARY PROPERTY to file a probate petition is modest in relation to the TO BE ADMINISTERED IN size of the estate. The maximum filing fee is $1,250, which applies if the value of the assets passing ACCORDANCE WITH under the will exceeds $500,000. While a portion of THEIR WISHES AFTER THEY estate funds are applied to hire an attorney to represent the executor, lawyers also need to be paid to PASS AWAY, ENSURING assist in the administration of a living trust, often THATTHE FRUITS OF THEIR during the grantor’s life, and after the grantor’s LIFETIME WORK AS WRITERS death as well. Similarly, just as an executor named in a will is often entitled to be paid commissions out ARE CARRIED FORWARD of estate funds, a trustee of a trust is typically paid IN THE WAY THEY INTEND. trustee commissions out of the trust principal. In other words, trust and estate costs do not vary significantly except in certain circumstances which need to be explored with competent legal advice. Assets can also be passed on to others absent a will or a trust, such as where two people own property jointly with “rights of survivorship,” giving the with some degree of publishing expertise, to ad- surviving person complete ownership when the minister the author’s copyrighted works after the other joint owner dies, or where an owner of a bank author’s death. or brokerage account, insurance policy, or other A properly drawn will usually grants exten- asset designates a “paid-on-death” beneficiary to sive powers to the executor to carry out his or her take ownership or proceeds when the first owner duties as a fiduciary of the estate. Typical among passes away. These transfers take place outside of these would be the power to take whatever steps probate, since they happen automatically rather are necessary to collect the deceased person’s than pursuant to a will. property, manage and preserve a decedent’s busi- Whether wills or trusts, or both, are utilized, ness assets during the administration of the estate, estate planning is a complex and highly specialized and sell any assets as needed, in the executor’s dis- area, with numerous tax and other implications to cretion, to pay estate obligations and make dis- take into account, all of which should be discussed tributions to beneficiaries. Specific powers are with an attorney. granted to trustees of lifetime or testamentary trusts as well. Literary Executors and Trustees If you are an author and make a will, you can name a co-executor to take on the role of admin- Authors need to consider their writings and intel- istering your intellectual property rights. You can lectual property, in addition to their other prop- also name a co-trustee for this purpose for any erty, when doing their estate planning. A key step trust you create that will hold intellectual property in this process is naming an individual, ideally rights to your works.

Authors Guild Bulletin 31 You can empower this co-executor or co- estate in accordance with the will. The executor trustee (known as a “literary executor” or “liter- may order certificates from the court stating that ary trustee”) to issue licenses for the use of your the letters have been issued. These certificates are work; collect royalties under your book publish- then submitted to financial institutions and others ing agreements and other intellectual property in possession of a decedent’s assets, so that the as- licenses; exercise any contractual rights to ter- sets may be turned over to the estate. minate copyright licenses; make determinations When a publisher is notified that an author regarding any unpublished manuscripts or other whose work it publishes has died, the publisher writings you may have left behind, such as whether may ask for one of these certificates of letters tes- to enter into agreements for their publication, or tamentary, to satisfy itself of the executor’s author- to ensure that they are not published; and manage ity either to collect royalties under the agreement online properties like a website or Facebook page or to identify the surviving family member or other dedicated to you as an author. If you have set up person to whom the publisher should pay the roy- a lifetime trust during your lifetime, the literary alties going forward. executor you name in your will would presumably Similarly, the court will issue letters of trust- be the same person acting as the literary trustee of eeship to the trustee of a trust created under a your lifetime trust. will (a testamentary trust). If the author’s liter- To guide or instruct your literary executor or ary estate is to be managed by a testamentary trustee on matters over which you’ve opted not trustee, the trustee will obtain certificates of let- to give complete discretion, you can provide a list ters of trusteeship to submit to the publisher in of specific instructions or preferences in the will requesting that royalty payments be paid to the or trust agreement. You should also include a list trustee, who will in turn deposit them into the of all of your works, and contact information for trust and administer them for the benefit of the associated agents, publishers, and licensees. beneficiary or beneficiaries, as directed by the trust provisions set forth in the will. The court Granting Your Copyright does not issue letters of trusteeship for trustees Interests acting under trusts created during the lifetime of the decedent (inter vivos or living trusts). Trustees If you place your copyrights to your works, includ- of inter vivos trusts can act without needing ing the rights you have under your book publishing a court certificate to prove their authority to and other copyright licensing agreements (such as manage trust assets. the right to receive royalty payments), into a trust Authors can also specify directly in their pub- by way of an assignment to the trustee, the trustee lishing agreements the individual who, following will administer this trust property on behalf of the author’s death (if the contract is still in force), the trust beneficiaries. If you have a will, you may will take over the agreement and collect future assign your remaining copyright and contract royalty payments. rights outright to specific individuals you name as beneficiaries in the will, or you may grant these Digital Assets items to a trust previously created or created in the will itself. One other area that deserves an author’s attention is his or her digital assets. During the two-year Redirection of Royalty Payments period prior to his death in 1990, the great musi- cal composer Leonard Bernstein began writing In New York State, a court that approves a will for his autobiography, using a word-processing pro- probate issues “letters testamentary,” which au- gram on his personal computer. Mr. Bernstein re- thorize the executor to administer the decedent’s portedly saved the work in a password-protected

32 Harper Lee and Estate Planning for Authors file, and since his death, no one has ever been any digital assets you want deleted (such as for able to access it. privacy reasons), and whether you direct that Nowadays, digital technologies are widely certain items pass on to specific people (such as used for everyday activities such as posting to someone you specifically want to maintain your social media; taking and storing photos; commu- literary website). nicating via e-mail and text messaging; sharing Authors will sometimes leave their physical documents; paying bills; engaging in banking and papers (like unpublished writings) and certain stock trading; booking travel and accumulating other personal items to an archive at a library or airline mileage points; and keeping personal notes. institution. You might also consider directing Authors may use digital programs for additional that printed copies of some of your electronical- professional tasks, including writing manuscripts, ly-stored communications and documents that maintaining websites, blogging, and otherwise you have created be provided to such archives marketing themselves and their books. after your death. Realistically, you should antici- When creating your estate plan as an author, pate the possibility that the designated recipient you will want to be sure to make specific provisions will decline to accept them, in which case alter- governing all of these types of “digital assets.” Any nate provisions for the disposition of these items will or trust you create or power of attorney you should be made. grant should contain a “digital assets clause” giving the executor, the trustee, or the person you des- Conclusion ignate as your “agent” through a power of attorney (each of these are also known as the “fiduciary”) With thoughtful planning, authors can pro- express power to collect and access your comput- vide for their literary property to be adminis- erized devices and all content and data stored on tered in accordance with their wishes after they them, as well as your internet-based accounts and pass away, ensuring that the fruits of their life- associated data. The will, trust, or power of attor- time work as writers are carried forward in the ney should also explicitly grant the fiduciary the way they intend. power to access the content of your e-mails, which may be critical for gaining access to your other Ed McCoyd practices law in Garden City, New online accounts (such as with banks, etc.). York and is of counsel at the trusts and estates firm Without these express written authorizations, McCoyd, Parkas & Ronan LLP. He previously worked a fiduciary may not be able to access your digital in the legal departments at McGraw-Hill Education assets without violating certain federal and state and the Association of American Publishers, and laws governing privacy and computers and elec- as Director of Legal Services at the Authors Guild. tronic data. Providers of internet-based services He can be reached at [email protected] may also be unwilling to provide the fiduciary with or (516) 877-7000. access to a decedent’s account without the issu- ance of a court order ensuring that the provider can do so without violating the law. In addition to providing the fiduciary with clear legal authority to access your digital assets, you will want to take steps to ensure the fiduciary’s technical access, such as by providing a separate document containing your user names, passwords, and answers to security questions. Furthermore, you should leave behind specific instructions regarding which digital assets you want preserved,

Authors Guild Bulletin 33 One of the nation’s leading newspapers is attempt- THE OWNER ing an unprecedented rights grab, according to its writers. In the midst of contract negotiations with its newsroom staff, the Los Angeles Times, OF THE LOS purchased last year by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, has proposed that its journalists, as ANGELES a condition of employment, cede control of any books or other creative works made outside of TIMES WANTS their daily journalistic duties. The Los Angeles Times Guild, a trade union representing some 400 newsroom staffers, has RIGHTS called the proposal “a new low in the newspaper industry,” pointing out that no other major news- TO BOOKS paper has such strict copyright restrictions. “If we have a book idea related to our work,” according to the Times Guild, “the company wants unfettered WRITTEN power to claim control over whether it gets written, who owns the copyright and what we might BY STAFF get paid for it.” We understand the pressures newspapers are under to meet the bottom line in today’s highly A brazen demand competitive media environment, but seeking to profit at the expense of employees’ independent to seize journalists’ creation is simply shameful. The law is well established that works created outside of the scope of rights conflicts employment are not “works made for hire,” and the rights to those works belong to their authors. with the most It is particularly concerning coming from an industry leader, as other news media may be basic principles tempted to make comparable grabs for journalists’ book rights. of copyright law Journalists are already suffering. They have taken the brunt of the decline in newspapers’ revenue in recent years, with many losing their jobs due to newspaper closures and layoffs (the number of newspaper jobs has plummeted by a staggering 60% since 1990) and forced to work on a freelance basis for less pay and no benefits. Requiring that staff writers turn over rights to their books on top of this is an underhanded way of capitalizing on the difficult straits that so many truly great journalists find themselves in. The Los Angeles Times Guild has demonstrated the necessity in empowering journalists through collective bargaining,

34 Authors Guild Bulletin since individually journalists may not be able to that works created outside of the scope of refuse the LA Times predatory demands. employment are not “works made for hire,” Without a doubt, many great books have and the rights to those works belong to been written by journalists based on stories they their authors. Particularly alarming is the researched as reporters. But the research, writ- desire to control what is written by your ing, and—most of all—the expression that a writer employees as it violates the free speech puts into the work produced for a newspaper ver- rights of journalists. sus a book could not be more distinct, and the LA Times’s unreasonable conflation of the two and As the nation’s largest and oldest soci- its demand to seize rights conflicts with the most ety of professional authors, on behalf of basic principles of copyright law. A newspaper our 10,000 members—and on behalf of all has no more right to books written by its journal- authors and journalists, who depend on ists than it has over facts or ideas generally. Even their copyrights to be able to continue their worse, it raises serious free speech concerns for a vital and necessary work—we stand with newspaper to take control over what stories can be the Los Angeles Times Guild and urge you written as books. to drop this egregious demand. “The LA Times must drop this egregious demand,” said Authors Guild president James Sincerely, Gleick. “A newspaper is meant to nurture its writ- Mary Rasenberger ers, not treat them as indentured servants. This ill- Executive Director, The Authors Guild conceived power play is an assault on authorship.” The following letter was sent to the owner of The Los Angeles Times on February 27, 2019.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong Owner and Executive Chairman The Los Angeles Times

Dear Dr. Soon-Shiong:

A newspaper is meant to nurture its writers, not treat them as indentured servants. So it is with great alarm that the Authors Guild received word, via the February 13 statement released by the Los Angeles Times Guild, of your paper’s unprecedented and shameful attempt to control any books or other creative works made outside of your employees’ daily journalistic duties.

We understand the pressures newspa - pers are under to meet the bottom line in today’s highly competitive media environment, but seeking to profit at the expense of employees’ independent creations is simply disgraceful. The law is well established

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 35 FOX NEWS Second Circuit’s decision approximately 1,400 radio and stands. While the case concerned television stations and make NETWORK the copying and distribution that programming searchable PREVAILS IN THE of television and radio by its clients via a text-based TVEYES CASE programming, it is significant search system (by using closed- for clarifying theso-called captioning transcripts). When In February 2018, the Second “transformative use” test of a client enters a search term, Circuit Court of Appeals fair use analysis for the rest the search engine displays a list handed down an opinion in of the copyright community. of clips that contain the term, Fox News Network, LLC v. The court’s interpretation and the client is able to watch TVEyes, Inc., a closely watched of “fair use” has been steadily any of the clips in question, and long-awaited case expanding for more than which can be up to 10 minutes regarding the fair use of a decade, especially when each. There is no limit to the copyrighted works. The court the use has been deemeda number of clips clients can watch, found that TVEyes’ practice “transformative” one, such as nor to how many times any one of copying, indexing and in our lawsuit against the clip can be watched. Interestingly, showing its clients clips of up Google Books search service. TVEyes had tried to license to 10 minutes of Fox News’ Fox News’ content, but when programming did not constitute Was Fox News’s it couldn’t reach an acceptable a “fair use” of Fox News’ content “transformed”? deal, it decided instead to copyrighted material. TVEyes TVEyes is a search engine for use the content without a license promptly filed a petition for broadcast media that is licensed and without paying any fees. review by the U.S. Supreme Court, to professional and corporate Meanwhile, TVEyes charges which was denied in December clients. Its business model is to its clients a license fee of $500 2018. This means that the record all programming from per month for the content.

