Media and Publishing
My love of literature and the performing arts and their ability to influence and transform people and society stem from early childhood exposure to books, film, live theater, dance, and classical music. After taking my first creative writing workshop during my freshman year at Mount Holyoke College, I began writing fiction and creative nonfiction in earnest, earning an MFA in Fiction Writing at the University of Washington, where I studied under National Book Award Winner Charles Johnson. Since that time, I've published more than 30 short stories, essays, and an award-winning memoir. This lifelong devotion to literature and the arts has prompted me to work with a variety of nonprofit organizations, including The Authors Guild, for which I serve as a paid communications consultant, writing about the media and publishing industry.
Book Trailer: VL Stuart's Orb and Arrow: Book II Honor
This 46-second video trailer showcases the second book in the epic fantasy adventure novel series
Op-Ed: How an antitrust trial could reshape the books we read — and who writes them
The outcome of an antitrust trial currently underway in Washington could reshape the kind of books Americans read — and who writes them.
Last November, the Department of Justice sued to stop the proposed merger of two of the country’s largest publishers, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. At the time, U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland said: “If the world’s largest book publisher is permitted to acquire one of its biggest rivals, it will have unprecedented control over this important indus
Last November, the Department of Justice sued to stop the proposed merger of two of the country’s largest publishers, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. At the time, U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland said: “If the world’s largest book publisher is permitted to acquire one of its biggest rivals, it will have unprecedented control over this important indus
What Amazon Has Done to Books: An Interview with Mark McGurl, PhD
I conducted and wrote this interview with Professor Mark McGurl of Stanford University, author of Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon about the impact of Amazon Prime and Amazon Kindle Publishing on the commoditization of fiction and how it devalues how most readers view literature.
Authors Guild 2021 Annual Report
Authors Guild Bulletin
Researched and wrote four of the articles in this quarterly member newsletter and served as the final editor/ reviewer to ensure factual accuracy, brand continunity and formatting correctness before it went to print.
U.S. District Court Grants Win to Plaintiffs in Kiss Library eBook Piracy Suit
Authors Guild members, Amazon Publishing and Penguin Random House come together to combat ebook piracy
Seattle (December 30, 2021): The U.S. Court for the Western District of Washington awarded $7.8 million in statutory damages to 12 Authors Guild members, Amazon Publishing, and Penguin Random House for 52 acts of copyright infringement in a default judgment against Kiss Library, permanently shutting down the Ukraine-based ebook piracy ring. In a decisive opinion on December 20, 2021, Judge Mar
Seattle (December 30, 2021): The U.S. Court for the Western District of Washington awarded $7.8 million in statutory damages to 12 Authors Guild members, Amazon Publishing, and Penguin Random House for 52 acts of copyright infringement in a default judgment against Kiss Library, permanently shutting down the Ukraine-based ebook piracy ring. In a decisive opinion on December 20, 2021, Judge Mar
Join Us to Stop Book Banning
The Authors Guild advocates for the rights of professional writers to create, publish and earn a sustainable living as fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, translators, and journalists. Book banning, whether challenged by the right or the left, interferes with those rights, not only by suppressing free speech and freedom of expression but by making it harder for authors to sell copies of their work.
According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number o
According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number o
Some Thoughts on Cancel Culture
Proponents of cancel culture call for the rejection and vilification of any institutions, individuals, or facts that make them uncomfortable or conflict with their worldview. I find one recent example of this trend particularly troubling—an article published by the Conference on College Composition and Communication in which five college writing instructors demanded that university professors stop requiring African-American students to use standard English in the classroom because it is
Opinion | The Justice Department’s move to block a major publishing merger supports authors — and the marketplace of ideas
Since the 1970s, authors have watched with alarm as corporate consolidation reduced the number of major publishing houses. The 2013 merger between Penguin and Random House created the country’s largest publisher (outside of Amazon) and cut the number of big traditional publishers to five — the Big Five. The merger of Penguin Random House with Simon & Schuster, the country’s third-largest publisher, would have reduced this to the Big Four — leaving only two publishers controlling more than two-th
The Benefits (and Limits) of Publishing with a University Press
If the "university press" moniker conjures the image of a stack of Ph.D. dissertations, the diversity of titles and well-known authors published under university press imprints should easily erase it: The Toni Morrison Book Club (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020); A Confederacy of Dunces (Louisiana State University Press, 1980); former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins' The Apple That Astonished Paris (University of Arkansas Press, 1988); and Karla FC Holloway's A Death in Harlem (Northwestern University Press, 2019), the first volume in a proposed #HarlemBooks fiction series.
