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[jhetley]

SFWA Statement in Support of Authors' Guild Position

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., joins with the Authors
Guild in decrying Simon & Schuster's recent decision to shift book titles that
have reached the end of their shelf-lives into a Print-on-Demand program, instead
of reverting rights to those titles to their authors. Simon & Schuster's decision
expands upon an already-developing trend to use technologies, not to the benefit
of authors, but as a way to seize rights that writers have traditionally taken
for granted.
 
One of the most fundamental rights of book authors is the right to reclaim or
"revert" licensed publishing rights when a book is no longer available through
normal outlets of distribution or when it is selling only minimal copies. Traditionally,
authors have retained their copyrights, licensing only certain specific rights
to the publisher. Once the publisher has given up on the book, stopped promoting
it, and is no longer able to bring about a minimum number of sales, the author
could regain those rights and re-sell them to another publisher, one that might
give the work a new chance with new promotion and renewed sales.
 
Most books sell best during a brief period when their publishers actively market
them, but when that promotion stops, the average book's sales rapidly begin
to decline. Currently, the author can choose either to let the book languish
with its current publisher or revert the rights and try to resell them to another
publisher who will actively market it.
 
Simon & Schuster wants to change the rules with new contract language that would
empower them to keep control of a book for the entire length of its copyright,
printing individual copies only when order requests are made with no motivation
at all to boost sales with further marketing or promotion.
 
This decision by Simon & Schuster constitutes a massive rights grab and is an
attempt to take advantage of authors. The members of the Science Fiction and
Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. stand with the Author's Guild in this matter.
 We encourage other writers and artists groups to do so, as well, and we urge
Simon & Schuster to rescind this pernicious policy.
 

Robin Wayne Bailey
President,
SFWA, Inc.
 
Michael Capobianco
President-Elect,
SFWA, Inc.
 
And Past Presidents of SFWA, including:
 
Jane Yolen
Joe Haldeman
Norman Spinrad
Catherine Asaro
James Gunn,
Marta Randall
Greg Bear
Jerry Pournelle
Paul Levinson
Sharon Lee
Robert Silverberg

(Edited to correct spelling of "Schuster")

Comments

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's going to be a fun situation, especially for heirs of deceased authors. Of course, SFWA's marginalized itself to the point where this sort of proclamation has about as much of an effect on S&S's plans as Whitley Strieber's "Deliverance: The Next Generation" anal rape fantasies have on the plans of NASA, but it's good to see that someone noticed that power grab.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that SFWA had risen to the level of "marginalized." Thought we were still stuck on "insignificant."