If there had been a bankruptcy they would have been at the back of the line, but since the company simply went out of business, with no bankruptcy there were no assets that any author could collect ever. The only assests left to the company were the author contracts. It was generous and MORE than generous of Amazon to step in as a white knight. They got a good deal, too. Some of these authors were stars before Dorch messed them up.

The only ones “screwed” were the authors who either managed to get their rights reverted while someone was still answering the phones at Dorch (which they didn’t in the last few weeks of business) or the ones who elected not to take Amazon’s offer (and they still got their rights back). They’re out money, but they have their work and are free to reissue it as a self pubbed work. Trust me, virtually everyone involved is thrilled with this deal.

Unless the authors had a lien on the copyright for the books (which they didn’t), all the authors had was an unsecured claim against a defunct company. They would be in the back of the line in bankruptcy court and get nothing.

Dorchester had the right to sell the copyrights to Amazon.

Ideally, authors should retain their own copyrights and merely grant retailers/publishers a license to sell media containing their copyrighted work and split the revenues.

As an author, your copyright is your business asset. To sell it for a mere contractual right against an entity that could go bust doesn’t make sense unless you’re getting a giant advance and would be happy if you never received another dime from your work.

We need to see what books Dorchester sold but given they were selling ebooks that they did not own the rights to I would not be surprised to see they have sold titles they no longer had the rights to. You’d have to have very deep pockets to go up against Amazon. Authors are screwed whichever way they turn.

Even when they write good things about the romance world, they STILL manage to do stupid stuff. Le sigh.

Another former Dorch author friend managed to get Dorch to revert her rights before she knew about this deal, so she got left out, meaning she got her rights, but no back money she was owed.

And some authors simply said “I’m tired of all of this,” and Amazon immediately reverted rights to them (but didn’t pay any back money owed).

Overall, this is a VERY good deal for all the beleagured Dorch authors, no matter what they chose to do, but especially good for those thousand whose books will now have a new life with a push from Amazon.

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=12324#more-12324

I feel for the writers who signed with Dorchester. I really do.

…
I probably missed a few points in there, but it sounded like a really horrible situation for all associated authors. The fact that Amazon is offering to pay the back royalties if they are willing to stay is a hell of an olive branch. That Amazon is willing to sign over a rights reversal, without a fight, for anyone that wishes to leave is both honorable and considerate.

In essence they just ended months if not years of a nightmarish situation for a great many writers.

On the other side of the wall, the AG will tout Publish America as an wronged and injured party.

I know my choice, but who would You rather side with?

If you click through, there are some testimonials from some very happy authors, so it looks like this is a very good thing. I imagine it was very frutstrating being a (former) Dorcester author right now!!

Like John, I’m also interested in the royalty rate. I hope some authors let us know about their deals.