The writer's rights

The Authors Guild is going another round with Simon & Schuster over new language in the publisher's standard contract, which seems to grant the publisher permanent rights to a book, even if it goes out of print. The writer's organization last week raised the alarm on this, and Simon responded with indignation, insisting its language is no threat to authors. The guild sent out a new release yesterday, not backing down an inch, and accusing the publisher of "playing hardball" with agents who have raised questions about the language. The guild's releases are here, along with responses from Simon & Schuster.

Under long-standard book contracts, if a publisher lets a book go out of print -- that is, stops printing copies and having them on hand for order -- eventually the rights to the work revert to the author, who can then shop the book elsewhere in hopes of republishing it. Under the Simon language, the publisher would retain the rights, even if there are no copies available. Part of this is a reflection of new technology. With "print-on-demand," a publisher can have a single book printed in response to a single order, and therefore theoretically has no need for warehousing of books. And then there are "e-books," which need never have a physical existence.

The guild's position is that Simon wants to hold on to the rights to a book forever, even if it has no copies and no plans to print any, which the guild says would take away an author's traditional rights. Now Simon says it will negotiate with authors individually on this matter, and the guild is warning its members to read proposed contracts carefully.