Benefits of Membership

Has This Ever Happened to You?

• A publication accepts your story idea, you write the piece, they decide not to use it; you get nothing or a small percentage of your fee.
• You are asked to rewrite your piece to meet a new editorial agenda -- for no additional fee.
• You meet your deadline, and then you wait for payment -- for months, and months, and months.
• A tech publisher insists you commit yourself full time, but refuses to pay you benefits.
• Your publisher sell the electronic rights to your work without your knowledge or permission.
• You are offered a contract that (unless you have a law degree) leaves you completely confused about your rights, your royalties, and other important provisions.

Do You Want to Know More About...

• Story and book proposals
• Finding, evaluating, and dealing with publishers and agents
• Contracting with publishers, editors, and agents
• Copyright, fair use, and infringement
• Doing research on the Internet
• Writing for the World Wide Web
• Alternatives to mainstream publishing
• Writers resources

Then check out these benefits of joining NWU's Western New England Chapter 

• Journalism and book contract advisors who can advise you in negotiations with editors, publishers, and agents, and review your contracts before you sign
• Grievance services from a specialist who will represent you in conflicts with publishers and agents
• Free access, by phone or Internet, to a job hotline that lists writing jobs throughout the country
• A database that locates and evaluates literary agents nationwide
• Press credentials for working journalists
• Discounts from local merchants on writing-related supplies and services.
• Discounts on computers, software, car rentals, and delivery services, and a special low-rate long distance telephone service through our affiliation with the UAW
• Two quarterly news publications, the chapter's Outline and the national American Writer
• And, most important of all, the knowledge that you are part of an organization working to improve the working lives and economic well-being of freelance writers like you
  

The Western New England Chapter also sponsors numerous events: seminars on getting your work published and paid for; workshops about recent technological developments; panels on the craft of writing; genre affinity groups; member readings; a yearly general membership meeting; our annual Fall Writers Conference, cosponsored by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Resources available to members

Upon request, members may receive copies of any of the following resource materials, most of them free:

• The NWU Guide to Freelance Rates and Standard Practice
• Media Rates Database
• Agents Database
• NWU Guide to Book Promotion
• NWU Guide to Book Contracts
• NWU Standard Journalism Contract and Handbook
• NWU Preferred Literary Agent Agreement
• Understanding the Author-Agent Relationship
• NWU Guide and Model Contract for Ghostwriting and Collaboration
• NWU Guide to Fair Use
• Electronic Rights Guidelines for Journalists
• Guide to Small Claims Court

Updated April 12 2004