LEGAL SERVICES SCORECARD From 5/1/2018– 233 51 51 2/1/2019, the Authors Book contract Agency contract Reversion of Guild Legal Services reviews reviews rights inquiries Department handled 985 legal inquiries. Included were:

36 Authors Guild Bulletin What’s fair about the service offered by TVEyes Is it a win for creators? “fair use”? provided a benefit to its clients, Contrary to common From most perspectives, this it also made practically all of misconception, creators are situation looks pretty unfair for Fox News’ content available to in favor of fair use. It allows the content creators, such as TVEyes subscribers and as our culture to flourish by Fox News, who did not authorize such interfered with Fox News’ making sure that creators can the use. However, the first market for the content. By contrast, build upon that which came court to look at the case, the in Authors Guild v. Google, the before. However, if the fair use district court, held that most Second Circuit deemed Google’s doctrine is taken too far, it of what TVEyes was doing— digitization of thousands of books threatens these principles and with the exception of enabling into a text-searchable database the very livelihood of creators, clients to download and send to be a fair use. In that case, who depend on the ability to clips by e-mail—was fair use Google only showed its users the use their works as they please, under the Copyright Act. More three lines around the search license the rights to develop specifically, the lower court term and imposed various limits and use them to others, and found that TVEyes’ indexing and to make sure its service was not create derivative works. This is excerpting of news programming used to read whole books; TVEyes, what happened in the Authors was a “transformative use” however, provided subscribers Guild v. Google case. The lower and that it was necessary for access to all of the content copied court’s finding of “fair use” in the TVEyes to copy all of Fox News’ to create a database with very TVEyes case was a clear example programming to accomplish few limitations or safeguards to of the kind of overreach that this purpose. The court also prevent abuse. Limiting clips authors feared after that decision. found that there was no resulting to 10 minutes was no help since Fortunately, the Second Circuit market harm to Fox News. most of the news segments were saw the light here and agreed that shorter than that. Further, the a use that is called “transformative” In the aftermath of fact that TVEyes’ clients included only because it adds a search Authors Guild v. Google multiple government agencies, engine component to the Disagreeing with the lower congressional offices, journalists works can indeed be harmful. court, the Second Circuit found and companies showed that This decision marks an important that while TVEyes’ use of there was a need for this kind step toward resetting the balance Fox News’ content was “slightly” of service. By providing this service to ensure that copyright law transformative, it was not a without a license from Fox News, does what it is supposed to do— fair use—contrary to recent case TVEyes was depriving Fox News protect artists’ ability to benefit law that has often conflated of a potentially important and from their work and ensure that the two analyses. Although profitable licensing opportunity. creators will keep on creating.

107 37 506 Inquiries on Inquiries regarding Other inquires, including electronic copyright law securing permissions rights, literary estates, contract disputes, including infringement, and privacy releases contract questions, periodical and multimedia registration, duration contracts, movie and television options, and fair use internet piracy, liability insurance, finding an agent, and attorney referrals

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 37 ADVOCACY NEWS

CONTROLLED Recently, Internet Archive’s In Capitol Records v. Open Library has started rejecting ReDigi, the Second Circuit Court DIGITAL LENDING: notices sent by Authors Guild held that reselling a digital file HERE WE GO AGAIN members asking that unauthorized without the copyright holder’s digital copies of their books permission is not fair use because “Controlled Digital Lending” or be taken down, saying that their the resales competed with the “CDL” is a recently invented legal e-lending system “operates legitimate copyright holder’s theory that allows libraries to justify consistently with the ‘Controlled sales. It found that market harm the scanning (or obtaining of scans) Digital Lending.’” There are was likely because the lower- of print books and the e-lending two problems with the justification. priced resales were sold to the of those digital copies to users First, although Internet Archive same customers who would have without obtaining authorization managed to convince the State otherwise purchased new licenses. from the copyright owners. This of California that it is a “library,” In this regard, the court emphasized past October legal scholars issued a crucial distinction between 1 as a website open to the whole a position statement on CDL world, it is not a library with a resales of physical media and and an accompanying white paper, defined user base in any traditional resales of digital content, noting the culmination of several academic sense. Second, copyright law that unlike physical copies, digital meetings on the subject. The does not support the practice of content does not deteriorate statement and the paper argue even traditional libraries offering from use and thus directly substitutes that it is fair use for libraries to scan unauthorized scans of books new licensed digital copies. or obtain scans of physical books to its users on an e-lending basis, The same rationale that they own and loan those books despite the patina of legality in applies to the unauthorized resale or lending of e-books. through e-lending technologies, the white paper. In other words, The practice of allowing libraries provided they apply certain it’s a theory being pushed by restrictions akin to physical library to digitize and circulate copies powerful advocates, not protected made from physical books without loans, such as lending only one practice or law. copy at a time (either the digital authorization, when the same CDL relies on an incorrect books are available or potentially copy or the physical copy) and only interpretation of copyright’s for a defined loan period. available in the digital market, fair use doctrine to give legal directly competes with the market A couple of dozen organizations, cover to Open Library and including Internet Archive, as for legitimate e-book licenses, potentially to outright piracy— ultimately usurping a valuable well as a number of academics CDL users scanning books and academic librarians, are piece of the market from authors without permission and lending and copyright holders. listed as having signed the position those copies via the Internet. statement. Several major library CDL’s supporters tout their By restricting access to one user theory as a way to make more systems, including the California at a time for each copy that State University libraries and readily available older books from the library owns, the proponents the twentieth century that are the Boston and San Francisco equate scanning and creating public libraries, are signatories and in libraries’ stacks but not (yet) digital copies with physically available in electronic formats. apparently already rely on CDL lending a legally purchased book. to e-lend scanned copies of books. They argue that some of the books Although it sounds like an may be orphan works—out-of- appealing argument, the CDL print books whose authors or 1 https://controlleddigitallending.org/statement concept is based on a faulty authors’ heirs cannot be located— 2 https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/authors-guild-supports-marrakesh-treaty- legal argument that has already a specious argument that can implementation-act/ been rejected by U.S. courts. only be made with a straight face

38 Authors Guild Bulletin by someone who has no idea We need to stop have drawn the roadmap for mass how to find authors or publishers. this nonsense! licensing of books, starting with The Authors Registry is able to So-called “innovations” like the Google Books settlement and find approximately 90 percent CDL serve to spread the followed by our proposal to the of authors of out-of-print books misperception that authors and Copyright Office to launch a pilot to in approximately 30 minutes. public libraries are on opposing create a collective licensing system True orphan works do exist, but sides of copyright law, which is for mass digitization of out-of-print they are a small minority. Yet the simply not the case. Most librarians books, along with a platform that drafters of the white paper claim respect authors and copyright law, would allow authors to license their that if a book is “unavailable in and they want authors to be books directly to libraries. None the digital marketplace,” no one able to keep writing. The vast of these proposals would be hard has any plans “for [its] revitalization majority of authors, for their part, to achieve if those who want to in modern formats”—as though support and love their libraries provide broader access were willing authors somehow lose interest and want libraries to own and to do it legally. in their older books, even circulate their works. But authors at times when they might need need to be compensated for income from those books the MARRAKESH most. CDL’s proponents seem their work like everyone else. Trade book authors don’t get TREATY to be completely, and willfully, IMPLEMENTATION ignorant of the large and growing salaries or other fixed compensation; markets for e-books of older works, copyright is their only currency. ACT whether they are self-published Open Library and other CDL by the author, by publishers proponents’ failure to understand On October 11, the Marrakesh like Open Road and Rosetta who the importance of respecting Treaty Implementation Act, which 2 specialize in such books, or by authors’ copyrights is backwards the Authors Guild supported, authors reselling reclaimed rights thinking hidden under a false was signed into law. The legislation to traditional publishers. veil of progressivism. We must stop will ensure that copyright users this Controlled Digital Lending with disabilities have increased CDL would decimate nonsense in its tracks. access to printed materials author earnings from The Authors Guild has (such as books) that are available e-book licensing proposed licensing solutions that in “accessible formats”, and CDL’s threat to author incomes would make those older not-yet- will implement changes to U.S. and the e-book market is two- digitized works readily available, law to bring it into accordance pronged: 1) the unauthorized but the tech sector and many with the Marrakesh Treaty. Its scanning and e-lending of books in the library sector have refused passage also encourages us to previously published only in to work with us on any such be optimistic about other copyright physical formats usurps the proposals, even to engage in a pilot modernization legislation that market potential for new e-book program. If Internet Archive and the Guild has been working versions; and 2) in a CDL world, its followers truly want to provide to advance, such as the Register libraries would no longer pay Internet access to those books, of Copyrights Selection and for e-book licenses (which are, it can easily create solutions to do Accountability Act and the Copyright for good reason, more expensive so while respecting authors’ rights— Alternative in Small-Claims than consumer editions), but namely, it could license them. We Enforcement (CASE) Act. simply digitize print books from their collection, depriving authors and publishers of important licensing income. If realized, Internet Archive’s plans to expand Open Library broadly to all libraries would eventually decimate the market Offer Your Support for library e-books, put a massive If you haven’t already, please sign our letter to Internet dent in the e-book market in Archive’s Open Library and other proponents of CDL to let general and usurp authors’ rights them know that CDL infringes the rights of authors and to bring their older works back demand that they respect those rights. Access to books should into the market. not come at the expense of those who create them.

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 39 LEGISLATIVE As the Guild’s president James Gleick has said, “When you impoverish PRIORITIES a nation’s authors, you impoverish Guild As the nation’s leading advocate its readers.” Our legislative Legislative for professional writers since 1912, priorities aim to correct some of the imbalances that have allowed the Authors Guild works to protect Initiatives major corporations to grow their at a Glance and advance authors’ interests profits at the expense of authors’ by fighting for effective copyright work. Unfortunately, U.S. copyright protection, fair contracts, freedom The Authors Guild will continue law no longer works the way it to work on the following of expression and freedom of should to incentivize and protect two legislative initiatives the press. The Authors Guild has authors so that they can keep this year and expects them to a rich history of working with creating. We need Congress’s help to finally pass into law: Congress and the Copyright Office fix those problems if this nation is to on issues that affect writers, retain a professional class of talented, * Ongoing Copyright- and we look forward to continuing trained and experienced writers. Related Legislation to do so in the 116th Congress. The Authors Guild will continue 1. CASE Act: Small Copyright Our 2018 Author Income to work on the following two Claims Tribunal Survey, the largest survey of legislative initiatives this year and 2. Register of Copyrights traditionally published, self-published expects them to finally pass into law: Selection and Accountability and hybrid-published writers Act/Copyright Office ever conducted, revealed a median ONGOING Modernization annual income for all authors from all writing-related activities COPYRIGHT- of $6,080—down 42% (from RELATED The Guild will also advocate $10,500) since 2009. Respondents LEGISLATION for the introduction of new who identified themselves as legislation as follows: full-time book authors earned 1. CASE Act: Small a median writing income of only * New Copyright-Related Copyright Claims Tribunal Legislation $20,300—half of which came The cost of obtaining counsel 1. Strengthening Laws from books and half from other and maintaining a copyright Against Online Piracy writing-related activities such as infringement lawsuit in federal and Clarifying the Safe speeches, teaching, journalism court effectively prevents most Harbors Under the DMCA and the optioning/licensing of film individual copyright owners from rights. (These median figures do 2. Early Termination bringing lawsuits to deter theft not include the 20% of authors who of their work. Thus, most individual of Copyright Grants for earned no writing income in 2017.) Out-of-Commerce Works authors have a right without a This means that many authors remedy. For more than a decade, 3. Collective Licensing now earn below minimum wage the Guild has advocated for a for Out-of-Print Books on an hourly basis, despite having copyright small-claims court that very high levels of education: * Federal Support for would provide copyright owners Literature and Literacy 52% of the respondents have with a low-cost alternative to seek 1. Creation of a Federally graduate school degrees, and redress from those who violate Funded Public Lending 86% earned a bachelor’s degree. their copyright. We worked closely Right The Authors Guild is on the bills introduced in the prior committed to exploring ways, two Congresses and look forward 2. Increased Funding for including through legislative action, to working with the 116th Congress Libraries and the Arts to help working writers make a on the reintroduction of the CASE 3. Income Averaging Under living wage. We believe that a Act to ensure it is passed into law. Tax Law diversity of voices and perspectives Antitrust Exemptions is critical to our democracy, that 2. Register of Copyrights * literature is essential to the long- Selection and Accountability 1. Collective Bargaining term health of American culture, Act/Copyright Office by Authors and that it helps define who we are Modernization as a nation. These goals can only The Copyright Office was placed be achieved by protecting authors’ in the Library of Congress in 1870, rights to benefit from their work. so that the library could use the

