Authors Alliance

The Authors Alliance (the Alliance) is a new organization founded by MacArthur Fellow Pamela Samuelson and others to represent the interests of authors who wish to more fully control the distribution of their work, which might include specific ways to share their works so as to reach the audiences most likely to be interested in them. Today, most of the books ever published are still in copyright but out of print, and therefore hard to obtain; the Alliance is developing ways to make these works available, according to the wishes of living authors. This grant supports a full-time employee to assist with business operations, as well as a number of ad hoc research positions, and the publication of informational resources for authors and other producers of creative works. The Alliance’s advisory board includes MacArthur Fellows Jonathan Lethem, Louis Hyde, Pam Samuelson, and MacArthur Board member Joi Ito.