Authors, Agents Protest S&S "Rights Grab"

by Jim Milliot, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 5/18/2007

In an alert sent to its membership yesterday, executive director Paul Aiken writes that S&S's new contract language gives the publisher the ability to retain rights to a book for the entire length of copyright, even if the book is not in print but remains in S&S's electronic database. Under its old contracts, rights to a book would revert to the author if sales reached an agreed upon low level or the book was declared out of print. "This is an electronic warehousing of rights," Aiken said. Agents sided with Aiken and were troubled that S&S was altering longstanding industry practices (click here for their reaction).

According to the guild, under the new contract S&S considers a book to be in print, and under its control, so long as it's available in any form, even if no copies are available to be ordered by traditional bookstores. With the new contract language, the guild asserts, the publisher would be able to stop printing a book and prevent the author from publishing it with any other house. Aiken said the change was first brought to the guild's attention about a week ago, and discussions with authors and agents have confirmed that the new provision is now part of the standard S&S contract.

In a prepared statement sent out by S&S yesterday afternoon, S&S spokesperson Adam Rothberg said the company was surprised by the guild's "overreaction," and he gave the following explanation of S&S's position:

"We believe that our contract appropriately addresses the improved technology, increased availability, and higher quality of print on demand books, and reflects the fact that print on demand titles may now be readily purchased by consumers at both online and brick and mortar stores. We are embracing print on demand technology as an unprecedented opportunity for authors and publishers to keep their books alive and available and selling in the marketplace in a way that may not have been previously possible for many authors, and are confident in the long term that it will be a benefit for all concerned. We would also like the author and agent community to know that, when necessary, we have always had good faith negotiations on the subject of reversions, and will continue to on a book-by-book basis."

In its alert, the guild emphasized these points: (1) if an author signs the new contract, S&S "will say you're wed to them. Your book will live and die with this particular conglomerate"; (2) authors are advised to explore other options, since no other publisher is seeking the irrevocable grant of rights that S&S is; and (3) if a book is being auctioned, S&S should be excluded from the proceedings unless it agrees to use standard terms.