40 Advocacy News copyright registration deposits enterprises. The Guild believes a book, authors lose potential to build its collections. At that that U.S. copyright law must income and the public loses time, copyright industries played provide meaningful protection because the book is not available a relatively small role in our and enforcement against the for purchase. economy. Today, however, widespread online piracy of books With book earnings as industries such as publishing, and journals that robs authors low as they are today, many music, film, television, software of income. To achieve this, we authors are seeking ways to and web content, which rely believe the requirements that supplement their incomes; one on copyright protections, ISPs must meet to benefit from important way of doing so is contribute $1.3 trillion to the the safe harbor from liability to republish out-of-print works. U.S. gross domestic product, provided by Section 512 of the Self-publishing platforms now allow accounting for 6.85% of the U.S. DMCA should be clarified, whether authors to do that easily and cost- economy; and it is no longer by clear statements in the efficiently. In light of “the unequal necessary to house the Copyright legislative history or by amending bargaining power of authors,” Office in the library in order for the statute to provide that ISPs Congress enacted Section 203 of deposits to be transferred to it. that foster infringement on or the Copyright Act of 1976 (and The Guild supports the through their services and profit Section 304, which applies to pre- reintroduction of the Register from it (including profits generated 1978 works) to give all creators and/ of Copyrights Selection and through increasing the value or their heirs a chance to regain Accountability Act, which would of their service) can still be held their rights 35—40 years after make the Register of Copyrights liable. Some court decisions publication. While this law is useful, a presidential appointee, with have allowed ISPs to profit from 35 years is far too long to wait the advice and consent of the infringement and have given to reclaim rights that the publisher Senate. The President of the them no incentive to cooperate often abandons just a handful of United States would select the with rights holders other than years after publication. It prevents appointee from a list of individuals through complying with notice and authors from keeping their works recommended by a panel of takedown procedures, a wholly in circulation by republishing or congressional leaders and the ineffective and unaffordable means reworking the content. The Authors Librarian of Congress. Ultimately, of addressing piracy for most Guild advocates for an amendment we would like to see the creation individual creators. Legislative to Section 203 that would allow of a truly independent Copyright clarification would provide authors and other creators to Office that would function guidance at the national level. terminate grants 10—15 years after similarly to the U.S. Patent and the grant was made if the assignee/ Trademark Office. Independence 2. Early Termination licensee has not commercially is needed to allow the Office to of Copyright Grants for exploited the work within a year represent all copyright stakeholders, Out-of-Commerce Works or more. An amendment to the to advocate for a sufficient Under standard publishing law is necessary because of budget and upgrade its woefully agreements, publishers take the unequal bargaining power of inadequate technology, and exclusive book rights for the authors and publishers. to make manifest the growing full term of copyright (the current importance of copyright to term is the duration of the 3. Collective Licensing America’s economy and culture. author’s life plus 70 years), for Out-of-Print Books subject to copyright termination Most books published in the NEW COPYRIGHT- rights under the law and often U.S. after 1923 are still protected to reversion rights under the by U.S. copyright law but are no RELATED contract, which allow the author longer “in print,” and relatively LEGISLATION to reclaim the book rights if few early twentieth-century books the book goes “out of print.” have been issued as e-books. 1. Strengthening Laws The definition of “out of print” While most of these books remain Against Online Piracy varies widely, and publishers often important and relevant today, and Clarifying the Safe refuse to give authors their rights and some include crucial information, Harbors Under the DMCA back, or drag their feet when public and university libraries The Digital Millennium Copyright authors try to re-release their tend to be the only places where Act’s (DMCA) “safe harbors” books through other means. print copies of such works remain for internet service providers (ISPs) When publishers refuse to revert available. Yet today’s readers, have turned into an exploitable rights, even when they are no and particularly researchers, may gold mine for corrupt online longer commercially exploiting not be consulting or reading

Authors Guild Bulletin 41 them because they prefer the should adopt a federally research. Indeed, libraries are access and convenience of supported Public Lending Right the primary way many Americans e-books, the texts of which can (PLR), such as exists in every are introduced to the literary often be scanned and searched other developed nation. PLR and other creative arts and electronically for particular terms provides authors with micro- educate themselves. or concepts, allowing readers payments for library loans of their to go directly to specific pages. books, reinforcing the principle 3. Income Averaging In response to that of “no use without payment.” Under Tax Law reader preference, supporters PLR could be managed Before the 1986 Tax Reform of schemes such as Controlled and administered by the Act, authors were permitted to Digital Lending (CDL) argue Institute of Museum and income-average when filing that libraries should be entitled Library Services (IMLS) and their returns. Many book authors to digitize and provide access supported by federal funds. earn income mainly in the form to these books online without Under such legislation, the author of advances, which comes in having to obtain permission. of a book would receive big chunks. An advance received Online platforms and libraries a small payment each time a user in one year often serves as a suggest that the transaction costs borrowed one of the author’s writer’s income for several years, are too high for authors to be books from a library. The amounts but it is taxed at a higher rate, contacted individually, and their paid out under PLR systems resulting in a large tax “hit” for supporters and allies argue that are miniscule in proportion the year it was paid out. Income digitizing, publicly displaying and to federal spending, and yet averaging is the fair way to distributing books should therefore are hugely important to authors, tax those whose incomes vary be “fair use” under the copyright helping them to continue to significantly from year to year, law (under the misconception write as a profession. and it should be restored. that older books have no value to the copyright owner). 2. Increased Funding In fact, getting permission for Libraries and the Arts ANTITRUST from authors is neither difficult The Authors Guild advocates EXEMPTIONS nor prohibitively expensive. for increased funding for When transaction costs are higher the National Endowment for the Collective Bargaining than the value of copyright licenses, Arts, the National Endowment by Authors Congress has been willing to step for the Humanities and the The main reason authors, in and create statutory licenses Institute of Museum and Library freelance writers and other and/or licensing bodies. The Authors Services, each of which contributes content creators do not have Guild believes that establishing to the development and support a union (unlike TV writers, a collective licensing program for of writers and literature, so screenwriters and full-time out-of-print book rights would allow crucial to our nation’s long-term journalists) is because under authors, publishers and other rights economic and cultural health. current law, only employees holders to be compensated at a The literary arts are especially are permitted to unionize reasonable rate, paving the way for important as they promote literacy, and bargain collectively with a true digital library, where full teach empathy and thoughtful their employers. While retaining books could be viewed—all without analysis, and spark discourse— copyright matters greatly having to negotiate and obtain essential characteristics of a to authors, their inability to licenses on a case-by-case basis. democracy. Literary works serve bargain collectively puts them as the basis of many other forms at a tremendous disadvantage, of storytelling—theater, film, given the vast disparity of FEDERAL television and games. Still, our power between individual nation’s total funding of the authors and traditional publishers SUPPORT FOR arts and humanities is a tiny and other book distributors. LITERATURE fraction of what other developed The Guild hopes to carve AND LITERACY nations spend, especially on out an exception to the law a per capita basis. to allow independent authors 1. Creation of a Federally It is equally important to to join together to bargain Funded Public Lending Right support public libraries because with publishers and other To ensure that authors and libraries advance literacy and book distributors in a way that other creators can survive in the lifelong learning and serve as will benefit the industry as current economy, Congress a source for deep and innovative a whole.

42 Advocacy News 85% of the self-publishing * Self-published writers Latest nearly doubled their incomes market and has non-negotiable Author Income since 2013, though overall they terms, it is able to extract more still earn just 58% of what of the price of the book than Survey Shows traditionally published authors it would if there were any real Business earn. Self-published romance competition. of Book Writing and romantic suspense writers earned almost five times more Why the Data Matters in Crisis than authors in the next highest- The Authors Guild is committed earning self-published genre to protecting authors’ traditional The Guild’s newly released category, mysteries and thrillers: income sources and advocating Author Income Survey reveals $10,050 vs. $1,900. for new business models that that writing-related incomes ensure that writers, and not just fell to historic lows, with a Underlying Causes intermediaries, profit from the median income of $6,080 in 2017, for Income Declines author’s work. which is down 42% from the The blockbuster mentality Survey data helps us and 2009 incomes that were reported of traditional publishers— our participating organizations in the Guild’s 2015 survey. granting celebrity writers massive to better align our advocacy Earnings from book income alone advances and marketing them and author education efforts fell even more, declining 21% wildly at the expense of working with reality. Until recently, to $3,100 in 2017 from $3,900 writers—certainly plays a role writers who realized significant in 2013 and just over 50% from in overall author income declines. publishing success generally 2009’s median book earnings Lower royalties and advances could afford to devote their days of $6,250. for midlist books, including to writing more books. That’s Drawing on the responses extremely low royalties on an no longer true for many full-time of 5,067 traditionally published, expanding cohort of deeply writers, especially literary ones. self-published and hybrid- discounted books and a 25% From a policy perspective, we published authors from 14 writing of net e-book royalty also are should ask what impact this organizations, the income contributing factors, especially may have on the quality of books survey of working writers was for literary writers. moving forward. We will use the largest ever conducted in Many books are now the data to help authors envision the United States, establishing available royalty-free in a variety new ways to earn money from a benchmark for the future. of electronic uses, including their books and to find other Other key takeaways: unauthorized classroom course sources of income compatible * Median income for full-time packs, Google Books and Open with writing. An upcoming white authors for all writing-related Library, all claiming fair use, paper will take a deeper look at activities was $20,300 in 2017, which erodes author incomes. the various datasets and analyze up 3% from 2013. That figure Meanwhile, Amazon’s what the data means for the future is still considerably lower than market dominance as both of book writing. the $25,000 median income publisher and seller puts full-time authors earned in 2009. pressure on all publishers * To review full survey Moreover, while 53% of survey to lower book prices. Increased results and the list participants described writing competition from the Kindle of participating writing as their primary profession, Unlimited program and the organizations, please just 21% of full-time published massive number of books visit our website authors actually derived their that are sold cheaply as new at authorsguild.org. entire annual income from book- by Amazon resellers right related earnings. alongside the publisher’s copies— * Literary writers experienced with resellers often even the biggest decline in earnings claiming he “buy box”—intensify from book-related income (down the pressure. Amazon has 27% since 2013), followed by done authors a service in general nonfiction authors (down creating an easy-to-use self- 8%), raising serious concerns publishing platform, but since about the future of literature. it controls approximately

Authors Guild Bulletin 43 Antoine Cossé Antoine

44 Authors Guild Bulletin “THE ONE TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY Writers on WHEN A WRITER WAS GUARANTEED TO MAKE A LIVING WAS the Brink: BEFORE GUTENBERG.” The Current Economics of Authorship

On November 13, the Authors Guild hosted a panel discussion, “Writers on the Brink: The Current Economics of Authorship,” at Scandinavia House in New York City, which was streamed live via videoconferencing for Guild members who couldn’t attend in person. The panel focused on the economic challenges that authors face regarding the long-term viability of book authorship in today’s publishing climate and what it means for the authors of tomorrow. The discussion opened with a presentation of the latest survey results on authors’ incomes in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. To read the full transcription of this panel, please visit authorsguild.org/writersonthebrink.

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 45 Panelists Canadian Statistics

Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Siobhan O’Connor reported on the results from Authors; Siobhan O’Connor, Associate Director of the Writers Union of Canada’s 2108 survey, appro- the Writers Union of Canada; Peter Hildick-Smith, priately titled “Diminishing Returns, Creative President of Codex-Group LLC; Richard Nash, Culture at Risk.” The average net income for Publisher and Digital Media Strategist. Moderator: professional writers in 1998 was Can $16,464. Mary Rasenberger, Executive Director of the In 2014, net income fell to $13,390, and the latest Authors Guild survey shows that by 2017 it was down to $9,380. That’s a 78 percent drop over 20 years, and even U.S. Statistics more strikingly, a 27 percent drop over the past three years. While the final results from the Guild’s 2018 Moreover, writers’ incomes are not just drop- Author Income Survey were not available at the ping fast, but are now far below what Canadian time of the panel, Mary Rasenberger reported workers in the information and cultural sectors that initial data revealed that the mean income earn, far below the median Canadian income and for American authors had fallen 42 percent in even below the poverty line. the past decade. At the same time, self-publish- The Writers Union survey also looked at ing is very much on the rise, with mean incomes where authors’ income primarily comes from. in that slice of the market almost doubling; it has Traditional royalties remain the driving force, become an increasingly large part of the overall augmented by corporate and government writing, author income landscape. Read the final survey as well as freelance writing. Income from self- results here.1 publishing continues to be a significant source of income, as does the public lending right, which U.K. Statistics pays authors when readers access their work from a public library. Royalties for the education- Nicola Solomon provided a summary of the high-lev- al use of copyrighted texts are way down, however, el data from the author income survey recently con- because of misinterpretations of Canada’s 2012 ducted in the U.K. Just 13.7 percent of U.K. authors Copyright Modernization Act, which created an earn their income solely from writing, down from exception for educational use. Almost all educa- 40 percent 12 years ago. Median author incomes tional institutions have refused to pay fees for pho- were also down approximately 40 percent. When tocopying since the exception was enacted, which adjusted for inflation, full-time writers earned has led to litigation that is still on appeal in the approximately £18,000 in 2005, £12,500 in 2013 court system. and £10,500 (about US$13,500) in 2017. The majority of the published authors sur- What’s Driving the Decline? veyed reported an annual mean income from writing of just £3,000 in 2017 versus £4,000 in 2005, Self-publishing is clearly having a huge impact on and that they could afford to spend 50 percent or author incomes, if for no other reason than that less of their time writing as a result. Many indie there are more books on the market today than writers reported paying as much as £3,000 to pub- ever before. In 1985, approximately 35,000 books lish their work, yielding zero profitability. were published in the United States. In 2007, the year the Kindle came onto the market, more than 300,000 titles were published. Bowker, the company that issues the ISBNs that allow publishers 1 www.authorsguild.org/2018incomesurvey and indie authors to sell their books in the United

46 Writers on the Brink: The Current Economics of Authorship authors—namely that 50 percent of all book units in the U.S. are sold through Amazon’s multiple channels, even as the Kindle Unlimited subscrip- “THE SAME WAY tion service continues to divert readers to lost-cost THAT CONSUMERS reads. Up 20 percent in just the last year, Kindle Unlimited subscriptions have captured much of MAKE FAIR TRADE AND the potential fiction sales that AAP stats report ECOLOGICAL BUYING traditional publishers have lost. CHOICES FOR FOOD, Given that no publisher can survive without Amazon these days, and that Amazon con- WE NEED TO EDUCATE tinues to pressure publishers to push prices ever PEOPLE TO MAKE lower while raising the marketing fees to make those books discoverable, something has to give. FAIR TRADE BUYING That something has turned out to be author CHOICES FOR BOOKS.” income. Piracy and expanded fair use, particularly —NICOLA SOLOMON, in the education sector, also continue to hijack author royalties. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE SOCIETY So What’s an Author to Do?

