The Authors Alliance team is back from Los Angeles, and we’re happy to report that our visit to UCLA and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference was a great success. We’d like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members!

An informal meet and greet event at the UCLA Library on March 31 brought together a group of faculty, staff, and others interested in issues of scholarly communication and copyright for a conversation with Mike Wolfe and UCLA librarians. To take those discussions even further, we’re planning an Authors Alliance workshop at UCLA in the near future—details to be announced soon.

From March 31 through April 2, we hosted a table at the AWP Bookfair, and were gratified by the level of interest and engagement from the writing community. Conference attendees kept us busy with questions about our resources and tools, and we were thrilled to have so many enthusiastic new members join the Authors Alliance. If you’d like to be part of our growing community of authors and creators, it’s easy to sign up online (membership is free).

In addition to staffing a robust information table, we also presented a conference panel, “On Your Terms: Managing Your Rights to Keep Your Work Available”, led by Authors Alliance executive director  Michael Wolfe and copyright attorneys Brianna Schofield, and Lila Bailey. We were glad to see the session so well attended and were pleased to answer audience questions on topics ranging from Creative Commons licenses to rights reversions to publication contract language. For those attendees interested in having a reference version of the slides, and for those who were unable to attend, you are welcome to download the presentation here. Lila, Brianna, and Michael will also be reprising their presentation at a California Lawyers for the Arts event later this April—sign up while there is still room!

Thank you, Los Angeles, for such a memorable trip. We look forward to visiting again soon!

image by Henning Witzel | CC0

We’d like to remind our readers about a series of events coming up later this week in Los Angeles:

On March 31, we are co-hosting an informal meet-and-greet at the UCLA Library. The university community is invited to bring questions and chat with UCLA Library staff and Mike Wolfe, Authors Alliance’s executive director, about topics such as rights reversion, maximizing the impact of publications, and the effects of copyright law on scholarship and teaching.

From March 31 through April 2, we will be staffing an information booth in the Bookfair area of the  Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This will be an excellent opportunity for us to meet face-to-face with a diverse group of authors and connect them with our tools and resources.

No fooling! On Friday, April 1, meet Authors Alliance staff and fellow members from 4:00-6:00 PM for an informal happy hour at the Library Bar in downtown Los Angeles.

On April 2, Authors Alliance is pleased to present a panel discussion at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Los Angeles. The panel, “On Your Terms: Managing Your Rights to Keep Your Work Available”  will be led by copyright attorneys  Michael Wolfe,  Brianna Schofield, and Lila Bailey.

We look forward to connecting with our members and allies in the City of Angels!

At the end of this month, we’ll be traveling to Los Angeles to meet with the UCLA community and to attend the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).

On March 31, we are co-hosting an informal meet-and-greet at the UCLA Library. The university community is invited to bring questions and chat with UCLA Library staff and Mike Wolfe, Authors Alliance’s executive director, about topics such as rights reversion, maximizing the impact of publications, and the effects of copyright law on scholarship and teaching.

We look forward to meeting with our members and allies at UCLA, and are planning another UCLA event to be held in May—details coming soon!

On April 2, Authors Alliance is pleased to present a panel discussion at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Los Angeles. The panel, “On Your Terms: Managing Your Rights to Keep Your Work Available”  will be led by copyright attorneys  Michael Wolfe,  Brianna Schofield, and Lila Bailey.

Authors of all kinds are routinely asked to sign contracts that carve up their copyrights and determine where, how, and by whom their works can be published. The panel will examine some of the ways authors can ensure that these agreements don’t end up standing between their work and their audience. The discussion will focus on demystifying embargoes, licenses, negotiations, rights reversions, and terminations of transfers, empowering authors to shape their own contracts.

From March 31 through April 2, we will be also be staffing an information booth in the Bookfair area of the conference. This will be an excellent opportunity for us to meet face-to-face with a diverse group of authors and connect them with our tools and resources.

If you will be at the AWP conference, you can attend our panel at 10:00 AM on Saturday, April 2—and be sure to stop by our conference booth and say hello! We look forward to meeting with our members and allies in Southern California, and are currently planning another event to be held in Los Angeles in May (details to be announced soon).

Join Authors Alliance as we team up with the UC Davis to present a cross-disciplinary panel discussion on authorship in the digital age, with a focus on the specific goals and needs of academic authors. Authors who write to be read care about how their works are published and what that means for reader access. While traditional options and copyright arrangements still predominate in many fields, there are ever-increasing ways to share works of authorship. What works best to get textual and visual works out there and under what circumstances? Join us to explore the opportunities and challenges authors face in maximizing the reach of their work, both in and outside of academia.

Panelists include a range of UC faculty, independent authors, and legal experts:

• Mario Biagioli (UC Davis Law; Science & Technology Studies)
• Stephanie Boluk (UC Davis English)
• Jonathan Eisen (UC Davis Biology)
• Alexandra Lippman (UC Davis Science & Technology Studies)
• Rick Prelinger (UC Santa Cruz; Director of the Prelinger Archive)
• Kim Stanley Robinson (Author, The Mars Trilogy)
• Pam Samuelson (UC Berkeley Law; Authors Alliance)
• MacKenzie Smith (UC Davis Library)
• Madhavi Sunder (UC Davis Law)

Co-Sponsors:

UC Davis Institute for the Social Sciences
Davis Humanities Institute
UC Davis Center for Science and Innovation Studies
UC Davis Innovating Communication in Scholarship Project
UC Davis School of Law

The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found here.

Our events programming, our tools and resources like the recent open access guide and our advocacy all depend on the continued support of our members. Help us keep things going by joining, donating, and spreading the word!

