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 […]
Authors
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 […]
Audible Tells Self-Published Authors They’ll Delay Captions Until “The Legal Proceeding Is Resolved”
While large publishers took the lead in suing to block the Audible Captions initiative, authors who control their own audiobook rights and have produced titles through Audible’s ACX program expressed concerns that their titles were in line to be “captioned” without their prior consent as well. As a group, those authors comprise a major supplier, accounting for almost 160,000 titles according to the company’s website. As we reported a week ago (and most other accounts mangled), as a strict matter of law the court order delaying the launch of Captions until there is a ruling on the expedited motion for […]
People, Etc.
Allison Devlin has been appointed sales director in client sales at Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Former literary manager at The Gotham Group Eddie Gamarra has been hired as vp studio business development for Nickelodeon. Legal A jury cleared Nicholas Sparks of all counts of defamation and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, concluding a long-running suit filed by Saul Benjamin, former headmaster of the North Carolina school founded by Sparks and his wife. In the suit, Benjamin accused Sparks of defaming him by claiming to others that he was mentally and/or physically ill, and terminating him because of […]
More Halperin “Interviewees” Apologize
The Washingtonian rounded up additional apologies and comments from Democratic politicians who commented on the record for Mark Halperin’s just-announced book, including this from former secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius: “I knew that Mark Halperin was a well-known author and political journalist but unfortunately was not as aware of the details of his disgraceful behavior toward women as I should have been. I regret having answered his questions, especially if they were designed to help a predator make a comeback.” The book was formally announced as a $22 trade paperback. Publisher Judith Regan’s commercial readiness to provide […]