OF AUTHORS, U.K. In light of these challenges, what business models exist for writers apart from traditional publishing or self-publishing? How can writers make real money from their skills aside from book sales? What can be done to get more people reading? Nash spoke of the market glut and the oppor- States, reported that more than one million books tunities for writers to retrain, describing the kinds secured an ISBN in 2017, and that’s just a partial of jobs that are doing okay in an era of increasing count; not all self-published books have ISBNs. automation (editing); not-so-okay (telemarket- And yet, despite the boom in the quantity of ing and the law); and great (yoga and other recre- books published, industry data shows that the total ational therapies). Hildick-Smith reported that number of book units sold in the U.S. has essen- the Authors Guild’s recent survey also identified tially remained flat over the past five years. Supply a wide range of other “writing-related” activities clearly exceeds demand, resulting in less revenue that authors are now engaging in, including speak- per author. ing, teaching, coaching and ghostwriting. Richard Nash expanded on this most recent The panelists agreed that journalism,2 a once drop, pointing out that it has been going on for reliable and respectable source of extra income for about 1,500 years. “The one time in human history many authors, is now hanging on for dear life and when a writer was guaranteed to make a living was has little to offer authors in a fast-shrinking mar- before Gutenberg, when the mere fact of being lit- ket. Today’s authors are forced to be more entre- erate was so remarkable and scarce that you were preneurial than their predecessors. guaranteed a roof over your head and food simply Solomon described the Society of Authors’ because you could read and write, and in a certain successful campaign to ensure that authors are sense, it’s been going downhill ever since.” Peter Hildick-Smith noted another major 2 See https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/authors- influence on the economic fate of contemporary guild-statement-on-journalist-layoffs/.

Authors Guild Bulletin 47 paid speaking fees at literary festivals, where Nash remarked that in the U.S. and other het- entrance fees are often charged. O’Connor added erogeneous societies the subsidy model does not that teaching in Canada’s university creative writ- work as well: “The more the taxpayer doesn’t look ing programs has become an important source of like the people who might be getting money, the income for many authors, and that the Writers less likely it is that society will subsidize them.” Union is seeking funding to set up a National Solomon noted optimistically that “new, Writers Lab, to bring the best writing, publishing smaller publishers...have been coming up with and tech people together to explore new ways of new, exciting things, and that’s where the British looking at and using today’s technology. government is going to start to concentrate,” and Because the U.K. produces more books per that “authors on the whole are really quite inven- capita than any other country—and exports a third tive in what they can do.” of them—both government and business interests Public opinion plays a big role as well, have a significant economic incentive for support- Solomon added. “It’s about making people real- ing writers. Over the next few years, the U.K. Arts ize how the economics work, so that they know Council will be devoting a significant sum of devel- what it is they’re paying for [as they] make buying opment funding to exploring how best to develop choices. The same way that consumers make fair stronger reading audiences, how to help writers trade and ecological buying choices for food, we connect more directly to readers and how to reach need to educate people to make fair trade buying a wider range of audiences. Given that just one choices for books.” in three British children owns a book, that is The panel concluded with a discussion of the a significant issue. many technological innovations being tested now, The U.K. devotes £46 million annually including the New York Public Library’s success- to support literature (in a country of 60 mil- ful release of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland lion people), a sum that Solomon had consid- and other classics in Instagram format. One of the ered miserly until she learned that the U.S. Big Five publishers recently issued a Snapchat contributes a mere $1.5 million or so to support novel, and a very interesting start-up called Serial American authors, and a fraction of the stan- Box is presenting weekly serial reads, loosely mod- dard benefits—such as free health care—that eled on television programming. Such innovations are available in the U.K. The U.K. also distrib- may not involve buying a physical book, but they utes £6 million a year in public-lending-right make reading much more current and fluid for the royalties and £50 million in photocopying pay - younger audiences who are publishing’s future ments to authors. On the other hand, Solomon and authors’ best hope. added, if one compares the U.K. to France and Right now, just one in five adults in the U.S. other parts of Europe, where authors get sick pay, reads more than 12 books a year. The publish- pensions and other employee benefits, the U.K. ing industry, Hildick-Smith noted, caters mostly looks quite mean. to that 20 percent of readers, but if we hope to O’Connor reported that overall, the Canadian capture the other 80 percent, we need to publish government distributes Can$300 million for the more books for occasional readers. Statistics show arts (a sum that was doubled just last year), that that if we don’t capture early readers between authors can count on Canada’s universal and free the ages of five to twelve, we lose them and never health care and that they can claim tax deductions get them back. That’s a price neither authors or if their incomes are less than Can$60,000. Canada potential readers should have to pay. We need to also has income averaging, which gives authors make reading both more fun for children and a the option to spread an advance or other income more regular event, using our talents and imagi- over several years, an option that U.S. authors lost nation to ignite an early love of books and a new a couple of decades ago. generation of readers.

48 Writers on the Brink: The Current Economics of Authorship $18 billion in 2016, down two-thirds creators of news—newspapers, Who Owns from $49 billion in 2006. magazines, television and radio the Word? * At the same time, Google reports—to the new primary and Facebook controlled 85% of the distributors of news (i.e., Facebook The future of writing as a share of global online advertising and Google). The online platforms profession and the question of revenues. The two companies shared do not give a fair cut to the the economic survival of writers 25% of total media advertising sources of the news they profit were the joint subjects of a revenues, with Google controlling from posting, and they are slowly multi-part series presented at 18% and Facebook 7%. starving the real news industry the New York Public Library * Circulation is down sharply. out of business. Panelists also in partnership with the Authors Total weekday circulation for discussed the role that advertisers, Guild. Novelist and Guild vice U.S. daily newspapers fell to Facebook and Google play in president Richard Russo served 35 million, while total Sunday determining who reads what, as as moderator and prompt. circulation declined to 38 million— well as the lower barriers to entry The series’ first panel, down from well over 60 million for journalism that benefit new Journalism, which was held from the 1960s through the 1990s— ventures, while diverting eyeballs on November 15, 2018, explored to the lowest levels since 1945. from traditional outlets. The tsunami the rapid decline of local and Falling revenues mean of fake news and the White regional journalism over the that papers have to make cuts— House’s attacks on traditional last two decades: the mergers, or fold. Many smaller cities have media have exacerbated the crisis. the sell-offs, the communities been left with no local coverage, left high and dry, the stories untold, while major newspapers, including * You can find the video the scandals unreported, the The New York Times, The Wall for the Journalism experienced journalists laid off— Street Journal and the Los Angeles panel and Part II of the and the efforts being made preserve Times, have gone through a series Who Owns the Word series, the profession. Three months of layoffs in the last decade or so. Book Publishing on the later, a large new wave of reporters— They pay ever fewer people, and Authors Guild website. most of them digital—had been they pay them less. Visit authorsguild.org/ cut loose as well. The primary driver of eventarchive and scroll Panelists for the evening this crisis has been the shift down to the The Writing included Bill Grueskin, an of advertising dollars from the Life section to view. alumnus of The Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald, now professor at the Columbia Journalism School; Liesl Schillinger, a critic and translator whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The New York Review of Books; and the scholar Will Slauter, associate professor at Université Paris Diderot and the author of the recent Who Owns the News?: A History of Copyright (Stanford University Press, 2019). Russo opened the panel by reading some statistics on today’s journalism crisis and questioning whether the public’s access to facts and news is in jeopardy: * According to a Pew Research Bill Grueskin, Liesl Schillinger, Will Slauter, and Richard Russo report, total advertising revenue at the New York Public Library for Who Owns the Word: The Future for the newspaper industry was of Authorship in Journalism.

Authors Guild Bulletin 49 BOOKS BY Thomas A. Bass: The Spy Who Mixing, Sipping, and Other Loved Us; Marion Dane Bauer Adventures with Mexico’s Original MEMBERS (and Ekua Holmes, Illus.): The Handcrafted Spirit; Rosalind Carol J. Adams: Protest Stuff of Stars; Tania Bayard: In the Brackenbury: The Lost Love Kitchen: Fight Injustice, Save the Presence of Evil; In the Shadow Letters of Henri Fournier; Planet, and Fuel Your Resistance of the Enemy; Ann Beattie: Miss Stephen’s Apprenticeship: One Meal at a Time; David A. A Wonderful Stroke of Luck; How Virginia Stephen Became Adler (and Sam Ricks, Illus.): Ron Belak: Fly Fishing Colorado’s Virginia Woolf; Paris Still Life; Kick It, Mo!; David A. Adler Backcountry; Bibi Belford: Another Kelsi Bracmort: Simone Visits (and Anna Raff, Illus.): Light Waves; D for DeeDee; Hava Bromberg the Museum; Barbara Taylor David A. Adler (and Edward Ben-Zvi: We Who Lived: Two Bradford: Master of His Fate; Miller, Illus.): Squares, Rectangles, Teenagers in World War II Poland; Dustin Brady (and Jesse Brady, and Other Quadrilaterals; Perle Besserman: Kabbalah: Illus.): Robots Revolt; Maureen Emily Stier Adler: Being Grandma The Way of the Jewish Mystic; Brady: Getaway; Belle Brett: and Grandpa: Grandparents The Kabbalah Master; Marian Gina in the Floating World: Share Advice, Insights and Betancourt: A Woman’s Work: A Novel; Cynthia Brian: Be the Experiences; Sarah Albee The Storied Life of Esther Morris, Star You Are! Millennials to (and Ko Chin, Illus.): AleZxander the World’s First Female Justice Boomers Celebrating Positive Hamilton: A Plan for America; of the Peace; Marcia Biederman: Voices in a Changing Digital Alice Sparberg Alexiou: Devil’s Popovers and Candlelight: World; Growing with the Goddess Mile: The Rich, Gritty History Patricia Murphy and the Rise Gardener; Marlene Targ Brill: of the Bowery; Barbara Allman: and Fall of a Restaurant Empire; Dolores Huerta Stands Strong: The Most Influential Women in Betty G. Birney: Life According The Woman Who Demanded STEM; Mindy Aloff: Dance in to Og the Frog; Peter C. Bjarkman: Justice; Marlene Targ Brill America: A Reader’s Anthology; Fidel Castro and Baseball: (and Michael Garland, Illus.): Diana Altman: We Never Told; The Untold Story; B. L. Blair: Diary of a Drummer Boy; Marlene Laurie Halse Anderson: Shout; Dead in a Pickup: Leah Norwood Targ Brill (and Michael Sayre, Mary Angela: A Very Merry Mystery #3; Lucy Jane Bledsoe: Illus.): Picture Girl; Martha Murder; John Annerino: In the Lava Falls; Lisa Blume: Little Brockenbrough: Unpresidented: Chasms of Water, Stone, and Light; Girl Leaving: A Novel Based on A Biography of Donald Trump; Jerry Apps: Cold as Thunder; a True Story; Karen Blumenthal: Martha Brockenbrough (and Simple Things: Lessons from the Bonnie and Clyde: The Making Brian Won, Illus.): Cheerful Family Farm; Ascher/Straus: of a Legend; John R. Bockstoce: Chick; John Brockman: Possible The Other Planet (30th Anniversary White Fox and Icy Seas in the Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Ed.); Linda Ashman (and Chuck Western Arctic: The Fur Trade, Looking at AI; Josie Brown: Groenink, Illus.): William Wakes Up; Transportation, and Change The Housewife Assassin’s Ken Auletta: Frenemies: The Epic in the Early Twentieth Century; Horrorscope; Joseph Bruchac: Disruption of the Ad Business Elizabeth Bodien: Oblique Two Roads; Leslie Bulion (and (and Everything Else); Avi: The Music: A Book of Hours; Dave Robert Meganck, Illus.): Superlative Button War; The End of the World Boling (and Ann Warner and Birds; Robin Burcell (and Clive and Beyond; Curt Warner): The Warner Boys: Cussler): The Gray Ghost; Lucy Deborah Baker: The Last Our Family’s Story of Autism Burdette: Death on the Menu; Englishmen: Love, War, and the End and Hope; Betty Bolte: Veiled Carolyn Burke: Foursome: of Empire; Rick Bass: The Traveling Visions of Love; Jennifer Boudinot Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Feast: On the Road and at the (and Lindsey Moore and Mark Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury; Table with America’s Finest Writers; A. Gore, Photog.): Viva Mezcal: Marcia Butler: Pickle’s Progress;

