American Independent Writers (AIW) was an American
trade organization
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partic ...
for professional writers. It existed from 1975 until about 2011, when, due to dwindling membership and financial problems, it went out of business.
History
It was formed as the ''Washington Independent Writers'' (WIW) in 1975 by a group of
freelance writer
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
s in the Washington, D.C., area to address concerns over finding
health insurance, job searching, and to provide social opportunities to help writers overcome isolation. Its first meetings were held in the
National Press Club
Organizations
A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...
.
["History of AIW"]
American Independent Writers official site. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
The first meeting, in April 1975, was attended by 200 people.
[ By 1987, WIW was the largest regional writers' group in the country.]["Writers Say Tax Changes Ruining Incomes"]
by David Vesey, UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
, ''The Durant Daily Democrat
''The Durant Democrat'' is a weekly newspaper located in the city of Durant, Oklahoma. The ''Durant Daily Democrat'' serves all of Bryan County and parts of other South Central Oklahoma counties. The Circulation is 7,000 Daily
History
For ove ...
'', August 5, 1987. Online at Google News. Also a
"New Taxhttps://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn Rules May Put Writers Out of Business"
''Schenectady Gazette
''The Daily Gazette'' is an independent, family-owned daily newspaper published in Schenectady, New York. ''The Daily Gazette'' also owns and operates ''The Amsterdam Recorder'', ''The Gloversville Leader-Herald'' and ''Your Niskayuna''.
Hist ...
'', August 7, 1987. In 2004, it had 1500 members.[
]
Services
Originally WIW provided services including "a monthly newsletter, Job Bank, social activities, directory of members, legal services program, health insurance access, grievance procedures, medical insurance, and a continuing round of workshops and seminars."[
By the 1980s, these had expanded to include political activism,][ and legal support and fundraising, most famously for founding member Kitty Kelley from 1983 to 1984, when she was sued by Frank Sinatra in an attempt to stop her publication of his ]unauthorized biography
An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...
, ''His Way''.["Author of controversial Bush book gets warm D.C. reception"]
, by Chris Otts, Scripps Howard Foundation
The Scripps Howard Fund is a public charity that supports philanthropic causes important to the E. W. Scripps Company, an American media conglomerate which owns television stations, cable television networks, and other media outlets. The goal of ...
Wire, September 20, 2004.
The group changed its name to American Independent Writers on July 1, 2008, to open up more opportunities for grants and donations."How a Small, Regional Association Went National in 18 Months"
by Cecilia Sepp, '' Associations Now'', September 2009, Feature. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official Website
American writers' organizations
Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Arts organizations established in 1975