“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” - Richard Bach
CONTENTS
Writers' Night In - Monday, January 17
Our Unparalleled Annual Book Party - Sunday, February 6
Why Workers (Yes, Writers) Should Write the Rules
Open Mic Every Thursday
Calling All Book Authors! Tune-In Tuesdays
A Story of Self-Publishing Success: Mark Twain
How to Spot a Vanity Press
NWU Placards and Buttons
Grants Available to Low-Income Writers
Kudos
Spread Your News on the Update, Our Website, and Our Facebook Page!
Upcoming Events
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WRITERS' NIGHT IN
MONDAY, JANUARY 17 @ 5:30-6:30 P.M.
VIA ZOOM
There were times when 2021 felt like The Guest Who Wouldn’t Leave. But let’s all work for a better ’22 (or “Happier New Year” as some are saying).
Do you have any resolutions for the new year? Or was yours not to make any?
One wag on social media proposed a gym called “Resolutions” that would have workout equipment for the first two weeks of January, then turn into a wine bar for the rest of the year.
May we suggest that you resolve to join your colleagues for our January "Writers' Night In" to share your thoughts about the New Year? Or about whatever’s on your mind: writing projects, books you’re reading…you name it. Our next virtual gathering happens Monday the 17th at 5:30.
To request a Zoom invite please click here or email Charles Coe. And please share it with your writer friends who aren't members (yet).
Hope you can join us...
Your NWU-Boston Steering Committee
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IT'S COMING!
OUR UNPARALLELED ANNUAL BOOK PARTY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022 (ON ZOOM)
It won't be long now! Our Annual Boston Chapter Book Party is Sunday, February 6, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
We’re pleased to announce that in addition to short readings by our authors, the event will feature a keynote talk by Renée Graham, associate editor of the Boston Globe op ed page and commentator on CNN.
You can find a constantly-being-updated list here of our members who have published books in 2021. Please let Barbara Mende know if your book should be included.
Click here or contact Barbara Mende to request a Zoom invitation. The party will once again be a virtual event. But let’s all hope that we'll put the pandemic behind us soon so next year we can gather once more in person…
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WHY WORKERS (YES, WRITERS) SHOULD WRITE THE RULES
by State Senator-Elect and NWU Member Lydia Edwards
As inequality afflicts our society and as the physical, digital and financial platforms for communication evolve, it’s more important now than ever that workers have an organized voice and representation in government. Literature, journalism and entertainment will continue to exist; what happens to the people behind their creation depends entirely on what we fight for.
Prior to public service, I represented nannies and housecleaners in court. Their labor rights were literally written out of the New Deal, and it took nearly a century--in Massachusetts, until 2014--to rewrite that wrong. But until we won new legal protections, we had little but words to compel the judiciary to treat these workers with dignity. To win legislative changes, we brought their stories to everyday people, to writers in the media and to lawmakers.
Laws are, at their core, aggregations of words, intentions and interpretations. Yet their ramifications are enormous for compensation, healthcare, protection against discrimination and the right to own and protect one’s ideas. If the words behind the law don’t value your labor, then your situation as a worker is precarious. If you have no voice, the rules are written without you.
Today, we know major industry changes are affecting workers, from the consolidation of media outlets and purchase of newspapers by the owners of Amazon and major sports teams, to digital publication and myriad issues affecting freelancers. Gig workers across sectors, from publishing to ride share, are under attack by powerful interests who are seeking to exploit workers--and workers need to band together to protect and advocate for themselves.
If the past years have taught us anything, we’ve learned just how much words matter. As a municipal official, I’ve been proud to stand up for journalists in collective bargaining fights and gig workers as they seek stable and sound working conditions. I’m pleased to be headed now to Beacon Hill and I’ll be proud to work with the NWU to advance writers’ rights.
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OPEN MIC EVERY THURSDAY
The NWU New York Chapter, which for many years hosted open mics at the Muhlenberg branch library, is now holding virtual open mics weekly: every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.
All writers from all genres are welcome. You can read for up to seven minutes. Just RSVP on meetup.com to view the link to join.
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CALLING ALL BOOK AUTHORS! TUNE-IN TUESDAYS
FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH
Royalty, Compensation & Distribution Issues for Book Authors
Join a discussion about the most pressing issues for book authors today. Share your experience and knowledge and advance your career, hosted by Book Division Chair Dan McCrory and NY Member Timothy Sheard. Planned topics for the first several sessions are listed here.
To REGISTER for the Zoom meeting program email chair Dan McCrory.
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A STORY OF SELF-PUBLISHING SUCCESS:
MARK TWAIN
by John L. Hodge
If you do not like your publisher, create your own.
