From the Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...0-year-old-man
Quote:
The high court has ordered the British publisher of Jonas Jonasson’s smash-hit novel The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared to stop selling it, following an alleged failure to pay royalties.
Hesperus Press was ordered, after a hearing on 24 April, to cease publishing, printing and selling the English translation of Jonasson’s bestselling Swedish novel and to return copies to Hachette Book Group, which owns world English rights and which brought the legal action against the independent publisher.
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Most, interestingly, the book has sold 500,000 print copies and 700,000 ebook copies since 2012. (Interesting ratio) No royalties received since 2012. The author and agent only recently noticed it.
Quote:
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“If I am to focus on my artistic ability, I need to stay away from it all. But I’ve always felt proud when I think of how popular the book has become in the world. And I remember when the book filled the whole shop window in Waterstones’ flagship store in Piccadilly in London. It felt great that a Swede could become so popular in English. But it’s a mental collision between that experience and the feeling of how I have been handled by Hesperus Press.”
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Hugo Gernsback would be proud of these guys:
Quote:
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Jonasson is not the only Hesperus author looking for answers. All four members of staff at the small publisher have resigned from the company in the past few months. Jordan-based chief financial officer Ayman Al Asmar said that a “formal release about next steps and future plans would be issued ‘soon’”, according to the Bookseller, but gave no further details. Attempts to reach Al Asmar and director Gabi Sharbain, were unsuccessful today.
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Those boys didn't just rip-off a bunch of naive authors (check the source for further details and quotes) but a giant multinational. That takes guts.
Of course, it *is* Hachette, not the Randy Penguin, but still.
I'm thinking... beach balls!
They should sell their movie rights to Mel Brooks if they get away with it.