For only the second time, the Authors Guild and the AAR (Association of Authors’ Representatives) joined together to file an amicus brief in support of the seven publishers suing to block Audible Captions. They say the “feature presents a significant threat to the rights and livelihoods of authors and their representatives…. Audible seeks to bypass its glaring infringement of authors’ and publishers’ rights by arguing that this is a contract issue, not a copyright issue and that, in any event, its misappropriation qualifies as fair use.” Significantly, their legal argument is that “Audible completely ignores the Copyright Act’s explicit recognition […]
Authors
Government Sues Edward Snowden, Seeking to Collect Any Book and Speech Earnings
The US government filed suit again Edward Snowden in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, seeking any and all earnings from his just published book Permanent Record, as well as earnings from his speeches, alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duty. As a former employee of both the CIA and the NSA, Snowden had signed secrecy agreements requiring pre-publication review of any book, but he “did not, at any time, submit the manuscript for Permanent Record to either the CIA or NSA for prepublication review. Nor did Snowden obtain written approval from CIA or NSA prior to sharing manuscripts with […]
Helping Writers At Publishers Marketplace
Agents, editors, authors and others kindly continue to direct writers to join PublishersMarketplace.com. To help those members make the most of our resources, we have finally posted a Writer’s Guide to PM, answering a number of frequently asked questions about researching agents, deals and more. But this is just a start; we welcome your additional tips and tricks — as well as things you would like writers to know to use PM responsibly and effectively. Let us know your thoughts at info@publishersmarketplace.com, thanks.
Legal: More On Captions, and Fox, As EU Is Advised Against Resale of eBooks
Last week when we reported that Audible was telling self-published ACX authors “we have chosen to wait until the outcome of the proceeding to release” their controversial Captions feature, the company said this was “what we’re communicating to authors” and declined to answer our question about whether that policy applied to publishers as well. The Independent Book Publishers Association complained to Audible about Captions on behalf of 27 of their members, and got the exact same form e-mail response back that we quoted last week, Publishing Perspectives reports. Which suggests the entire launch, aside from public domain titles, has been […]
Dreamspinner Keeps Promising Authors to “Catch Up What Everyone Is Due” In Payments
Romance publisher Dreamspinner Press has not been paying royalties in timely fashion, authors have been reporting online, at least partially confirmed by emailed updates from the company that have been shared. Earlier this summer, authors posted on Twitter that the publisher had been inconsistent with payments for over a year, including delays in issuing both first quarter and second quarter 2019 royalties. In June, author TJ Klune posted, “Out of the last 8 quarters, this is the fourth time payments have been late, and the second in which I am owed penalties for said lateness.” (Klune had said in March […]
High-Profile CIA Memoir Still Awaiting Formal Prepublication Approval
Journalist Yashar Ali reported earlier this week that former CIA officer Amaryllis Fox — whose book LIFE UNDERCOVER: Coming of Age in the CIA is scheduled for publication on October 15 by Knopf — has not yet received written approval to publish from the CIA’s Publications Review Board. Nonetheless, a Knopf spokesperson tells PL, “We are proceeding to publication based on assurances the author has received from the PRB.” The publisher indicates on background that Fox has coordinated with the PRB throughout the process of writing the book, including obtaining verbal clearance before submitting her proposal to publishers and continuing […]