Mark Twain already had publishers. But he did not like them. They were too greedy and sometimes too slow. So he set up his own publishing company to publish his works. He named it Charles L. Webster and Company after his niece’s husband, whom Twain hired to run it. One of his company’s first published books was the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his most popular book and considered to be one of the Great American Novels.
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HOW TO SPOT A VANITY PRESS
by Barbara Mende, Grievance and Contract Coordinator
If you’ve been looking for a publisher, you’ve probably run into the ones that say they will publish your book if you pay them somewhere between $1,000 and $10,000. We always suggest that authors stay away from those. If you want to pay to publish your book, you can self-publish it through outlets such as Ingram Lightning Source or Amazon KDP, and hire your own editor to turn your book into camera-ready copy and your own publicist to market it.
But there are other presses that promise to publish your book without charging you, and to pay you royalties that are usually generous. We urge members to ask an advisor from the NWU’s Grievance and Contract Committee (GCC) to review your contract, partly so we can spot the red flags. Here are some of them:
- Requiring you to buy a certain number of books. A member signed a contract that required her to buy 50 books without stating the price. After she signed, she was told that the price was $100 per book.
- Making you sign onto a marketing plan for a few thousand dollars. The publisher tells you that it will arrange for premium distribution channels, and “you only have to pay for” editing and marketing services to make the book palatable.
- Telling you that you will start to receive royalties after the costs of printing the book are recovered. In other words, that you’re paying to print the book.
- Promising a “cooperative” or “hybrid” approach. That means that there will be up-front charges that you’ll be responsible for. Some hybrid presses are perfectly honest, but you have to know exactly what you’re in for.
The member who agreed to buy books tried to file a grievance when she learned what the cost would be. But it was too late. So please remember that the GCC is there primarily to help you improve, or scrap, contracts before you sign them. Just contact us at [email protected].
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NWU PLACARDS AND BUTTONS
We now have some NWU placards and buttons, available to members who want to demonstrate their union pride. (The placards, as pictured, are two-sided.) Wear a button around town or at literary events. Display a placard at work or carry to show solidarity at worker demonstrations or rallies to support a social justice agenda.
If you’d like a button or placard, Charles Coe will be happy to mail you one.
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GRANTS AVAILABLE TO LOW-INCOME WRITERS
TO ATTEND CONFERENCES OR WORKSHOPS
The Boston Chapter Steering Committee is offering $100 grants to up to five NWU members in good standing. These grants are available to those who face challenging financial circumstances and would like to attend a writing conference or workshop (one of those listed below or one of your choice), or to take advantage of some other professional development opportunity.
If you would like to apply, or would like more information, please contact Steering Committee member Willie Wideman Pleasants.
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Please send any news of a publication, award, or writing-related appearance that has already happened to editor Barbara Mende. (A piece on your own blog or website doesn't qualify.) Send 50 words or less, plus your name and a link to the publication, event, or website where readers can find more info about you or the happening. Don't send notices of work that will be published in the future. Do send news of future events, but see the "Upcoming Events" block for that.
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USE THE UPDATE, OUR WEBSITE, AND OUR FACEBOOK PAGE TO SPREAD YOUR NEWS
Are you speaking or reading from your work in the near future? Do you want to publicize an event that writers would be interested in zooming in to? Can you provide a service, such as editing or indexing or publicity, for your fellow union members? Do you just want to introduce yourself to the NWU membership?
Our Boston Chapter website, which you can reach at
nwu.org/chapters/boston/ or www.nwuboston.org, is here for you to use. Not only that, but if you send us an announcement of a specific event by the second Monday of each month, we'll try to include it in these updates.
Please send us news of any upcoming events that you'd like us to publicize, along with Zoom links or PDF posters if you have them. If you'd like to promote your services, plug your latest book, tell us about something writing-related that happened to you, or post anything else you can think of, we'll try to give it a place on the website.
Be sure to like the NWU Boston Facebook page, and visit it often.
And we'd love to hear from you if you'd like to contribute to these updates. Do you have information or a viewpoint on some phase of writing or publishing that you'd like to pass along? Do you have tips that you'd like to share with your fellow writers? Send them in! And don't forget, if you've published something or participated in an event or made an appearance, we'll post it under Kudos.
Send all your news for the Update and website to your webmaster.
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Open Mic Every Thursday (see above)
Tune-In Tuesdays - First Tuesday of Every Month (see above)
SEND US NEWS OF YOUR UPCOMING READINGS, BOOK LAUNCHES, OR OTHER PUBLIC APPEARANCES. WE'LL TRY TO HELP YOU RAISE A (VIRTUAL} CROWD.
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Co-Chairs: Barbara Beckwith and Jeanne Cosmos
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