50 Authors Guild Bulletin Jamie Cat Callan: Parisian Allan Cole: S.O.S.; Sten and the and Teens on the Dark Side Charm School: French Secrets Mutineers; Sneed B. Collard, III: of Love; Phillip DePoy: Icepick; for Cultivating Love, Joy, and That One Iguana, Two Iguanas: A Story Jacqueline Diamond: The Case Certain je ne sais quoi; Theresa of Accident, Natural Selection, and of the Desperate Doctor; J. Canada: Desegregation Evolution; Warblers & Woodpeckers: Hannah Carmona Dias (and Dolly of the New York City Schools: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding; Georgieva-Gode, Illus.): Beautiful, A Story of the Silk Stocking Sisters; George Howe Colt: The Game: Wonderful, Strong Little Me!; Chris Cander: The Weight of Harvard, Yale, and America in 1968; Hannah Carmona Dias (and Brenda a Piano; Alyssa Satin Capucilli Michael Connelly: Dark Sacred Figueroa, Illus.): Dazzling Travis: (and Tom Knight, Illus.): Bone Night; Sean Connolly (and Cara A Story About Being Confident Soup: A Spooky, Tasty Tale; Bean, Illus.): The Book of Ingeniously & Original; Lisa Doan (and Natalie Anne O’Brien Carelli: Skylark and Daring Chemistry: 24 Experiments Andrewson, Illus.): Chadwick’s Wallcreeper; Jacqueline Carey: for Young Scientists; Sharon Creech: Epic Revenge; P. F. Donato: Starless; Eric Carle (Ed.): What’s Saving Winslow; Doreen Cronin Operation D3; Bill Double: Charles Your Favorite Bug?; Angelica (and Betsy Lewin, Illus.): Click, Clack, E. Hires and the Drink That Shirley Carpenter: Born Criminal: Quack to School!; Patricia Cumbie: Wowed a Nation: The Life and Times Matilda Joslyn Gage, Radical The Shape of a Hundred Hips; of a Philadelphia Entrepreneur; Suffragist; David Carson: Spirit Andrew S. Curran: Diderot and the Marcia Douglas: The Marvellous Clans: Native Wisdom for Personal Art of Thinking Freely; Cathy Curtis: Equations of the Dread; Bill Doyle Power and Guidance; Mary Kay Alive Still: Nell Blaine, American (and Sarah Sax, Illus.): Titanic; Carson: Alexander Graham Bell Painter; Peter Curtis: Cafe Budapest; Sarah Smith Ducksworth: Moments for Kids: His Life and Inventions; Clive Cussler (and Boyd Morrison): in the Chimes of Time; Olivier The Tornado Scientist: Seeing Inside Shadow Tyrants; Clive Cussler Dunrea: Ruby and Rufus Love Water; Severe Storms; Weird Animals; (and Graham Brown): Sea of Greed; Patrick A. Durantou: Free and Dewey Cassell (and Jeff Messer): Susan Smith Daniels: Obscure; Oeuvres Philosophiques; Mike Grell: Life Is Drawing Without The Genuine Stories; Edwidge Christine Marie Eberle: an Eraser; Bryan Cassiday: Force Danticat (and Shannon Wright, Finding God in Ordinary Time: of Impact; Unhinged: Tales of Illus.): My Mommy Medicine; Daily Meditations; Laury A. Egan: Madness and Horror; May-lee Chai: Jenee Darden: When a Purple Rose Fabulous! An Opera Buffa; Useful Phrases for Immigrants; Blooms; Sharon S. Darrow: She Presence & Absence; Dave Eggers C. S. Challinor: Upstaged by Murder; Survives; Tom Flynn: Medium & (and Shawn Harris): What Can Diane Chamberlain: The Dream Healer; Michael A. Davi: PrivileGEd: a Citizen Do?; Blake Ellis and Daughter; Jerome Charyn: In Experiences from My Unusual Melanie Hicken: A Deal with the the Shadow of King Saul: Essays 40-Year Career with One of Devil: The Dark and Twisted True on Silence and Song; The Perilous America’s Most Iconic Companies; Story of One of the Biggest Cons Adventures of the Cowboy King: Fiona Davis: The Masterpiece; in History; Charles Harrington A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and Margaret Leslie Davis: The Lost Elster: How to Tell Fate from His Times; Elizabeth Chatsworth: Gutenberg: The Astounding Story Destiny: And Other Skillful Word When to Now: A Time Travel of One Book’s Five-Hundred-Year Distinctions; Susan Middleton Anthology; Phyllis Chesler: Odyssey; Nancy Raines Day Elya (and Ana Aranda, Illus.): A Politically Incorrect Feminist: (and Cornelius Van Wright, Illus.): Our Celebración!; Susan Middleton Creating a Movement with Bitches, Hoorade Day!; Nancy Raines Day Elya (and Maria Mola, Illus.): Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors, (and Allison Black, Illus.): Pirate Mama Papaya and Her Amigos Play and Wonder Women; Lee Child: Jack Gets Dressed; Nancy Raines Dress Up; Rosemary J. Erickson: Past Tense; Robert Christgau: Day and Michael Emberley, Serial Killers and the Aftermath; Book Reports: A Music Critic on Illus.: Baby’s First; Scott Decker: Caroline Eubanks: This Is My His First Love, Which Was Reading; Recounting the Anthrax Attacks: South: The Essential Travel Guide Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Terror, the Amerithrax Task Force, to the Southern States; Years of Rock Criticism, 1967–2017; and the Evolution of Forensics Julie Falatko (and Ruth Rita Ciresi: Second Wife; Anna in the FBI; Michael de Guzman: Chan, Illus.): The Great Indoors; Clark: The Poisoned City: Flint’s The Boy from Somewhere Else; Julie Falatko (and Charles Water and the American Urban R. Kate Deimling: Painting the Santoso, Illus.): No Boring Stories!; Tragedy; Mary Higgins Clark (and Dream; Lulu Delacre: Rafi and Julie Falatko (and Colin Jack, Alafair Burke): You Don’t Own Me; Rosi: Pirates!; Melissa de la Cruz: Illus.): Two Dogs in a Trench Samantha M. Clark: The Boy, 29 Dates; Matt de la Peña: Carmela Coat Start a Club by Accident; the Boat, and the Beast; Andrew Full of Wishes; Heather Demetrios KJ Fallon: Coffee for One: How Clements: The Friendship War; (Ed.): Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors the New Way to Make Your

Winter 2018–Spring 2019 51 Morning Brew Became a Tempest Some Countries Have Solved Hiller: The Feud; Janice Hisle: in a Coffee Pod; Mary Cronk Climate Change and the Rest Can Submerged: Ryan Widmer, his Farrell: Standing Up Against Hate: Follow; Paul Goldstein: Copyright’s drowned bride and the justice How Black Women in the Army Highway: From the Printing system; Jane Stanton Hitchcock: Helped Change the Course of Press to the Cloud (2nd Edition); Bluff; Birgitta Hjalmarson: WWII; Cindy Fazzi: My MacArthur; Chris Grabenstein (and James Fylgia; Mary Ann Hoberman Michael Fedo: Don’t Quit Your Patterson and Anuki Lopez, Illus.): (and Luciano Lozano, Illus.): The Day Job: The Adventures of a Midlist Katt vs. Dogg; Chris Grabenstein Sun Shines Everywhere; Steve Author; Mary Feliz: Disorderly (and James Patterson and Beverly Hodel: Black Dahlia Avenger III; Conduct; Joseph Finder: Judgment; Johnson, Illus.): Max Einstein: Cary Holladay: Brides in the Norman H. Finkelstein: The The Genius Experiment; Anissa Sky; Andrea Hollander: Blue Capture of Black Bart: Gentleman Gray: The Care and Feeding of Mistaken for Sky; Joan Holub and Bandit of the Old West; Juni Fisher: Ravenously Hungry Girls; Betsy Suzanne Williams: Sif and the Girls From Centro; Colleen Adair J. Green: Way Back When: Santa Dwarfs’ Treasures; Joan Holub Fliedner: In the Shadow of Barbara in 1918; Connie Jordan (and Sakshi Mangal, Illus.): Seed War: Spies, Love & the Lusitania; Green: Darwin’s Breath: Poems; School: Growing Up Amazing; Sue Fliess (and Mark Chambers, Cynthia Greenwood: Deciphering Hillary Homzie: Apple Pie Illus.): Mrs. Claus Takes the Shakespeare’s Plays: A Practical Promises; Hillary Homzie (and Reins; Sue Fliess (and Jennifer Guide to the Twenty Best-Known Jeffrey Ebbler, Illus.): Ellie May on Taylor, Illus.): Ninja Camp; Janet and Enduring Works; Kit-Bacon Presidents’ Day; David L. Hoof: Fox: Volcano Dreams: A Story Gressitt (and Sara Marchant) Babes & Bastards; Death Makes of Yellowstone; JoAnn Franklin: (Eds.): Writers Resist: The No Deals; Ellen Hopkins: People Bring the Rain: A Novel; Dianne Anthology 2018; Linda Griffin: Kill People; Deborah Hopkinson: Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Seventeen Days; Eliza Griswold: D-Day: The World War II Invasion Etiquette and Murder; Francis Amity and Prosperity: One Family That Changed History; Deborah Fukuyama: Identity: The Demand and the Fracturing of America; Hopkinson (and Don Tate, Illus.): for Dignity and the Politics of Jason Gruhl (and Ignasi Font, Carter Reads the Newspaper; Resentment; Laura Furman (Ed.): Illus.): Everything Is Connected; Deborah Hopkinson (and Kailey The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018; Jason Gurley: Awake in the World; Whitman, Illus.): Under the Bodhi Bruce Gamble: Kangaroo Jo Watson Hackl: Smack Dab Tree: A Story of the Buddha; Squadron: American Courage in in the Middle of Maybe; Donald Lorri Horn: Dewey Fairchild, the Darkest Days of World War Hall: A Carnival of Losses: Notes Sibling Problem Solver; Dewey II; Charles Geisst: Wall Street: A Nearing Ninety; A. M. Halvorssen: Fairchild, Teacher Problem Solver; History (4th Edition); Daryl Wood The Dirty Network; Sara Hammel: A. E. Hotchner: The Amazing Gerber: A Soufflé of Suspicion; Famous Last Words; Cathryn Adventures of Aaron Broom; Joan Kristen R. Ghodsee: Why Hankla: Lost Places: On Losing E. Howard: “We Met in Paris”: Women Have Better Sex Under and Finding Home; Mona Hanna- Grace Frick and Her Life with Socialism: And Other Arguments Attisha: What the Eyes Don’t Marguerite Yourcenar; Dorothy for Economic Independence; See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, Howell: Messenger Bags and Gary Giddins: Bing Crosby: and Hope in an American City; Murder; Siri Hustvedt: Memories Swinging on a Star: The War Years, Bradley Harper: A Knife in the of the Future; 1940—1946; Jennifer Gilmore: Fog; Linnea Hartsuyker: The Christoph Irmscher (Transl.) If Only; Krystyna Poray Goddu: Sea Queen; William Hazelgrove: (Ed.) (and Friedrich Gerstäcker and Becoming Emily: The Life of Wright Brothers, Wrong Story: How Charles Adams, Transl. & Ed.): The Emily Dickinson; Krystyna Poray Wilbur Wright Solved the Problem Arkansas Regulators; Thomas R. Goddu (and Cosei Kawa, Illus.): An of Manned Flight; Christopher Ittelson: On My Walk into Harvard Unlikely Ballerina; Judy Goldman: Healy: A Dastardly Plot; Georgia Square: Flowers Along the Way; Together: A Memoir of a Marriage Heard (and Aaron DeWitt, Illus.): Daniel M. Jaffe: Yeled Tov; and a Medical Mishap; Connie Boom! Bellow! Bleat! Animal Eloisa James: Born to Be Wilde; Goldsmith: Animals Go to War: Poems for Two or More Voices; Bill Too Wilde to Wed; Stanley James From Dogs to Dolphins; Pandemic: Henderson (Ed.): The Pushcart II (and Keshia Williams): True 2 How Climate, the Environment, Prize XLIII; B. G. Hennessy (and the Streets; Stuart Jamieson: and Superbugs Increase the Risk; Viola Davis and Jody Wheeler, Close to the Sun: The Journey of a Women in the Military: From Illus): Corduroy Takes a Bow; Tanja Pioneer Heart Surgeon; Margaret Drill Sergeants to Fighter Pilots; Hester: Work Optional: Retire Early Placentra Johnston: Overcoming Joshua S. Goldstein (and Staffan the Non-Penny-Pinching Way; Spiritual Myopia: A View Toward A. Qvist): A Bright Future: How Carl Hiaasen: Squirm; Catherine Peace Among the Religions;

