AT ISSUE: Reaching Audiences

We know that our members “write to be read” and hope to see their knowledge and products of their imagination widely disseminated. To further these goals, we help authors identify online platforms, journals, libraries, and other tools, techniques, and partners that can help them get and keep their works in the hands of readers.

For example:

• We create tools and resources that help authors reach audiences. Our termination of transfer tool that helps authors calculate eligibility for termination, our templates for crafting a rights reversion letter, and our tips for tracking down digital copies are just a few examples of how we help authors keep their works available.

• We promote the role of creators in making digital works more widely accessible to people with disabilities, and we likewise support copyright exemptions that improve the ability of authors to reach readers who are print-disabled.

• We celebrate our members’ success stories to share strategies other authors can use to get works in the hands of readers, whether it is through rights reversion, open access, or other means.

• We regularly highlight innovative ways that publishers and libraries are helping make and keep authors’ works broadly available. For example, we’ve featured MIT Press’ project to digitize hundreds of books from its backlist and make them available through Open Library, endorsed the Position Statement on Controlled Digital Lending by Libraries, and spotlighted UC Press’ pioneering approach to publishing open access monographs and Semaphore Press’ work to produce affordable, high-quality textbooks.