6 Responses to “Authors and Publishers: Friends or Foes?”

1. 1. As a reader, do you prefer authors to keep their dissatisfaction behind closed doors or do you mind hearing it?

   In my opinion, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. If you have a gripe with a publisher, you work it out with them behind the scenes. Once you open that can of worms and start the airing the dirty laundry, you can’t un-do it. That being said, I read what Ms. Stuart said about her publisher and frankly, I just didn’t think it was all that horrible. Was it smart to say it in an interview? Probably not. But you have to kind of admire someone with the guts to put it out there!
   And do I want to hear about it? Not really…unless you want to hear about what I like and dislike about my employment! Which would be really, really boring BTW…..

   2. Should publishers punish authors for speaking out?

   Punish? That sounds kinda harsh. Should anyone be free to say whatever they feel without fear of retaliation? No, I don’t think so. But it depends on the damage done by the comments, I suppose. Did Ms. Stuart harm her publisher by what she said? Doubtful. Did she harm herself by speaking out? Probably not.

   Reading what is going on with the Genesis Press issue is another story entirely. If those authors were screwed out of what they were owed by rights, I don’t blame them for doing whatever it takes to right the wrong.

   There are always two sides to every story, right? Someone may say something in anger or embellish on something that has a grain of truth to it, but those not directly involved may take it as the truth when it is only partially true.

   If you are not happy with a working relationship, you take steps to remove yourself from that situation…or you suck it up and deal with it. At least that’s how it has always worked in my world! If you can get away with speaking your mind and not getting into a whole crapload of legal troubles..go for it! I always heard it was a bad idea to keep it bottled up inside.

   3. Should authors treat their publishers like employers and feel somewhat beholden to them?
   Well, they are their employers, aren’t they? Putting the creative process aside, the author produces an item for public consumption and the publisher promotes, produces and distributes that product. It sounds like an employer/employee relationship to me. As to whether an author should feel beholden to a publisher is another story. If the relationship is mutually beneficial and the author is an asset to the publisher, I would think there would be a certain amount of thankfulness involved on both parts. But ultimately it is the author’s talent that determines their success, not how well the publisher does or doesn’t treat the author.

   4. Do you care how authors are treated?
   Sure I do. I care how everyone is treated. We are all humans and deserve to be treated fairly and not taken advantage of. Authors are people…at least most of the ones I’ve interacted with! :P

   by Angie-la on November 21st, 2006 at 12:06 pm
   
   

2. I think authors should keep their problems to themselves and not air them out to public forums and readers. Talking to other authors in private forums is a much more professional. Yes, authors are just people with our own weird ways, but we should still be professional out in public. And being on the internet is way more public than people realize and it also gives a permament account of what that author said.

   by Vivi Anna on November 21st, 2006 at 12:47 pm
   
   

3. Oh, and I just wanted to add…that I don’t think Anne Stuart was all that unprofessional in her interview. She’s a huge author with a big readership, so comparing her actions to say some newbie author first time out of the blocks in NY publishing, like me, is like comparing oranges and apples.

   by Vivi Anna on November 21st, 2006 at 1:03 pm
   
   

4. 1. As a reader, do you prefer authors to keep their dissatisfaction behind closed doors or do you mind hearing it? Well, I guess it depends what the issue is. I can’t think of any sort of examples to show it, but if it’s a small nothing type of thing, we don’t need to hear about it. But if it’s a major issue that people feel readers should know, a whisteblower type of situation, then no problems with hearing it.

   2. Should publishers punish authors for speaking out? Well, I guess it depends here too. But what first comes to mind is if the issue is false, then yes, but if not, then I would think they shouldn’t.

   3. Should authors treat their publishers like employers and feel somewhat beholden to them? Ah, well, I’m not an author, so I’m not sure how the whole author/publisher relationship feels, but I guess I’d figure that yeah, the publishers are the employers. . . wouldn’t they? :)

   4. Do you care how authors are treated? Absolutely — if it’s not for the authors, publishers are just simply and totally out of business and luck. But like any other place of employment, sure, you do expect certain things the other way around.

   Lois

   by Lois on November 21st, 2006 at 7:05 pm
   
   

5. I think if something is not right you should speak out about it. I don’t mind hearing from authors about their dissatisfaction if it is in the right place. They shouldn’t be punished for speaking out either as long as it is justified and not malicious. Since I’m not a writer my opinion doesn’t really matter or count but I think every one should be treated fairly in the workplace wherever it is.

   by Dena on November 22nd, 2006 at 3:31 pm
   
   

6. I’ve heard of several cases now where authors have been supposedly cheated or mistreated by their publishers. It’s a sad state of affairs. I’m sure many authors have choked down their anger because of the more-or-less employee status that they have. I’d probably keep quiet myself unless I knew I was being grossly mistreated. It’s hard to tell who’s in the right if only one side actually talks about what has happened.

   And in most cases it’s about money. A certain author is not bringing in enough money and is lambasted or silently ostracized by the publisher. The author is required to write books on subject she does not really like. Of course, the author herself wants to make money but sometimes she is treated like a “nitwit”. Her titles are considered unsalable and someone else changes them. She has no power over the covers that are put on her book.

   The Genesis affair sounds to me like a lawsuit that I read about on some site where some guy is suing Amazon for $1 million for not getting an item he expected to get. He’s taunting other members of the discussion with the “Bently” [sic] he’s going to be driving around in and the glass of “shampagnes” [sic] he’ll be having when he gets home. Totally ridiculous and yet who knows whether he might not succeed. I live in Canada and litigation and suing for every little bump you get from an accident is not yet as common. I hope it never is. Since there are several authors that have spoken out at Genesis, it’s hard to imagine that they are all wrong in what they are saying. This case should be looked into by an independent arbitrator.

   I think a writer should have the right to speak out against injustices just as every employee should have that right. This is the freedom of speech that we should be fighting for but everybody only thinks of himself. Employers, in this case publishers, should be able to take some criticism too.

   I know my talk is cheap. I’m not an author and probably don’t know enough about either side of the book business. Probably I shouldn’t stick my nose in but I’ve heard enough of what the big publishers do to make the authors knuckle under. Let’s hope that all these cases will be resolve.

   by Ruby55 on November 27th, 2006 at 3:42 am