Guild Blasts iPublish Contract

In a blow to Time Warner, the Authors Guild has issued a sharp warning to writers about signing the e-publishing contract offered by iPublish.com, Time Warner's recently launched e-publishing venture.

The Authors Guild warned that the iPublish.com contract "presents substantial legal risks and loss of literary rights for little pay."

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, president of the Authors Guild, described the contract as "pitiful," "exploitive" and "draconian." Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, told PW, "By submitting a manuscript online, you are agreeing to terms. This is unusual, and there is the potential for people to not understand what they are agreeing to."

Officials at iPublish.com told PW they could not comment until they had fully considered the Guild's statement. Ipublish.com offers well-known Time Warner authors in e-book form, and aims to create an online writers community, soliciting new writing from that community to publish as e-books, print-on-demand titles or in traditional print.

The contract is available online at ipublish.com. The Authors Guild advises that the iPublish contract makes "sweeping" claims to digital and print rights and is critical of iPublish's plans to not pay advances for e-books. The guild notes that TW's option to publish e-books in print form is crafted to limit the size of advances and to prevent writers from effectively negotiating a competing bid from another publisher. The guild warns that signing for one book gives TW exclusive rights to the author's next work, and that there is no provision in the contract for insuring authors against libel claims.