From: Laura Quilter <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 00:56:28 -0400

Yes, the Authors Guild has made it abundantly clear that its doesn't
consider the actual interests and perspectives of academic authors as
relevant to its organization.  But, since we are all copyright holders
now, with our scholarly papers under the same copyright regime as
someone else's bestselling novel, it seems obvious that the voices of
the many different kinds of "authors" should be equally heard.  The
Authors Guild took it upon themselves to (mis)represent scholarly
writers, with their litigations against digitizing mostly academic
works; this new organization comes directly from the significant
problems with the Authors Guild claiming to so represent such a broad
class.  Personally I'm very pleased that academic authors will now
have an alternate voice that does speak to the interests of those the
Authors Guild so seriously misrepresented.

Honestly, I'm somewhat bemused by the Guild's kneejerk hostility.  I
would have imagined there would be areas of strong mutual interest --
terminations and publication contracts, just to start.

As to the Authors Alliance's engagement with scholarly presses, I
imagine that will be an item of great interest.  There are quite a few
humanists on the advisory board (with quite a number of publications
under their respective belts), so it looks hopeful.

Laura Markstein Quilter / [log in to unmask]
Attorney, Geek, Militant Librarian, Teacher

Copyright and Information Policy Librarian
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
[log in to unmask]

Lecturer, Simmons College, GSLIS
[log in to unmask]




On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 11:45 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Lesley Ellen Harris <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 08:32:08 -0400
>
> Apologies if this was already mention in the discussions…The Authors
> Guild is working hard to make it clear what the role of this new group
> called the Authors Alliance is…and what exactly The Authors Guild
> is…explanation at
> http://www.authorsguild.org/general/what-is-the-authors-alliance/.
>
> Lesley
> http://copyrightlaws.com
>
>
> On May 20, 2014, at 11:38 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 00:08:03 -0500
>
> Given that this new enterprise seems to be the brainchild of Pamela
> Samuelson, it seems to be aimed at mobilizing that group of authors
> who do not depend on publications for their living but have a strong
> interest, for career and other reasons, in maximizing free access to
> their writings. It was clear from the Authors Guild suit against
> Google that academics like Samuelson felt that the Guild did not
> represent the interests of nonprofessional writers like her and her
> academic colleagues, so now she wants an organization that will be
> able to lobby for those interests.
>
> My question to her and her colleagues is what they think should happen
> with scholarly publishing. Many of the people leading this new
> Alliance and on its advisory board have benefited from publishing
> books with university presses.  Are they going to try bringing
> pressure on university administrators so that university presses are
> funded in such a way as to enable them to engage in OA publishing of
> monographs?  Or do they simply want to weaken copyright protections on
> which university presses actually depend to conduct their business
> now, since universities generally require their presses to recover
> most of their costs from sales in the marketplace?
>
> I can see this Alliance as potentially helping scholarly publishing
> move in a direction that will free it of the necessity to rely on
> copyright protections, but if the Alliance is not careful, it could
> end up killing the goose before it has a chance to lay the golden egg.
>
> Sandy Thatcher
>
>
>
> > From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 18:12:12 -0400
> >
> > Of possible interest:  https://authorsalliance.org/intro.html
> >
> > "The mission of Authors Alliance is to further the public interest in
> > facilitating widespread access to works of authorship by helping
> > authors navigate the opportunities and challenges of the digital age.
> > We provide information and tools designed to help authors better
> > understand and manage key legal, technological, and institutional
> > aspects essential to a knowledge economy of abundance. We are also a
> > voice for authors in discussions about public and institutional
> > policies that might promote or inhibit broad dissemination.
> >
> > "If you are interested in our mission, please join us at our launch,
> > 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday May 21st at the Internet Archive in San
> > Francisco. For more details and to RSVP please visit:
> >
> > authorsalliance.eventbrite.com