SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Writing has never been a particularly good way to get rich, except for the Stephen Kings of the world. But the Authors Guild, a group which represents the interests of scribblers everywhere, has filed a petition on New Year's Eve asking the Supreme Court to review the latest decision in the Google Books case. It's become harder and harder for writers to earn a living. A lower court has upheld Google's right to add whole volumes to its database without paying fees or getting permission. A few days later, the Guild released an open letter to publishers demanding better contract terms for authors. NPR's Lynn Neary has more on the group's fight to raise the writers' wage.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Since 2009, the mean income for writers has gone down 30 percent, says Authors Guild Executive Director Mary Rasenberger. And that, she says, is huge.
MARY RASENBERGER: So it's alarming. And incomes are now down to unsustainable levels. And that means that even longtime author, authors who have been writing books for decades, are now being forced to seek other work. So we are looking at this in a holistic way. You know, why is this happening? And what can we do about it?
NEARY: The Google Books case, says Rasenberger, addresses the issue of copyright protection. The letter to the publishers takes on standard author contracts. Among other things, the Guild says, its writers should get a higher share of ebook income. And authors should have an option to retain the rights to their own books. The standard contracts the guild is protesting have been part of the business for decades.
RASENBERGER: These are the agreements that the un-agented authors see - or those without powerful agents - where the terms tend to be much, much worse.
NEARY: Much worse, that is, than the best-selling authors who can set their own terms. And that, says Porter Anderson, is part of the problem the Guild will face in dealing with publishers. Anderson, who writes about the industry for The Bookseller, an online British publication, says writers are not an easy group to organize.
PORTER ANDERSON: They're all at very different levels. They have different professional experience. They have different reasons for writing. They have different types of writing. There are factions within factions inside the author cap.
NEARY: Writers are also known for working in isolation. But, says Anderson, social media is changing all of that.
ANDERSON: Not only are authors able to talk to each other continually in real time, but they're also in touch with their readers. This is new.
NEARY: Anderson believes it significant that international writers organizations from Europe, Africa, Australia and Canada signed on to the Authors Guild letter to publishers.
ANDERSON: If an international coalition can start communicating to readers all over the world, look what your authors are going through. Did you know this is the experience and the condition in which your favorite author is working? Something has changed. The publishers then are facing a new world in which a lot of questions can be asked in a lot of places in very loud voices.
NEARY: The Authors Guild plans to meet with individual publishing companies to discuss their demands. And Mary Rasenberger says...
RASENBERGER: Do we expect them to turn around tomorrow and create new agreements that meet all of our - all of our requests? Probably not.
NEARY: But, she says, they're hopeful. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.