The list runs on, offering a rich mix of history, fiction, poetry, science, mystery, and humor--some books you may have read long ago, others you've never heard of--selected by members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), and not a dissertation or monograph in sight.
The list runs on, offering a rich mix of history, fiction, poetry, science, mystery, and humor--some books you may have read long ago, others you've never heard of--selected by members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), and not a dissertation or monograph in sight.
Power Players: Nine Women Sports Film Classics
Even if not an athlete yourself, show some solidarity for these hard-working, hard-playing women of US Soccer, and spend an enjoyable and inspiring weekend bingeing on these classic sports films:
Mother's Day Movies for the Rest of Us
As Mother's Day 2016 approaches, Hollywood is issuing two new films celebrating all things Mom. Also see my list of five films featuring powerful mothers that won't make the male members of your party flee from chick-flick angst .
Proposed “Journalism Competition And Preservation Act” Deserves Our Support
A decade ago, print, digital, television, and radio news outlets employed approximately 114,000 journalists. That number fell below 86,000 last year, a drop of more than 25%, according to the nonpartisan Pew Center for Research. Newspaper advertising revenues in 2018, which combined with circulation revenues determine newspapers’ ability to make a profit, fell 13% in just 12 months to $14.3 billion.
How Do We Get Through Such Difficult Times for Authors?
As any working writer today knows, the writing profession is dramatically evolving. Traditional nonbook sources of income that a book author might count on—including freelance journalism, fees paid for university copying, and book advances—continue to dwindle, while new opportunities are still in their infancy in terms of pay.
20 Powerful Books on the Writing Craft
Studying the best authors in whatever genre you write, the award-winners; the ones who remain in print after 20, 50, even 100 years; or simply those authors whose books resonate with you long after reading the last page, will inevitably shape WHAT you write. Likewise, look to those same authors for insights on HOW to write.
Cutting arts funding would be shortsighted
Op/Ed that I wrote when it was announced that the Trump Administration planned to eliminate funding for the NEA, NEA, and the Center for Public Broadcasting. To ensure pickup in the Poughkeepsie Journal, I used the arts and literature of the Hudson Valley as an example of the projects that would be harmed.
What Scarlett O'Hara Teaches Us About Authenticity
Most executives I speak to believe their companies could do a better job communicating with their customers, shareholders, talent or just with each other. All too often, however, C-suite professionals respond to corporate communications the same way that Scarlett O’Hara did whenever her actions conflicted with her beliefs—be it the invading Union Army, killing an army deserter and would-be rapist, or raising the money to pay for the taxes on Tara—declaring,“I can’t think about that now.
What Are Your Writing Resolutions for 2019?
As 2019 gets underway, many of us find ourselves reflecting on what we’ve accomplished over the past year as well as those activities we wish to spend more time doing. It’s why so many of us take the time ahead of the new year to make resolutions for the future.
Kaye Scholer's Rhonda Trotter Helps Prince Gain Back Copyright of His Recordings
Partner Rhonda Trotter, Co-Head of Kaye Scholer’s Trademark, Copyright & False Advertising Practice, helped put an end to rock icon Prince’s 20-year battle with Warner Brothers Records this week, when she secured the musician’s ownership of his master recordings.
The Learning Traveler: A Creative Retreat in Tuscany
Writers can be inspired by attending a week-long creative writing workshop at the Castello di Montegufoni in Tuscany, which was once home to the poets Petrarch and Boccaccio when they sought refuge from The Plague that swept Italy in the 14th century.
