Authors International began in 1974 in a rented room above a bookshop on Edinburgh's Cowgate, when eleven writers discovered they had each signed substantially the same bad contract with substantially the same publisher.
What started as a mutual-warning list became, over five decades, a standards body. The association does not represent writers in negotiations — that is an agent's job, and we are careful about the distinction. What we do is establish what “normal” looks like, publish it, and make it expensive to depart from.
We are funded entirely by dues. We take no money from publishers, platforms, or licensing intermediaries, which is occasionally inconvenient and non-negotiable.
Standards changes are proposed by a committee, published for member comment for ninety days, and voted at Congress. A change needs a two-thirds majority of Full members voting. The comment record is published whether or not the motion passes — including the objections.
We are not a union and cannot call industrial action. We are not a licensing collective and do not collect on members' behalf. We are not an accreditation body — membership is not a mark of literary quality, and we have never pretended otherwise.