US writers’ groups Authors United and the Author Guild merge

In the US, campaign group Authors United has merged with the country’s largest writers’ organisation, the Authors Guild, reports the Bookseller. Originally set up to protect authors’ interests in Amazon’s 2014 dispute with Hachette US, Authors United is a loose coalition that currently includes around 1000 members. In a letter circulated to members, founder Douglas Preston wrote that the 2014 dispute was ‘only part of a graver situation that is not going away, but getting worse—and perhaps very, very much worse given the incoming administration’. The potential administration under Donald Trump was given as the main impetus for the merge, with Preston stating that the Authors Guild is an organisation that ‘puts its money where its mouth is’ by taking legal action. ‘The guild is extremely concerned about potential high-level appointments in areas that affect writers: copyright, anti-trust, libel law, and freedom of the press,’ said Preston, who said Authors United will continue to work with the guild on key areas of concern such as author’s falling incomes and protecting copyright against the ‘scorched earth lobbying efforts of Google, Amazon, and their ilk’.

Category: International news