I received the statement below this morning from the Authors Guild. I’m not happy with the Authors Guild these days, because of the debacle of the Google Book Search Settlement. But I agree with their position on Random House’s recent attempt to claim electronic rights on backlist titles whose contracts do not include a grant of those rights.

Copyright, literally, is “the right to copy.” It guarantees the authors of creative works–including books, artworks, films, recordings, photographs–the exclusive right for a set period of time to allow other people to copy and distribute the work, by whatever means and in whatever media currently exist. It also prohibits copying and distributing without the author’s permission. You own copyright by law, automatically, as soon your work is fixed in tangible form–i.e., the minute you write down the words.

This document has been endorsed by the Romance Writers of America (RWA), Novelists, Inc., Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA), and Western Writers of America, Inc. (WWA), representing a total of nearly 11,000 writers. Ratified version (2002) While affirming the freedom of every writer to negotiate in his or her own best […]

A few questions answered and a few myths debunked regarding Copyright.

By Diana Pharaoh Francis Writers can have great success when indie publishing, but many feel underqualified or underprepared to handle all the dimensions of self-publishing. I did. While there are numerous specialists available to help you navigate the journey, they can get expensive, and the process can be overwhelming. Enter another option: A publishing co-op. […]

by Austin Conrad Editorial note: This is the first in a two-part series from Austin Conrad on acquiring illustrations for tabletop games. Part 1 will focus on working directly with an artist, and Part 2 will present additional options, such as using stock art, public domain art, and similar resources. In the tabletop games industry, […]

On October 30, the SFWA Board and the SFWA Legal Affairs Committee sent the following letter to the US Copyright Office in response to their August 2023 Notice of Inquiry regarding copyright law and policy issues in artificial intelligence, which is part of their AI Initiative. We are aware that there is a wide range […]

by the SFWA Safety Committee Have you ever considered writing under a pen name? Some authors use pseudonyms to separate works under different genres, reboot their careers after a dry spell, or replace the names of multiple authors on the cover. These are all great reasons, but some authors want to use a different name […]

By Rachael K. Jones Work-for-hire writing jobs are common in novel-length work, especially in the world of tie-in fiction, but rarer in short fiction. If you’re primarily a short fiction author, you might be caught off-guard if approached with this kind of work. You may not have an agent who can give you advice. You […]

Last week, SFWA signed the “Creators Call for Action on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Copyright Exceptions,” a joint action from 24 creator-led organizations delivered to the European Union and United States governing bodies. This letter addresses the harm already caused to creators by AI companies’ manipulations of exceptions to copyright enacted by the 2019 European Union […]