Literary agent Selwa Antony ordered to pay author more than half a million dollars

This content has been archived. It may no longer be accurate or relevant.

From ABC Australia:

High-profile literary agent Selwa Anthony’s Supreme Court bid for extra royalties from bestselling Australian author Kate Morton has backfired.

The agent was instead ordered to pay a cross claim of more than half a million dollars to her former client.

Ms Anthony sued Ms Morton after she was sacked suddenly in 2015, after a long-standing relationship which began when they were introduced by a fellow novelist who was already a client of the agent.

Ms Morton went on to earn more than $17 million in royalties for six bestsellers since she burst onto the scene in 2006 with her debut novel The Shifting Fog.

The agent argued the writer had made an agreement over the phone in 2002 that she would receive 15 per cent commission for the life of the books for which she negotiated publishing deals.

Ms Morton disputed her version of events, instead accusing Ms Anthony of denying her opportunities, amounting to potential earnings of up to $2.8 million.

Today, Justice Julie Ward found Ms Anthony breached her duty of care and skill in advising Ms Morton to grant world rights for the last four of Ms Morton’s books without advising her of the financial implications of doing so.

“It was clearly a material feature of world right arrangements that Ms Anthony’s duties as agent would be reduced to almost nil, whilst Ms Anthony continued to obtain the same rate of commission,” Justice Ward said.

She dismissed Ms Anthony’s claim and ordered her to pay Ms Morton $514,558 plus interest in refunded commissions.
. . . .

Ms Anthony was this year involved in a legal battle over the estate of Australian author and friend Colleen McCullogh.

Link to the rest at ABC Australia

7 thoughts on “Literary agent Selwa Antony ordered to pay author more than half a million dollars”

    • Absolutely not. Selwa Anthony has been my agent for over 25 years, and I can assure you that myself and over 200 authors over the decades agreed to the very same 15% deal. Given the multitude of seminars and conventions that Selwa hosted and Morton attended, where we all discussed everything ad nauseum, there is no way that Morton was ignorant of her own contract. And for an Australian author earn 17.3 million in royalties is incredible, strospheric success, so to suggest Morton was “denied opportunities” is ludicrous.
      The trouble for Selwa is that she chooses to operate from a position of trust, respect and honesty … and there should be more of THAT in the industry … and have verbal agreements. Morton is bereft of all three and more.

      • This is business, and in business ‘they said/they said” situations are something to be avoided. No one wins. In business, the law matters. Contracts are law.

        Does she have a law degree to give the fill impact of clauses in lawful contracts? Contracts between business partners, and that includes writers and agents, protect BOTH parties. She can be a totally honest and upright agent and have that reflected in the contracts between her and the writers.

        In this case, the “she said/she said” situation bit her on the hind end because she wasn’t a smart enough business woman to have a contract in place that protected both of them.

        She might be honest. She might be great at giving education. She may be great in giving back to the writing community.

        But in this case, she as a horrible business person. And that would make me worry about the other aspects of the BUSINESS side of the writing and publishing business.

      • The trouble for Selwa is that she chooses to operate from a position of trust, respect and honesty

        .. and incompetence. The judge did not rule against her honesty, he ruled against a claim that was not backed up by a signed contract, and he ruled against her job performance to the tune of a half million dollars, a significant rebuke.

        Justice Julie Ward found Ms Anthony breached her duty of care and skill in advising Ms Morton to grant world rights for the last four of Ms Morton’s books without advising her of the financial implications of doing so.

Comments are closed.