12-15-2009, 04:22 PM | #1 | |
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Authors Guild to Random House head: What's in the water over there?
You probably remember the letter sent by Random House charmain Markus Dohle on Friday. He informed agents that the existing contracts with RH granted ebook rights by default even where digital rights are not mentioned.
The Author's Guild has posted a response to Mr. Dohle's letter. They take the position that he is 100% wrong, and the evidence weighs heavily in their favor. Quote:
http://authorsguild.org/advocacy/art...ve-rights.html |
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12-15-2009, 06:53 PM | #2 |
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I hope the Authors Guild is successful. Random House is basically trying to say, "well you didn't say we couldn't have the electronic rights so that means you want us to have electronic rights; oh and you don't get any of the profits we make off of your work."
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12-15-2009, 07:52 PM | #3 |
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Meh
This isn't particularly surprising. And for those about to jump on the "yay Author's Guild" bandwagon, just keep in mind this is the same organization that protested Text-To-Speech rights on ebook readers. At any rate, that ruling only related to a preliminary injunction. RH and Rosetta settled out of court, so the issue is still officially open. Plus, it's really up to the language in the contracts, which vary from publisher to publisher and almost certainly changed over the years. I would not be surprised at all if earlier contracts do largely favor the artists' rights, but the issue is far from settled. |
12-15-2009, 07:57 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
RH is not planning to deprive writers of their royalties; rather, they are trying to prevent authors from taking the ebook rights to backlist titles to different publishers. If the contract does end up granting RH rights, they have to abide by the royalty agreements of the contract. RH is no more "greedy" than a writer (or a writer's estate) who tries to establish who actually gets the ebook rights. If the contracts are unclear, they are unclear, and either the parties will settle or the courts will make the determination. |
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12-15-2009, 09:34 PM | #5 | |
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why shouldn't the authors have rights to sell electronic versions of their titles to other publishers if that isn't specificied in their contracts? imo rh should have contacted authors with pre-ebook contracts and offered the same royalties for ebooks as for pbooks, and maybe the authors wouldn't have gotten upset.
of course, this is one of those arguments. the books are all long ago edited, covers are long since done - so why shouldn't those authors have gotten an extra 1% since those things won't need to be paid for? Quote:
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12-15-2009, 10:01 PM | #6 |
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I don't think RH take away all rights to the ebooks though right? They just treat it like a variation of the print book, authors still receiving royalties from sales. Something most authors wouldn't be concerned about.
But the authors who don't like the percentage of ebook royalties they receive or are interested in getting their ebooks into some other distribution network and have those pre-1994 contracts appear to have the legal precedents well and truly on their side. From the consumer point of view that outcome 'might be' nice because it might mean authors can move their ebooks to platforms with less restrictive DRM and cheaper prices. |
12-15-2009, 10:21 PM | #7 |
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12-15-2009, 10:52 PM | #8 | |||
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Quote:
I'm surprised this wasn't largely settled when audiobooks gained prevalence. At any rate it doesn't make sense to hold a specific position without reviewing the contracts in question, preferably with an experienced lawyer. Of course, that's not what the Author's Guild is necessarily about -- their job is to vigorously defend the authors. I.e. this is PR rather than a legal analysis. Quote:
If you are a landlord and you have a tenant who isn't paying the rent, you don't need to renegotiate the lease before demanding they pay what they owe. Quote:
If the author is getting a smaller royalty per sale, it's because the book is selling for less, so the publisher is receiving lower revenues as well from the sale. The royalties the author should get are those determined by the contract and any subsequent negotiations. (AFAIK this should also mean that RH can't pick an arbitrary number as an ebook royalty rate, they'd have to find a justification for a percentage in the contract.) Plus there are costs involved, especially for older books -- e.g. digitizing and proofreading. If you buy an ebook for $5, don't forget up to half of that may go to the retailer, some goes to the artist, some goes to taxes. |
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12-16-2009, 01:41 PM | #9 |
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