Friday, September 11, 2009

Writers Union Tells it Like it is.

The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) provides support and resources for writers while also advocating on their behalf to government and other organizations. TWUC offers other services. For example, it will scrutinize and give advice on contracts. It also has an editing service for manuscripts, writing contests etc. Check out the web site http://www.writersunion.ca/

Last night two reps from the Union, Erna Paris and Larry Scanlon, met with a small group at the house of writer Elle Andra-Warner to fill us in on current issues. Brief summary below but see web site above for more detail.

1. Fair royalties for e publishing. Kindle looms. Downloading of books and articles is a fact. Universities are putting books on line for students – it’s a new world out there. Some believe all e-books should be free, copyright or no. Yeah, right. Bottom line - the creator must be paid.

2. The Google Grab. Google has digitized millions of books, often without permission of the copyright holder, sometimes without informing the author. A US settlement mandates that authors (including Canadian authors) are to be allowed to opt out. For those who opt in, there will be compensation but much of the settlement money will go to administration or to the copyright holder of the work, usually the publisher. This is a complex issue affecting all published writers.

3. Copyright. Canada’s laws are antiquated. New legislation is pending and may be introduced this fall. (or not if there is an election).

4. Writing contracts. Writers Elinor Barr and Elle Andra-Warner warned of sharp wording in contracts not only for books but articles. For starters, the author must beware of giving away e rights. One word can mean loss of money. TWUC will minutely scrutinize a contract for a member – a great service.

5. Tax breaks for writers. It would be nice to go back to income averaging, but this was dropped a while back. In Quebec, writers are not taxed on the first $30,000. Here in Ontario, even an Ontario Arts Council grant is subject to tax. Also, Writing services will have to charge the new Ontario “harmonized “ tax adding 8% to the bill for a total of 13% in taxes (GST plus PST). Lots of issues here.

6. Free speech issues. One complaint from a member of the public and it’s often "bye-bye book" as it is pulled from the library shelf. Sinister things can happen. Recently a young writer was questioned by Vancouver Olympic Security because they did not like what they read in his book.

7. Help for writers including a benefit program (health and dental) to be unveiled on September 29.

In short, an informative meeting. Thanks due to TWUC for including Thunder Bay on its tour and Elle Andra-Warner for hosting the event.

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