Join Authors Alliance’s Pamela Samuelson and Michael Wolfe for a workshop at the New York Public Library that will explore how authors and researchers can manage their legal rights and choose publication outlets with an eye on securing long-term impact and availability. Among the questions to be discussed:

• What are terms to look for in publication contracts?
• How and when does open access benefit authors?
• What can be done to increase the availability of out-of-print and backlist titles?
• What resources can authors who write to be read use in managing their own rights?

Audience members are encouraged to submit questions in advance to info@authorsalliance.org.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required. More information can be found at authorsalliance.org/nypl.

Our events programming, our tools and resources like the recent rights reversion guide, and our advocacy all depend on the continued support of our members. Help us keep things going by joining, donating, and spreading the word!

On November 5, Authors Alliance is joining with partners at the University of North Carolina and Duke University to present “Enhancing the Impact of Scholarship: How Authors Can Better Reach Readers in the New Publishing Economy.” The event will feature a panel discussion exploring the opportunities and challenges scholars face in maximizing the impact of their work. Authors Alliance will introduce a new, author-oriented guide to the ins and outs of open access publishing and explain why authors of books should consider rights reversions as another avenue toward open access publishing.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required. More information can be found at authorsalliance.org/duke.

Our events programming, our tools and resources like the recent rights reversion guide, and our advocacy all depend on the continued support of our members. Help us keep things going by joining, donating, and spreading the word!

Calling all Wolverines and Michiganders!

Join Authors Alliance as we team up with the University of Michigan Library and the U-M Institute for the Humanities to present a panel discussion and workshops on “Preserving Your Creative & Intellectual Legacy.” This is the first in a series of workshops scheduled around the country throughout the fall and spring to provide hands-on expertise and assistance to authors. The event will feature a panel discussion followed by workshops designed to help creators both make and keep their works accessible to a wide audience, now and in the future.

Panelists include a range of University of Michigan faculty, independent authors, and legal experts:

• Paul Courant, Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor Public Policy
• Don Herzog, Edson R. Sunderland Professor of Law
• James Hilton, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, and Vice Provost for Digital Education and Innovation
• Melissa Levine, U-M Library Lead Copyright Officer
• Jessica Litman, John F. Nickoll Professor of Law
• Robert James Russell, author and founding co-editor of the literary journal Midwestern Gothic
• Sidonie Smith, Mary Fair Croushore Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Institute for the Humanities
• Jennifer Traig, author of Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood and other books
• Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, UC Berkeley Professor of Law and member of the Authors Alliance Board of Directors
• Michael Wolfe, Executive Director of Authors Alliance

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged but not required. More information can be found at authorsalliance.org/michigan.

Our events programming, our tools and resources like the recent rights reversion guide, and our advocacy all depend on the continued support of our members. Help us keep things going by joining, donating, and spreading the word!

Original photograph by Joel Friesen, modified and used here under a CC BY 2.0 license.

Join Authors Alliance and the University of Toronto Libraries for a lively discussion of the opportunities and challenges the internet presents to both academic and independent authors. Topics will include the role of copyright law and fair dealing, new publishing opportunities (including open access publishing), and how digital dissemination can provide new life for older and out-of-print titles.

Following an introduction by Ariel Katz, University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist will moderate the panel, which features:

• Ren Bucholz, Lawyer, Lenczner Slaght, LLP
• Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor of History, University of Toronto
• Joshua Gans, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto
• Ryan Merkley, CEO, Creative Commons
• Margaret Jane Radin, Distinguished Research Scholar at the University of Toronto; Professor of Law, University of Michigan; Professor of Law, emerita, Stanford
• Pamela Samuelson, Professor of Law and Information, University of California, Berkeley; Co-founder of Authors Alliance
• Peter Unwin, Fiction Author and Poet

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

Get ready to mark your calendars, as Authors Alliance has a number of events around North America over the next couple of months. Join us if you can!

April 9 in Berkeley, California: Preserving Our Intellectual Legacies in the Digital Age

Will future generations of scholars appreciate our contributions after our books go out of print? Or when the physical bookshelves on which they are stored must compete with virtual bookshelves, full of new electronic resources that are more easily discovered and accessed online? How can authors avoid the prospect of intellectual oblivion in the digital age? Join Authors Alliance’s board and distinguished historian Thomas Laqueur as we explore the ways in which titles can best continue to make their mark in a shifting intellectual ecosystem.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

May 27 in Toronto, Ontario: How Can Canadian Authors Thrive in a Digital World?

Join Authors Alliance and the University of Toronto Libraries for a lively discussion of the opportunities and challenges the internet presents to both academic and independent authors. Topics will include the role of copyright law and fair dealing, new publishing opportunities (including open access publishing), and how digital dissemination can provide new life for older and out-of-print titles.

Following an introduction by Ariel Katz, University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist will moderate the panel, which features:

• Ren Bucholz, Lawyer, Lenczner Slaght, LLP
• Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor of History, University of Toronto
• Joshua Gans, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Toronto
• Ryan Merkley, CEO, Creative Commons
• Margaret Jane Radin, Distinguished Research Scholar at the University of Toronto; Professor of Law, University of Michigan; Professor of Law, emerita, Stanford
• Pamela Samuelson, Professor of Law and Information, University of California, Berkeley; Co-founder of Authors Alliance
• Peter Unwin, Fiction Author and Poet

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

But wait! There’s more!

Can’t make these events? You can also catch Authors Alliance executive director Michael Wolfe at DPLAfest 2015 on April 17–18 Indianapolis, or meet up with us when we table at this year’s Bay Area Book Festival on June 6–7 in Berkeley. Stay tuned as we prepare to announce more events for the second half of the year.

Think an Authors Alliance event would benefit your community? Get in touch and let us know!