Conservative Authors Sue Publisher

Suckers.

Oh, and it's a free market, blah blah blah....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/books/07cons.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company.

In a suit filed in United States District Court in Washington yesterday, the authors Jerome R. Corsi, Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter state that Eagle Publishing, which owns Regnery, “orchestrates and participates in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate.”

Some of the authors’ books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list, including “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry,” by Mr. Corsi and John E. O’Neill (who is not a plaintiff in the suit), Mr. Patterson’s “Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security” and Mr. Miniter’s “Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror.” In the lawsuit the authors say that Eagle sells or gives away copies of their books to book clubs, newsletters and other organizations owned by Eagle “to avoid or substantially reduce royalty payments to authors.”

The authors argue that in reducing royalty payments, the publisher is maximizing its profits and the profits of its parent company at their expense.

“They’ve structured their business essentially as a scam and are defrauding their writers,” Mr. Miniter said in an interview, “causing a tremendous rift inside the conservative community.”

If these books weren't being sold at deeply discounted rates, they wouldn't be selling at all.

Somehow I think that if this lawsuit is successful, it's going to turn around and bite the authors in the ass, which is fine with me:evilgrin:

n/t.

publishers have make deals to sell your books.

Lots of people reading them.

the entire article is about steep discounts and underwriting by various orgs. That low price pumps up the numbers. Would the books be read at $29.95? Most likely not at the level to even register on the NYTBS. Its the same game that has been done with the Ann Coulter and like books.

Those books are given away in this manner because it's cheaper than having to warehouse them. You may think you have natural best sellers, but the fact of the matter is that without the publisher doing this, your books probably wouldn't even make a blip on American's reading radar. So either take your royalties (reduced though they are) or take the nothing that would be due you without this practice.

TlalocW

Crappy authors sue crappy publisher over crappy royalties. Bummer.

Sounds like they all deserve each other. Note to crappy authors: Would any other publisher even bother with your swill?

Mz Pip
:dem:

Well, if the company has to basically give your books away, maybe that is true justice...

This is one case I don't want "Big Government" involvement..... :popcorn:

They CHOSE Regenery in the first place because it's a SCAM outfit!

It promised to make them "best sellers" with its slimy bulk buying
schemes, and they JUMPED at he chance to "succeed" by those methods.

Now, suddenly they're SHOCKED to discover so little honor among thieves. :rofl:

You'd think such good CONSERVATIVES would be aware that "as ye sow,
so shall ye reap".

:rofl: