Losing Control of Your Books

British author Karen Bush is unhappy with her American publisher:

Okay, I haven’t actually lost control of my temper, but I am very, very cross at what appears to be loss of control over one of my books – well, two to be more precise, although they’re one now … Let me explain. Many years ago, I wrote a short, practical horsy book which my publisher produced at a sensible price and size, an ideal present as either a Christmas stocking filler or all-year-round gift for all ages and we were all happy.

My publisher’s company then passed into other hands: and ten years later I wrote a sequel to the original book which was published in a similar format and at the same price. Again, we were all happy. The two books have both been (and currently still are) steady sellers in the UK, and have been continuously in print for around 25 and 15 years respectively – not bad.

The company once more passed into new hands, and the US rights were sold: I could hear my new publisher rubbing his hands in glee when he told me about it – although if I hadn’t rung him about a new book proposal, I’m not sure whether I would have heard about it.

I spoke to him again the other day. He was unaware that the US version – which took both books and amalgamated them into one – was now out. I hadn’t received a courtesy copy, and neither had he. I viewed the first few pages on the internet and was appalled to see they had changed and removed some of the text deemed to be ‘too British’ and therefore ‘unsuitable’ for the US market.

Now, I have no problems with words being ‘Americanized’ such as changing plaits to braids. But I AM outraged by the fact that I wasn’t consulted about any of these changes: from the scanty few pages I was able to view online, they appear to have made a hash of it, changing the sense of one particular tip completely. It makes me look like an idiot who doesn’t know what I am talking about, rather than a person who has been working and teaching with horses professionally for over 30 years.

. . . .

And to add insult to injury, they have also published it as an ebook. The conversion is dreadful, including the typos and bouncing text – they appear to have just scanned the pages in without even bothering to check if they’re working in digital format – making me look twice over an idiot. If I had bought either the paper or the digital book, after reading them I’m not sure I would bother looking at anything else that I’d written.

. . . .

What comeback do I have? At the moment, no idea, although I shall refer the matter to SoA to see what, if anything, can be done. The only good thing about this which I can see, is that should the UK publisher decide to also take the ebook route, then according to my contract (drawn up in the mists of time when parchment and quills were cutting edge technology) as regards royalties it states ‘all other rights, including … electrical … reproduction … : 50% of the net receipts’. Which presumably could be construed as 50% of digital sales, rather than the pittance which publishers usually try to fob us off with. At the very least I’ll get a chance to update and renegotiate the contract for digital rights.

Nevertheless, I ‘d rather make less and have a decent book out there.

Link to the rest at Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?

Let’s speak briefly of the legal issues here.

Somewhere in most publishing contracts, usually toward the end, is something lawyers call an assignment clause. Most of these do not allow the author to assign much of anything, but do allow the publisher to assign the publishing contract if the publisher is sold.

What might this mean?

Unless your editor is sold with your contract, your book will belong to a company you didn’t choose and its future will be determined by someone you’ve never met.

All of the reasons for entrusting your baby to a carefully-selected publisher have just gone out the window. All the special ways you developed for working with your editor and your publicist over the years have disappeared. Your publisher’s reputation for only releasing top-quality books and promoting them in the best ways is ancient history.

It’s the language in your contract that governs what your new publisher can do, not a sense that your books are anything other than part of an undifferentiated asset pool to be exploited for every cent it might produce.

Typically, authors place a great deal of trust in their publishers. Sometimes that trust is rewarded and other times it is not. However, if your publisher goes bust or sells out, all the trustworthiness in the world does you no good at all.

Excuses for bad publishing contract language like “We don’t ever pay attention to that paragraph” or “Our lawyer made us put that in, but we have never used that power in the 25 years I’ve been with this firm” won’t work when your contract belongs to someone new.

As Karen points out, the consequences may not be limited to not earning as much in royalties as you should. The author’s reputation can take a beating as well.

Read your contracts assuming that someone who cares nothing about you will do anything with your book and your name that the contract permits.

Agency contracts? They will also have an assignment clause. Instead of Sweet Sally, you may wake up one day to discover your new agent is Loonie Larry, the guy who’s always getting sued by his clients.

Contracts, Ebook/Ereader Technical Issues, International