52 Member News Andrea Jones: Other Islands: Book Three of the Hook & Jill Saga; Sherry Jones: Josephine Baker’s Last Dance; Jacqueline Jules (and The Conversations Never End: Kristina Swarner, Illus.): Light the All Members Discussion Menorah! A Hanukkah Handbook; Gus Karmack (and Strika On any given day—Saturdays, Sundays, holidays included—Guild Karmack and Navos Karmack, members who have questions about royalties, fair use, film rights or Illus.): The Cupcake Adventure; ghost writing, are in search of a copy editor, an illustrator, a libel lawyer Claudia Keelan: Ecstatic Émigré: or just a defensible excuse to procrastinate—click on the morning An Ethics of Practice; We Step email of the Guild’s All Members Discussion and start scrolling down into the Sea: New and Selected the list of topics. Poetry; Pam Kelley: Money Rock: “Who can recommend a publicist?” A Family’s Story of Cocaine, “Is it ok to use a newspaper clipping from 1985 in a book?” Race, and Ambition in the New “Any self-published true crime writers? Need advice!” South; Ronald Kidd: Lord of the “Writing someone else’s memoir.” Mountain; Nancy Hayes Kilgore: “Pitching a Sequel.” Wild Mountain; Eric A. Kimmel “Is it time to nationalize Amazon?” (and Mara Penny, Illus.): Hank Each new topic launches a fresh thread, which stays live as and Gertie: A Pioneer Hansel long as members keep posting to it. Conversations spark, run for a day, and Gretel Story; Stephen King: or a week, or a month before they slip into the archive, a few clicks Elevation; Charles Kipps: Absolute away and eminently browse-able. If you are looking for information on Threshold; Francine Klagsbrun: agents, getting your rights back, or using a real-life setting for a novel, Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation you can easily search prior posts in the archive, using the search option of Israel; Christopher Klein: When at the top right on every page. the Irish Invaded Canada: The Occasional visitors can catch up on posts they missed, reading Incredible True Story of the Civil quickly through a discussion chain that may have run over the course of War Veterans Who Fought for a few days, or a month. The range of topics is vast—from “Do You Have a Ireland’s Freedom; Suzy Kline Writing Room” and “Trouble With Your Plot?” to “Looking for Thriller / (and Amy Wummer, Illus.): Horrible Mystery Writers in Ft. Myers, Florida.” Also apparently inexhaustible Harry Says Goodbye; Gordon and often unique. Where else is someone going to invite you to share your Korman: The Unteachables; thoughts on “Fads and Fashions in Punctuation”? Alexandra Koslow: The Blossom Aside from the “Introduce Yourself” thread that accompanied of the Unknown; Susan Kuklin: the site’s launch, the thread that has drawn the most responses so far is We Are Here to Stay: Voices of member Bobi Martin’s mid-November post announcing that she wanted Undocumented Young Adults; R. “to start a new community for those of us who are writing picture books, O. Kwon: The Incendiaries; middle grade, or young adult books.“ Sixty-nine members responded, and Patricia Lakin: Steel Drums; the thread ran for two months. In response to the overwhelming interest Rita Lakin: Getting Old Can Hurt the Guild is opening a new sub-community for the three related genres. You; Sandra Gail Lambert: A New Life for Old Classics, started by Bill Kimberlin in late Certain Loneliness: A Memoir; December, launched a weeks-long discussion on the subject of how long Beau L’Amour (and Louis copyright should run, in which members engaged in an extended L’Amour): No Traveller Returns; and often enough heated philosophical debate that Mary Rasenberger Julie Langsdorf: White Elephant; weighed in mid-discussion with a “gentle reminder to keep things Beverly Lanzetta: The Monk polite and chill:).” Within: Embracing a Sacred Way More typically, a thread runs a day or two or three—a problem of Life; Alice LaPlante: Half is resolved, a connection made, and a new topic is waiting in the wings. Moon Bay; Jonathan LaPoma: What the Guild’s newest initiative has quickly confirmed is that Hammond; Allison Lassieur (and writers are indeed a community. Its members are in possession of a wide Eric Freeberg, Illus.): Journey range of skills, experiences and resources, are eager to engage and to a Promised Land: A Story to share what they know. As we went to press, more than 418 separate of Exodusters; Peter Laufer: threads had been launched, with many more to come. Dreaming in Turtle: A Journey Through the Passion, Profit, and Peril of Our Most Coveted Prehistoric Creatures; Mary Lawrence: The Alchemist of Lost

Authors Guild Bulletin 53 Souls; Caroline Leech: In Another David Martin (and Lori Richmond, The Late Bloomers’ Club; Time; Karen Leggett Abouraya Illus.): Skelly’s Halloween; David Laura E. Mize (and George S. and Susan L. Roth: Malala Martin (and David Walker, Illus.): LeMieux): Florida Made: The 25 Yousafzai: Warrior with Words; Peep and Ducky It’s Snowing!; Most Important Figures Who John Lescroart: The Rule of Law; Jacqueline Briggs Martin Shaped the State; Heather L. Ron Leshnower: Fair Housing (and Larry Day, Illus.): Bim, Bam, Montgomery (and Kevin O’Malley, Haiku: Learn About the Law Bop...and Oona; Patti M. Marxsen: Illus.): Something Rotten: A Fresh Through Verse / With Illustrations; Jacques Roumain of Haiti: Look at Roadkill; Alison Moore: Suzannah Lessard: The Absent A Life of Resistance; Bobbie Ann The Pre-War House and Other Hand: Reimagining Our American Mason: Patchwork; Alice Mattison: Stories; Debbie Moose: Carolina Landscape; Curt Leviant: Katz or Conscience; Mary Maxwell: Catch: Cooking North Carolina Fish Cats: Or, How Jesus Became My Oral Lake; Stacy McAnulty and Shellfish from Mountains to Rival in Love; Anna Levine (and (and Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, Illus.): Coast; E. J. Moran: Shadow Crimes; Chiara Pasqualotto, Illus.): All Eyes Love; Stacy McAnulty (and Elizabeth Mosier: Excavating on Alexandra; Debbie Levy Deborah Hocking, Illus.): Soccer Memory: Archaeology and Home; (and Jo Ann Allen Boyce): This Expert; Gary McAvoy: And Walter Mosley: John Woman; Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story Every Word Is True; Sarah McCoy: Marissa Moss (and Jeremy Holmes, in the Fight for School Equality; Marilla of Green Gables; Lisa Illus.): The Eye That Never Sleeps: Marc Levy (and Daniel Wasserman, McCubbin: Betty Ford: First How Detective Pinkerton Saved Transl.): The Last of the Stanfields; Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, President Lincoln; Laura Mullen Amy Lillard: Kappy King and Trailblazer; Brian McCullough: (Transl.) (and Veronique Pittolo): the Pickle Kaper; Kappy King and How the Internet Happened: Hero; Pam Munter: As Alone as the Pie Kaper; Julie Lindahl: From Netscape to the iPhone; I Want to Be; Claire Rudolf Murphy: The Pendulum: A Granddaughter’s Emily Arnold McCully: Min Makes Martin and Bobby: A Journey Search for her Family’s Forbidden a Machine; She Did It! 21 Women Toward Justice; JuliAnne Murphy: Nazi Past; Elinor Lipman: Good Who Changed the Way We Think; Dream Job: Shattering the Glass Riddance; Sandra Darer Littman: Gerald McFarland: T. T. Mann, Ceiling Comes at a Price; Shirley Anything but Okay; Sally Lloyd- Ace Detective; Michael McGarrity: Rousseau Murphy: Cat Chase the Jones (and David Litchfield, Illus.): Residue; William J. McGee: Half Moon; Catharine H. Murray: Now Hats Off to Mr. Pockles; Barry the Child; Erin McGraw: Joy; You See the Sky; Vita Weinstein Lopez: Horizon; Lydia Lukidis Jay McInerney (Ed.): Wine Reads: Murrow (and Julia Bereciartu, Illus): (and Andre Ceolin, Illus.): The A Literary Anthology of Wine Power to the Princess; Broken Bees’ Nest; D. P. Lyle: Writing; Robert McParland: G. Neri: Grand Theft Horse; Sunshine State; Bestseller: A Century of America’s GennaRose Nethercott: The Maryann Macdonald: Favorite Books; John McPhee: Lumberjack’s Dove; Lesléa Newman Rosa’s Animals: The Story of The Patch; Barry Meier: Pain Killer: (and Amy June Bates, Illus.): Rosa Bonheur and Her Painting An Empire of Deceit and the Origin Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Menagerie; Maryann Macdonald of America’s Opioid Epidemic; Story; Valerie Nieman: Leopard (and Mandy Sutcliffe, Illus.): Brad Meltzer (and Josh Mensch): Lady: A Life in Verse; To the The Little Dancers: Showtime!; The First Conspiracy: The Secret Bones; Barbara Novack: A Certain Mary Mackey: The Jaguars Plot to Kill George Washington; Slant of Light; Idra Novey: Those That Prowl Our Dreams: New Michael Mewshaw: The Lost Who Knew; and Selected Poems 1974 to 2018; Prince: A Search for Pat Conroy; Susan Oleksiw: Below Kerry Madden-Lunsford (and Carolyn Meyer: Girl with Brush the Tree Line; Maria Leonard Emily Sutton, Illus.): Ernestine’s and Canvas: Georgia O’Keeffe, Olsen: 50 After 50: Reframing Milky Way; Susan Mallery: American Artist; Eugene L. Meyer: the Next Chapter of Your Life; Why Not Tonight; Thomas Mallon: Five for Freedom: The African Trish O’Sullivan: Chakra Wisdom: Landfall; Howard Mansfield: American Soldiers in John Brown’s Healing the Mind of Negative The Habit of Turning the World Army; Randy Susan Meyers: Thoughts, Feelings, and Beliefs Upside Down; Leonard S. Marcus: Waisted; Caroll Michels: How to with Meditation, Yoga, and the 100 Years of Children’s Book Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Traya Process; Week Posters; The ABC of It: Selling Yourself Without Selling Nell Irvin Painter: Old in Why Children’s Books Matter; Your Soul; Jacquelyn Middleton: Art School: A Memoir of Starting Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration; Until the Last Star Fades; Jack Over; Gigi Pandian: The Alchemist’s Sandra Markle: The Woolly Miles: God in the Qur’an; D. Patrick Illusion; Sara Paretsky: Shell Monkey Mysteries: The Quest to Miller: How to Be Spiritual Without Game; Therese Park: Returned Save a Rain Forest Species; Being Religious; Louise Miller: and Reborn: A Tale of a Korean

54 Member News Orphan Boy; Janis Patterson: to Protect Them; Anne Rice Singer, Songwriter, and Music Killing Harvey; Ann Whitford (and Mark Edward Geyer, Illus.): Icon; Charles Schulz: Cartoonist Paul (and David Walker, Illus.): Blood Communion; Luanne Rice: and Writer; Katrin Schumann: If Animals Celebrated Christmas; Pretend She’s Here; Cynthia Riggs: The Forgotten Hours; Leslie Pat Paxton: Camelot’s Misplaced Widow’s Wreath; Sherri Duskey Schwartz: The Lost Chapters: Son; Emily W. Pease: Let Me Out Rinker (and A. G. Ford, Illus.): Finding Recovery and Renewal Here; Penney Peirce: Transparency: Construction Site on Christmas One Book at a Time; Kathryn Seeing Through to Our Expanded Night; Anne Boyd Rioux: Meg, Schwille: What Luck, This Life; Human Capacity; Sasenarine Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of “Little Judith Searle: Wives, Lovers: Persaud: Monsoon on the Fingers Women” and Why It Still Matters; A Novel; Andrew Shaffer: Hope of God; Nathaniel Philbrick: In Joshua Rivkin: Chalk: The Art Never Dies; Terry Shames: A Risky the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius and Erasure of Cy Twombly; Undertaking for Loretta Singletary; of George Washington and the Candace Robb: A Murdered Peace; Aurelie Sheehan: Once into Victory at Yorktown; Michelle Robin Robertson: The Long the Night; Steve Sherman: Write Pillow: Better Haunts and Garden Take; Anthony Robinson: Father All About It! Gene Sherman: Gnomes; Samuel Pittman (and of the Man; Peter Rock: The Night The Making of Los Angeles Sheila Bailey, Illus.): Alligator Jazz; Swimmers; Heather Rodino: Times Pulitzer Prize Reporter!; Sally J. Pla (and Ken Min, Illus.): How to Houseplant: A Beginner’s Vicky Shiefman (and Francesca Benji, the Bad Day, and Me; Maria Guide to Making and Keeping Chessa, Illus.): Who Has Wiggle- Popova: Figuring; Margaret Porter: Plant Friends; Pauline B. Rogers: Waggle Toes?; Sharma Shields: Beautiful Invention: A Novel of A Fresh Hell; Katie Rogin: Life The Cassandra; Deborah Shlian: Hedy Lamarr; David Poyer: Deep During Wartime; Edwina Romero: Silent Survivor; Laura Shovan: War; Douglas Preston (and Lincoln Las Vegas, New Mexico 1835—1935; Takedown; Aaron Shulman: Child): The Pharaoh Key; Verses Prairie Madness, Conspiracy at The Age of Disenchantments: for the Dead; Rick Pullen: Naked Fort Union; Jeb Rosebrook (and The Epic Story of Spain’s Most Truth; Robin Pulver (and Stephanie Stuart Rosebrook): Junior Bonner: Notorious Literary Family and Roth Sisson, Illus.): Persuading Miss The Making of a Classic with the Long Shadow of the Spanish Doover; Mary Jo Putney: Once a Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah Civil War; Heather Shumaker: Scoundrel; Virginia Pye: Shelf Life in the Summer of 1971; Robert The Griffins of Castle Cary; of Happiness; Rosen: Bobby in Naziland: A Tale of Hampton Sides: On Desperate Robert Quackenbush: Dig to Flatbush; Judith Pierce Rosenberg: Ground: The Marines at the Disaster; Express Train to Trouble; My Year of Hepatitis C: A Journey Reservoir, the Korean War’s David Quammen: The Tangled Toward Hope; Helen Klein Ross: Greatest Battle; Robert Anthony Tree: A Radical New History of Life; The Latecomers; David Rowell: Siegel: Criminals: My Family’s Kathryn Allen Rabuzzi: Wherever the Sound Takes You: Life on Both Sides of the Law; ElderFire; Dean Radin: Real Magic: Heroics and Heartbreak in Music Pat Silver-Lasky: Under the Magic Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, Making; Elizabeth Rusch: Avalanche Mountain; Erica Silverman and a Guide to the Secret Power Dog Heroes: Piper and Friends (and Holly Hatam, Illus.): Jack of the Universe; Dawn Raffel: Learn to Search the Snow; Gabriele (Not Jackie); Martha Seif Simpson The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: Russo: Incoherent Gods; (and Durga Yael Bernhard, Illus.): How a Mysterious European John Sandford: Holy Ghost; Esther’s Gragger: A Toyshop Showman Saved Thousands of John Sandman: Debt Collectors Tale of Purim; Marilyn Singer American Babies; Philip Raisor: in Love; Lakshmi Sarah: Crafting (and Jana Christy, Illus.): I’m the In the Instant After; Doreen Stories for Virtual Reality; Sandy Big One Now: Poems About Rappaport (and John Pomeroy, Eisenberg Sasso (and Darcy Day Growing Up; Marilyn Singer Illus.): Walt’s Imagination: The Life Zoells, Illus.): When God Gave (and Nancy Carpenter, Illus.): of Walt Disney; Doreen Rappaport Us Words; Sandy Eisenberg Sasso Have You Heard About Lady Bird?: (and Linda Kukuk, Illus.): Wilma’s (and Margeaux Lucas, Illus.): Poems About Our First Ladies; Way Home: The Life of Wilma Regina Persisted; April Pulley Sayre: Paul Singh: The Death of the Mankiller; Chris Raschka (Illus.) Bloom Boom!; April Pulley Sayre Rule of Law: A Companion Guide (and Richard Jackson): Puddle; (and Stephanie Laberis, Illus.): to Guilty at Gunpoint; Guilty at Elizabeth Raum: The Big, Bold, Like a Lizard; Kate Scannell: Gunpoint: How the Government Adventurous Life of Lavinia Immortal Wounds; Pat Schories: Framed Me—Crime and Corruption Warren; Lawrence R. Ricci: What Squeak the Mouse Likes His House; in the Department of Justice, Happened in the Woodshed: Helen Schulman: Come With Me; FDA, and Big Pharma; Prison The Secret Lives of Battered Patricia Schultheis: A Balanced Life; Papers: A Companion to Prison Children and a New Profession Michael A. Schuman: Bob Dylan: Torture in America; Prison Torture

