The Authors Guild

Founded in 1912, the Authors Guild is the oldest and largest professional writers' organization in the United States. We advocate for the legal rights of authors by supporting fair publishing and freelance writing contracts, copyright protection and free speech. We also provide working writers with an inclusive community that values and celebrates the author’s craft and fights for a livable wage. Guild members include published writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, general nonfiction, scholarly works, poetry, and journalism pieces—traditionally and independently published—as well as literary agents and representatives of writers’ estates. While we welcome and support professional writers at all stages of their careers, the Guild has long received high level of support and participation from award-winning literary writers and best-selling authors, including Richard Russo, Doug Preston, Amy Bloom, Erica Jong, Oscar Cásares, Mary Pope Osborne, Tayari Jones, Nora Roberts, Roxana Robinson, Scott Turow, Julia Glass, TJ Styles, Sigrid Nunez, Lore Segal and James Gleick to name just a few. Our guiding principles: Compensation Authors should not be required to write or speak for free. Writers, like all professionals, should receive fair payment for their work. Ownership Authors should be able to retain ownership of their copyrights and to recover those rights if a publisher is unwilling or unable to exploit them. Distribution Authors should have the right to choose how and by whom their works are copied, distributed, or otherwise made available to the public. Attribution Authors should receive proper credit and attribution for their work.