• USA Authors Guild Issues Report Exploring the Factors Leading to the Decline of the Writing Profession

    February 19,2020 New York (February 19, 2020): The Authors Guild, the nation’s largest and oldest nonprofit professional association for published writers and journalists, today issued a report, “The Profession of Author in the 21st Century,” detailing the underlying social, economic and technological factors contributing to the ongoing decline of author incomes. “For much of literary […]

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  • Copyright: US Publishers Succeed in ‘Audible Captions’ Case

    In Feature Articles by Porter Anderson      February 6, 2020 The success of the Association of American Publishers in its case against Audible Captions may have long-lasting influence on issues of AI and intellectual property. Pallante: ‘Audible Has Agreed …’ In a resolution announced today (February 6), the Association of American Publishers has succeeded […]

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  • Lobbying for NZ writers – article reprinted from Reading Room

    OCTOBER 15, 2019 Updated 1 hour ago Mandy Hager is the author of both fiction and non-fiction, for adults and teens. Her work has won multiple awards and this year she received the Storyline Margaret Mahy Medal for life-time achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand’s literature for young people. Her most recent book, […]

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  • Amazon’s AUDIBLE using USA ‘Fair Use’ copyright law to defend infringement – it proceeds to court

    Points, Counterpoints: The Publishers v. Audible Lawsuit Lines Are Drawn FROM PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES: Feature Articles by Porter AndersonSeptember 23, 2019 More than 100 pages of court filings precede a hearing expected this week in the US publishers’ lawsuit of Amazon’s Audible. Publishers allege copyright infringement, the audiobook company asserts fair use. In this image from Audible’s July […]

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  • Cultural Labour is an election issue!

    A Platform to Encourage and Protect Canadian Creativity The federal election will be held on Monday, October 21. The Writers’ Union of Canada is approaching the 2019 federal election with the goal of ensuring a properly protected and well-funded cultural space for creating and sharing stories in Canada. Without the stories, information, and ideas generated […]

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  • CLNZ/NZSA Research Grants 2019 Awarded

    “The overall quality was high and the upper end of the list strong. We could have easily added many more to the shortlist.”– David Veart, 2019 Judging Panel Convener The 2019 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Research Grants have been awarded.  The $5,000 grants support New Zealand writers who wish […]

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  • Publishers and Authors are pissed (sic) about Amazon’s upcoming Audible Captions feature

    Author’s Guild in the US says this feature breaches rights. Some authors and publishers are asking for their books to be withheld from the feature From THE VERGE B Andrew Liptak Earlier this week, Audible revealed that it was working on a new feature for its audiobook app: Audible Captions, which will use machine learning […]

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  • Space to breathe

    22 Jul 2019 The latest offering of grants and awards in one of our key creative industries is rightly seen as something to boast about. [In partnership with NZSA and CLNZ] There’s less than a week for would-be or established writers in New Zealand to apply for $20,000 worth of research grants on offer. From August 2 there’s […]

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  • Government Making Plans –

    Encouraging signs for transformation of the sector By Keri Malthus Making plans  The Government has put a firmer timeframe around its planning to transform the creative sector. In a statement to The Big Idea, a spokesperson for newly-appointed Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says the Government will begin to develop a formal Industry Transformation Plan […]

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  • CLNZ/NZSA Research Grants 2019: Now Open for Applications

    Receive a $5,000 grant to help you research your latest fiction or non-fiction writing project.  All New Zealand writers welcome to apply! In support of New Zealand writers who wish to undertake research for a fiction or non-fiction writing project, the 2019 Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Research […]

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  • Canadian Lawmakers Recommend Sweeping Progressive Improvements to Copyright Law – Music to our ears…

    The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage yesterday released its long-awaited report on artist remuneration, as part of Parliament’s Statutory Review of the Copyright Act. Titled Shifting Paradigms, the report makes twenty-two key recommendations focused on strengthening the rights of artists to control and earn from their work in the digital age.  The Writers’ Union of […]

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  • Authors need protection from online pirates, Philip Pullman claims

    Online book piracy is an “offence against moral justice” that “any decent Government” should protect authors from, the writer Philip Pullman has said. Mr Pullman, the president of the Society of Authors, criticised Britain’s lax copyright laws that are failing to tackle the “increasingly prevalent” number of websites where novels are downloaded for free without […]

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