Penguin punishes author for ebook

J. Strnad · 10-17-2011, 10:20 AM

From the NY Times (registration required):

Quote:

In 2010 Ms. Davenport signed with Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin, for “The Chinese Soldier’s Daughter,” a Civil War love story. She received a $20,000 advance for the book, which was supposed to come out next summer.

If writers have one message drilled into them these days, it is this: hustle yourself. So Ms. Davenport took off the shelf several award-winning short stories she had written 20 years ago and packaged them in an e-book, “Cannibal Nights,” available on Amazon.

When Penguin found out, it went “ballistic,” Ms. Davenport wrote on her blog, accusing her of breaking her contractual promise to avoid competing with it. It wanted “Cannibal Nights” removed from sale and all mentions of it deleted from the Internet.

Ms. Davenport refused, so Penguin canceled her novel and is suing her to recover the advance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/t...3;html?_r=2&hp

Excuse me now, but I'm off to Amazon to check out "Cannibal Nights"!

MrsJoseph · 10-17-2011, 10:23 AM

The link doesn't work.

HomeInMyShoes · 10-17-2011, 10:32 AM

^^Exactly.

I guess it all depends on what competing with it actually means. It's not like the book she published really competes with a Civil War romance. I'd probably never even glance at the Penguin offering, but Cannibal Nights sounds interesting as well as her first book of short stories House of Skin which was pretty well received. It's got a 4.52 (29) average rating on GoodReads.

Rob Lister · 10-17-2011, 10:42 AM

here's anoth3er link
http://www.ourbusinessnews.com/amazo...ook-publishing

interesting times. i guess the grass is sometimes greener on the other side of the gate.

HarryT · 10-17-2011, 10:54 AM

Old story. Please continue the discussion in the existing thread on the subject:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=149594

Thanks.

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10-17-2011, 10:23 AM	#2
MrsJoseph Loves Ellipsis... Posts: 1,554 Karma: 7899232 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Kobo Wifi (broken), nook STR (returned), Kobo Touch, Sony T1	The link doesn't work.

10-17-2011, 10:32 AM	#3
HomeInMyShoes Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,226 Karma: 67780237 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: none	^^Exactly. I guess it all depends on what competing with it actually means. It's not like the book she published really competes with a Civil War romance. I'd probably never even glance at the Penguin offering, but Cannibal Nights sounds interesting as well as her first book of short stories House of Skin which was pretty well received. It's got a 4.52 (29) average rating on GoodReads.

10-17-2011, 10:42 AM	#4
Rob Lister Fanatic Posts: 532 Karma: 3293888 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Virginia Device: Nook Simple Touch	here's anoth3er link http://www.ourbusinessnews.com/amazo...ook-publishing interesting times. i guess the grass is sometimes greener on the other side of the gate.

10-17-2011, 10:54 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Old story. Please continue the discussion in the existing thread on the subject: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=149594 Thanks.

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