Authors Guild Bulletin 55 in America: Shocking Tales and the Swan; Patricia Sutton: You Have to Lose?: Trump’s from the Inside; Krystal A. Sital: Capsized! The Forgotten Story of War on Civil Rights; Meredith Secrets We Kept: Three Women the SS Eastland Disaster; Terese Sue Willis: Their Houses; James of Trinidad; Karin Slaughter: Svoboda: Great American Desert; Mikel Wilson: Mr. Froggy’s Pieces of Her; Austin Smith: Barbara Brown Taylor Dilemma; Sister Mary Winifred: Flyover Country; Curt Smith: (and Melanie Cataldo, Illus.): Handful of Stars; Ben H. Winters: The Presidents and the Pastime: Home by Another Way: A Christmas Golden State; Kathryn Witt: The History of Baseball and the Story; Mathew Tekulsky: Secret Cincinnati: A Guide to the White House; Jeremy N. Smith: The Martin Luther King Mitzvah; Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure; Breaking and Entering: The Peggy Thomas: George Washington Michael Karl Witzel: Strange Extraordinary Story of a Hacker Carver for Kids: His Life and 66: Myth, Mystery, Mayhem, and Called “Alien”; Robert Ellis Smith: Discoveries, with 21 Activities; Other Weirdness on Route 66; Faces I Have Known: Encounters Jenny Thompson and Sherry Meg Wolitzer (and Holly Goldberg with Famous Persons; Simone Thompson: The Kremlinologist: Sloan): To Night Owl from Snaith (and Sara Kipin, Illus.): Llewellyn E Thompson, America’s Dogfish; Stephanie Woodard: Between the Water and the Man in Cold War Moscow; Milton C. American Apartheid: The Native Woods; John Snyder: Jacob’s Bell: Toby: Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred American Struggle for Self- A Christmas Story; Marco Soldo: Racing’s Most Famous Cold Determination and Inclusion; Blameless; David Sosnowski: Case; Frederic Tuten: My Young Stuart Woods: A Delicate Touch; Happy Doomsday; Nile Southern Life; Anne Tyler: Clock Dance; Desperate Measures; Turbulence; (and Adam Cooper) (Eds.) Lisa Unger: Under My Skin; : (and Terry Southern and Michael : Worlds Apart; Stuart Woods and Parnell Hall David Krag Usmack The Money Shot; : Cooper, Photog.): Chicago 1968: : The Trade; Cynthia Woolf Jere van Dyk Mail Order Moonlight; The Whole World Is Watching; Neela Vaswani: This Is My Eye; Romy : Eva Maddox: Innovator, Ruth Spiro (and Holly Hatam, Illus.): Jonathan Vatner: Carnegie Wyllie Made by Maxine; Ruth Spiro (and Hill; Margaret Verble: Cherokee Designer, Educator; Irene Chan, Illus.): Baby Loves Green America; Zach Vertin: A Rope Xu Xi: This Fish Is Fowl: Energy!; Baby Loves Structural from the Sky: The Making and Essays of Being; Engineering!; Mary Ann Sternberg: Unmaking of the World’s Newest Kim Yesis: Side by Side: River Road Rambler Returns: State; Cynthia Voigt (and Sydney Tales from Behind the Canvas; More Curiosities Along Louisiana’s Hanson, Illus.): Toaff’s Way; Katherine E. Young (Transl.) Historic Byway; Amy Stewart: Kate Walbert: His Favorites; (and Akram Aylisli): Farewell, Aylis; Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit; Jennifer Linda Watkins: Storm Island: Jane Breskin Zalben J. Stewart: The Twelve Days of A Kate Pomeroy Mystery; Carl (and Mehrdokht Amini, Illus.): Christmas in Arizona (board book Watson: Kid Clay; Katharine A Moon for Moe and Mo; Deborah edition); Whitney Stewart (and Weber: Still Life with Monkey; Zemke: Tale of a Scaredy-Dog; Christiane Engel, Illus.): What Do Elizabeth Wein: A Thousand Alex Zucker (Transl.) (and J. R. You Celebrate?: Holidays and Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of Pick): Society for the Prevention Festivals Around the World; R. L. the Soviet Union in World War II; of Cruelty to Animals; Stine: You May Now Kill the Bride; Roanne Weisman: Love in the R. L. Stine (Ed.): Scream and Time of Chronic Illness: How Scream Again!: A Horror-Mystery to Fight the Sickness Not Each MEMBERS Anthology; Cathi Stoler: Bar None; Other; Monica Wellington: MAKE NEWS Tanya Stone (and Steven Salerno, Dear Ballerina; Ken Wells: Gumbo Illus.): Pass Go and Collect $200: Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou; The 2019 Aspen Words Literary The Real Story of How Monopoly William Wells: The Dollar-A-Year Prize longlist was announced Was Invented; Todd Strasser: Detective; JoAnne Stewart on November 19, 2018. Tayari Price of Duty; William Stratton: Wetzel (and Julianna Swaney, Jones’s An American Marriage The Wild Bunch; Barry Strauss: Illus.): Mermaid School; J. Craig and R.O. Kwon’s The Incendiaries Ten Caesers: Roman Emperors Wheeler (and David Branch): were longlisted. The prize from Augustus to Constantine; Supernova Explosions; Dianne is given to “an influential work Carol Strickland: The Annotated White (and Daniel Wiseman, Illus.): of fiction that illuminates a Arch: A Crash Course in the History Goodbye Brings Hello: A Book vital contemporary issue and of Architecture; The Annotated of Firsts; Dianne White (and Robin demonstrates the transformative Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art Page, Illus.): Who Eats Orange?; power of literature on thought History from Prehistoric to the Michelle Wilker: Chain Linked; and culture.” The winner will be Present (3rd Edition); The Eagle Juan Williams: What the Hell Do announced on April 11.

56 Member News The 2019 Carnegie Medal for The National Endowment Judith Cody’s “Metamorphosis Excellence longlists were announced for the Humanities announced of the Conqueror” and related poems on October 2, 2018. Tayari Jones’s the recipients of their Public Scholar were quarter-finalists for the Pablo An American Marriage, R.O. grants, intended to “promote the Neruda Prize in Poetry. They are from Kwon’s The Incendiaries, Walter publication of scholarly nonfiction the author’s unpublished manuscript, Mosley’s John Woman, Anne books for a general audience.” The Metamorphosis Notebooks. Tyler’s Clock Dance, and Elizabeth Tom Dunkel, Natalie Dykstra, R. Scott Decker’s Recounting Winthrop’s The Mercy Seat Robert Kanigel, Susan Schneider, the Anthrax Attacks: Terror, the were longlisted in the category and T.J. Stiles were among the Amerithrax Task Force, and the of Fiction. Alexander Chee’s 22 recipients. Evolution of Forensics in the FBI was How to Write an Autobiographical The 2019 PEN America awarded the Book Excellence Award Novel, Anna Clark’s The Poisoned Literary Awards finalists were for True Crime. It was also longlisted City: Flint’s Water and the American announced on January 24. for the 2018 Journey Award in Urban Tragedy, Susan Orlean’s Tara Westover’s Educated: Narrative Nonfiction and Memoir. The Library Book, and Tara A Memoir was nominated Melissa Febos was named Westover’s Educated were longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book the winner of Lambda Literary’s in the category of Nonfiction. Award. Alexander Chee’s inaugural Jeanne Córdova Prize The Firecracker Awards for How to Write an Autobiographical for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction. The independent and self-published Novel was nominated for award honors “a writer committed literature announced their finalists the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel to nonfiction work that captures the in April 2018. Helen Benedict’s Award for the Art of the Essay. depth and complexity of lesbian/ Wolf Season was nominated in the Joshua Rivkin’s Chalk: The queer life, culture and/or history.” category of Fiction. Kenny Fries’s Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly Caroline Fraser’s Prairie In the Province of the Gods was was nominated for the PEN/ Fires: The American Dreams of nominated in the Nonfiction category. Bogard Weld Prize for Biography. Laura Ingalls Wilder won the 2018 The National Book Awards Eliza Griswold’s Amity and Pulitzer Prize for Biography. were announced on November 14, Prosperity and ’s Dan Georgakas was honored 2018. ’s The Friend Bernice Yeung Sigrid Nunez In a Day’s Work were nominated at the New York City Greek Film won in the category of Fiction. Festival for his extensive writing for the PEN/John Kenneth Lauren Groff’s Florida was named about and promotion of Greek a finalist in the Fiction category. Gailbraith Award for Nonfiction. film in America. ’s The Big Fella: Tayari Jones’s An American Jane Leavy Leigh Grant’s manuscript Marriage was longlisted for Fiction, Babe Ruth and the World He Mask of Dreams was awarded David Quammen’s The Tangled Created was nominated for the 2017 Chatelaine Book Awards Tree: A Radical New History of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Grand Prize for Romantic Fiction Life was longlisted for Nonfiction, Sports Writing. and Women’s Fiction Grand Prize and Elizabeth Partridge’s Boots PMH Atwater’s A Manual from Chanticleer Book Reviews on the Ground: America’s War in for Developing Humans was Writing Competition. It was also Vietnam was longlisted for Young the Nautilus Book Awards Silver shortlisted for the Chaucer Awards, People’s Literature. winner in the category of Body- a different division for pre-1750s The National Book Critics Mind-Spirit Practices. historical fiction in the same Circle Awards finalists were Christa Avampato’s Emerson competition. announced on January 22. Nell Page and Where the Light Lauren Groff’s Florida Painter’s Old in Art School: A Memoir Enters won a Nautilus Book Award was named a finalist for the of Starting Over and Tara Westover’s for Young Adult Fiction. Kirkus Prize for Fiction and a Educated: A Memoir were nominated Bibi Belford’s Crossing finalist for the 2018 Story Prize. in the Autobiography category. the Line received the Christopher Margaret Morganroth Jane Leavy’s The Big Fella: Babe Award. The prize is awarded Gullette was honored with the Ruth and the World He Created to work which “affirms the highest Florence Denmark Award for was nominated in the Biography values of the human spirit.” Contributions to Women and Aging category. Robert Christgau’s Mary E. Carter’s I, Sarah from APA Division 35, the Society Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Years Steinway was a finalist for the for Women in Psychology. of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 was National Jewish Book Award in the Margaret Harmon’s short nominated in the Criticism category. category of Debut Fiction and the story “Welcome to BrightLook!” Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House winner of the New Mexico-Arizona was a Runner Up in the WOW! of Broken Angels was nominated Book Award in the category of Women on Writing Spring 2018 in the Fiction category. Religious Book. Fiction Contest.

