Less than a month after a group of 11 authors, in coordination with the Authors Guild, filed a breach of contract suit in a U.S. District Court in Florida over unpaid and unaccounted royalties, the now defunct publisher, Authors’ Place Press, has settled the case. Although exact details of the settlement were not disclosed, the parties told the court in a filing late last week they had reached an agreement in principle and would file dismissal documents "as soon as practicable."
In a statement, the Authors Guild said the settlement won "key concessions" to "protect the interests of authors into the future." Among the settlement provisions, AG officials said Authors Place Press owner Tony Ferraro had agreed to revert rights to all the plaintiff authors and terminate their agreements; provide the authors with all electronic and text design files and any artwork associated with their work at no charge; and pay "a token monetary payment" to lead plaintiff Karyn Schoenbart, who helped organize and finance the suit.
“This settlement means Authors’ Place can no longer hold authors hostage while cheating them out of payments they’re owed,” said Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger, in a statement. “And it sends a clear message to other publishers that they’ll be held accountable for any attempt to take advantage of authors.”
Filed on January 6, the complaint claimed that Authors’ Place Press and Ferraro had failed to fulfill their contractual obligations and to pay or properly account for royalties. The suit also named the company’s predecessor, Motivational Press, and its CEO, Justin Sachs, as defendants. According to court documents, Motivational Press was acquired by Ferraro in early 2019.
The case was spearheaded by Schoenbart, the former CEO of the NPD Group and author of Mom.B.A.: Essential Business Advice from One Generation to the Next. With help from the Authors Guild, Schoenbart organized 10 more authors to join the action. The suit claimed copyright infringement, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, and had sought a ruling giving the the authors back their book rights, as well as an accounting to determine the amount of unpaid royalties owed.
At the time of the filing, the website for Authors Place Press stated that the company was no longer in operation. Authors Guild officials confirmed in its statement that the publisher had shut down operations, "so we are assured that it will not be able to exploit other authors in the future."
The Authors Place Press settlement comes after the Authors Guild last month also won a promise from another publisher, Adelaide Books, to pay outstanding royalties and revert rights to a group of authors who had complained about the publisher’s practices.
