AUTHORS COALITION
SURVEY UPDATE

Thanks to everyone who returned NASW’s first-ever Authors Coalition genre survey! The data compiled from the 683 respondents have been submitted to the coalition and will determine how much of the money due this year to American writers for overseas reproduction of their work will come to NASW. The membership will be notified when the first check is received.

Whatever amount is received this year, we can do better if more members complete the 2003 survey. If ever in your career, whether as a staffer or a freelance, you’ve had anything published by a commercial outlet, be it a magazine, newspaper, journal, or book of almost any description, your work is eligible to be counted. That includes NASWers currently employed by non-commercial organizations and those no longer actively writing. Even if written decades ago, your words are sitting in libraries around the world, available for xerographic copying and eligible for payment. The coalition divides more than a million dollars a year according to a strict head count of the writers who belong to each member organization.

Some organizations receive well over $100,000 annually. The money NASW will receive is ours by right, earned by our professional work. But ya gotta fill out the annual survey. We know that in some respects the survey form seems a bit odd, but the nations sending the money to America require that we use it. NASW cannot change the survey form in any way.

Despite the strangeness and the newness of the survey, NASW made quite a creditable showing this first time out. With everyone’s support, we can do even better in the future. You’ll be hearing more about the 2003 survey later in the year. Thanks in advance for your help.

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(Contributed by Beryl Benderly)