Authors Guild Bulletin 57 Manu Herbstein’s Philip F. Palmedo’s Diane Saxton’s Peregrine unpublished manuscript Rosie Roland Palmedo: A Life of Island was the 2017 Winner of Was a Dawdler won the 2018 Adventure and Enterprise won the New York City Big Book Award African Writers Award in the the 2018 ULLR Award for an for Mystery and winner of the category of Children’s Literature. “outstanding contribution to 2017 National Indie Excellence Danny Johnson’s The skiing’s historical record” from Award for Regional Fiction: Last Road Home was awarded the International Skiing History Northeast. It received a Bronze the 2017 Sir Walter Raleigh Award Association. Award for U.S. Northeast Fiction for Historical Fiction. Sasenarine Persaud from the Independent Publisher Allen Klein’s Secrets received the 2018 Dharmic Arts (IPPY) Book Awards and was Kids Know...That Adults Oughta & Humanities Award from the named a Distinguished Favorite Learn received the 2017 Hindu American Foundation at in Literary Fiction by Independent Best New Book Award from its annual gala in Tampa, Florida Press Awards. It was a finalist the Association for Applied on November 17, 2018. The award for the following: Best Book Awards and Therapeutic Humor. recognizes “significant contributions in General Fiction for Fiction, Victor LaValle’s The towards enlightening and educating Literary Fiction, and Mystery & Changeling was shortlisted for others through many inspiring Suspense; the International Book the 2017 Shirley Jackson Award literary works of dharmic values Awards for Literary Fiction; the in the Novel category. and traditions.” National Indie Excellence Award Jan Maher’s Earth As Randall Platt’s The Girl for Fiction; and the Reader Views It Is has been named a 2017 Who Wouldn’t Die was a finalist for Literary Award for Adult Fiction. Foreword Indies Award finalist the 2018 Washington State Book Sherry Shahan’s essay in the LGBT category. Award in the category of Books for “The Boat” was chosen as a notable Randy Mason’s Falling Young Adult Readers. essay in Memoir Magazine’s 2018 Back to One won the 2018 Next Mary Louisa Plummer’s #MeToo Essay Contest. Generation Indie Book Award A Two-Spirit Journey, co-written Deborah Shlian’s Silent in the category of First Novel by Ma-Nee Chacaby, received the Survivor won First Place in the Royal (over 80,000 words). Oral History Association’s Book Palm Literary Award from Florida Tom Miller won the New Award for Outstanding Use of Oral Writers Association and is a Finalist Mexico-Arizona Book Award History and the Alison Prentice for 2018 Best Book. for Cuba, Hot and Cold in the Award for Best Book on Women’s Renate Stendhal’s Kiss category of Travel Book. History in Ontario from the Ontario Me Again, Paris won the 2018 John Moir’s article, Historical Society. International Book Award in the “A Kindness While Dying,” E. Annie Proulx has category of LGBTQ: Nonfiction. received the First Place Award been named the winner of the Deanne Stillman’s Blood for Feature Article from the 2018 Library of Congress Prize Brothers won the 2018 Ohioana 87th Annual Writer’s Digest for American Fiction, which “honors Award in the category of Writing Competition. The article, an American literary writer whose Nonfiction. which was published in Catamaran body of work is distinguished John Whittier Treat was Literary Reader, also received not only for its mastery of the awarded the 2018 Christopher the Opinion/Op-Ed Honorable art but also for its originality of Hewitt Award for his short Mention in the 2018 ASJA thought and imagination.” story, “The Pond.” It appeared in Writing Awards. Marcie Rendon won the the August 2018 issue of A&U Barbara Novack’s poetry 2018 Pinckley Prize for Crime MAGAZINE. collection A Certain Slant of Fiction for her debut novel Murder Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Light was a Finalist for the 2017 on the Red River. The novel was Sing won the 2018 Indies Choice Blue Light Press Poetry Prize. also a finalist for the 2018 SPUR Book Award for Fiction and was Joanne Oppenheim’s Award in the category of Best shortlisted for the 2018 Dayton The Knish War on Rivington Street Contemporary Novel. http://www. Literary Peace Prize. won the 2018 Guides of New pinckleyprizes.org Carl Watson’s Kid Clay York Apple Award for Outstanding Albert Russo was the received the Best in Texas Achievement in Fiction and winner of the 2018 Book Excellence Association of Authors’ 2018 was named a 2018 Sydney Award for Gosh Zapinette!: Texas Book Award for Historical Taylor Notable Book for Young The First Ever Series of Global Fiction/Young Adult. It also Readers by the Association Jewish Humor. He also won the 2018 received Serious Writer Inc.’s of Jewish Libraries. UNICEF Award for his poetry. Maxwell Medal for Children’s/YA.

58 Member News Douglas Wells’s How We William Goldman, 87, Ntozake Shange, 70, End Up was named a Finalist in the died on November 16 in New died October 27 in Bowie, MD. 2018 International Book Awards in York City. He was the author of The playwright, poet and the category of Fiction: Literary. the novel The Princess Bride and novelist was best known for her J. Craig Wheeler’s Supernova the screenwriter of Butch Cassidy groundbreaking play For Colored Explosions (co-written by David and the Sundance Kid and All the Girls Who Have Considered Branch) won the 2018 Chambliss President’s Men. Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Writing Award from the American Donald Hall, 89, died Sterling Stuckey, 86, died on Astronomical Society. June 23 at his home in Wilmot, NH. August 15 in Riverside, CA. As a James Mikel Wilson’s He was appointed the 14th historian, he specialized in American Churchill and Roosevelt: The Big Poet Laureate of the United States slavery and was best known for Sleepover at the White House by the Library of Congress Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and won the 2018 Author Academy in 2006. A prolific poet, he also the Foundations of Black America. Award in the Historical Fiction wrote children’s books, essay category. collections, works on the writing DECEASED MEMBERS Laura Zubulake’s Slay the craft and memoirs. Betty Miles, 90, died Dragon was named a finalist Judith Appelbaum in the 12th Annual National Indie July 19 at her home in Shelburne, Russell Baker Excellence Awards in the category VT. She was the author of of New Fiction (2018). over 25 books for children and Boris Beizer young adults, including What Peter C. Bjarkman Is The World?, Around and Burt Boyar IN MEMORIAM Around Love and The Real Me. Linda Brandi Cateura She was a writer and editor John Ehle Russell Baker, 93, died January 21 for the Bank Street Readers, a Wally Ely at his home in Leesburg, VA. member of Feminists on Children’s Winifred Elze He began his career as a reporter Media and a plaintiff in the D.X. Fenten for The Baltimore Sun, did time Authors Guild suit against Google. Audrey S. Geisel for them in London and joined V. S. Naipaul, 85, died Shoshana Ginzburg The New York Times in 1954, August 10 at his home in London. William Goldman covering the White House. In 1962, The author of A House for Mr. Vivian Grey he began writing a thrice-weekly Biswas, A Bend in the River and Donald Hall column for the Times, “Observer,” A Free State was awarded the William H. Hallahan and kept at until his retirement Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. Nan Savage Healy in 1998. He was awarded the Mary Oliver, 83, died R.S. Hopkins Pulitzer Prize for commentary in January 17 at her home in Hobe Bel Kaufman 1979 and then again in 1982 for his Sound, FL. The Pulitzer Prize- Kate Wilhelm Knight autobiography, Growing Up. winning poet published more than Jean Marzollo Anthea Bell, 82, died 20 volumes of poetry. She won Barbara Mayer October 18. The long-time the Pulitzer in 1984 for American English translator of the French Gina Mayer Primitive and the National Book Betty Miles comics series Asterix, Bell Award in 1992 for New and Kate Millett also translated W. G. Sebald’s Selected Poems. James Munves Austerlitz and Stefan Zweig’s Richard Peck, 84, died novellas from the German, May 23 at his home in New York Steven T. Murray Władysław Szpilman’s memoir City. He won the 1999 Newbery Dale Pendell The Pianist from the Polish Medal for A Year Down Yonder Patricia R. Pierson and Hans Christian Andersen’s and wrote over 30 books for young Robert Riche tales from the original Danish. people and adults. Jeb John Rosebrook Harlan Ellison, 84, died Jeb J. Rosebrook, 83, Brenda Serotte June 28 at his home in Los Angeles, died August 31 in Scottsdale, AZ. Frank Sherry CA. The science fiction author He published fiction and nonfiction Robert Ellis Smith and winner of eight Hugo Awards but was more widely known for his Elisabeth Stevens was best known for his novella, television and screenwriting work, Sterling Stuckey A Boy and His Dog, which was later including The Waltons, The Yellow Elly Welt adapted into a 1975 film. Rose and The Outsiders. Robley Wilson

Authors Guild Bulletin 59 Regional Chapters: The First Six Months In June 2018 we rolled out our Regional Chapters. Led by member ambassadors, each chapter connects members with their local writing communities, offering events and literary programming. More than 20 events have been held. The first was June 24, 2018, in Raleigh-Durham with Los Angeles chapter event: Protect Yourself: What Writers the program “The Business of Being and Authors Should Know about the Scary World of Publishing a Writer,” hosted by ambassadors held at The Hatchery Press on October 25, 2018 Judy Allen Dodson and Kelly Starling Lyons. Members and non-members mingled before a panel discussion featuring local authors Bridgette organized a meet-up at an noted that enthusiasm for the local A. Lacy, John Claude Bemis and Oakland bookstore, where member chapter was strong. The Washington Travis Mulhauser. “I’m thrilled that Ann Steiner commented, “It was ambassadors’ team is rounded out by our local chapter is getting off the impressive, though not surprising, E. Ethelbert Miller. ground,” Guild member Erin S. Lane to see how much energy and Members and ambassadors wrote. “I moved to Raleigh a little interest there is in having more have emphasized how valuable less than a year ago and have been meetings.” In Philadelphia, it has been for members to connect itching to find my tribe.” ambassadors Janet Benton and with one another over their shared Regional Chapters have Sally Weiner Grotta brought understanding of the often isolating welcomed hundreds of writers at members together over several writing process. Susan Terkel, Meet & Greets, starting with luncheons to discuss their hopes one of our Cleveland ambassadors, the inaugural Chicago mixer in for future events. told us that: “It was a truly magical June, hosted by ambassadors Some chapters have brought evening. Everyone talked and shared Arnie Bernstein and Alta L. Price. in experts to share professional and listened and learned, a lot!” Victoria Noe shared her appreciation knowledge. In October, our Several holiday get-togethers for the spirit of the event: “The Seattle chapter offered an especially were hosted by Regional Chapters. organizers were welcoming and practical event, “Taxes 101 for In Detroit, ambassadors Weam gracious. We all shared tips on travel Authors,” organized by Larry Namou and Violet St. Karl hosted and marketing, encouragement Zuckerman. November’s “Perfect “Exploring Your Creativity”; in Tampa/ for those of us on deadline and stories Pitch Panel” in Washington, D.C., St. Petersburg, Kate Sullivan hosted of disastrous book signings. They moderated by one of our three a mingle; and in Chicago, a holiday convinced me it’s an organization D.C. ambassadors, Mary Kay Zuraleff, fete was held at the American Writers I should join.” featured straight talk from editors Museum. Past Guild president Los Angeles’s first mixer and agents about what kind of Scott Turow, Rebecca Makkai and drew 30 members, many of whom work they are looking for and how James Finn Garner read from their brought guests curious about best to query them. Prior to that, latest works, and local ambassadors the Guild, including Amanda Fletcher in September, the D.C. chapter kicked Bernstein and Price reported that and Natalie Green from PEN off with two notable D.C. figures— “Scott Turow spoke about challenges America, who called the event Andy Shallal, a publisher and the facing authors and gave a powerful a “treat” and reached out to owner of Busboys and Poets cafes, endorsement of the Guild’s advocacy.” ambassadors Kristen Wong and and Ron Charles, a book reviewer for We look forward to 2019, Magdalena Edwards to connect the Washington Post—sharing their and the launch of additional Regional for future partnerships. Bay Area observations on D.C. literary life. Beryl Chapters in Texas, Tennessee,

ambassador Laird Harrison Benderley, another D.C. ambassador, New Mexico, and Portland, Oregon. Wong Kristin t by Photo

60 Authors Guild Bulletin

FEATURED MEMBER BENEFIT: INTERNATIONAL PRESS CARDS

The Authors Guild now offers two-year IFJ International Press Cards. The cards, which are available only through select membership organizations, provide journalists with an instant form of identification as a professional journalist committed to ethical standards and solidarity among media professionals.

Why get a press card? Instantly Recognizable Professional Identification: The International Press Card (IPC) is recognized all over the world and is the only press pass endorsed by national journalists’ groups in more than 130 countries. It provides instant confirmation in the United States and abroad that the bearer is a professional journalist. It is issued only to genuine journalists who are committed to the IFJ’s Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists, the world’s most recognizable set of principles and standards for the conduct of journalism.

Global IFJ Assistance: When travelling, cardholders can rely on the IFJ network to provide assistance. The IFJ provides assistance to journalists traveling in conflict zones, helping many of them get out of tricky situations in dealing with soldiers, police, or local officials.

Open Doors: Card holders can take advantage of the IFJ’s official status within the EU and United Nation member states to facilitate access to official meetings. In many countries, your International Press Card can also help you gain access to closed media events.

For more information on eligibility and pricing visit www.authorsguild.org/presscard The Authors Guild, Inc. 31 East 32nd Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10016

Literary Journeys with the Authors Guild Foundation

ICELAND SCOTLAND June 24 – 29 September 21 – 28

We invite you to join the Authors Guild Foundation on one of our Literary Journeys. These once-in-a-lifetime, exclusive trips will introduce you to the people, history, and culture of each country.

For detailed information and to register visit www.authorsguild.org/literaryjourneys

The Authors Guild Foundation is a 501(c)(3) supporting organization of the Authors Guild. Our custom tours help us raise funds to advocate for authors’ rights, educate authors across the country in the business of writing, and promote an understanding of the value of writers.