2018 has been a banner year for Authors Alliance. We’ve done more than ever before to fulfill our mission of supporting authors and the public good. This Giving Tuesday, please consider a donation to support our work. Gifts in any amount are deeply appreciated, and every dollar helps us to help authors. Read on to learn more about our education and advocacy!
This fall, we released Understanding and Negotiating Book Publication Contracts, the fourth volume in our series of educational guidebooks. This guide, our most ambitious to date, explains common clauses in publication contracts and presents strategies for savvy negotiation to help authors to shape book contracts to reach their creative and pragmatic goals. As with all our resources, we’ve made the guide available as a free download under a Creative Commons license in order to reach all authors who might need it.
We also continued our commitment to other educational efforts for authors, including a series on the importance of copyright registration to the public record and a report on authors’ role in creating digital content that is accessible to readers with disabilities. We pressed forward in our advocacy for sound copyright law and policy, participating in Copyright Office discussions on topics ranging from sensible fee structures to mandatory deposit copies and speaking out to protect fair use rights. We participated in panel discussions and workshops to promote fair use and open educational resources across North America and abroad. We featured interviews with our members, highlighting their publishing successes in open access and commercial formats. And we have more exciting work underway for the coming year, including the creation of a new suite of resources to support scholarly communications.
Without our members and supporters, none of this work would be possible. If you value our principles of openness, our dedication to our community of authors, and our educational and advocacy efforts, please consider a gift today. Your tax-deductible donation will go directly toward fulfilling our mission of promoting authorship for the public good.