The back-and forth between John Wiley and the Authors Guild continued late Friday and into Monday morning. Late Friday, Wiley provided some details about the number of authors involved and the different terms which existed under their Bloomberg contracts.
According to Wiley, of the 117 letters it sent to authors on April 29, 24 authors had a list price royalty arrangement and 93 operated under net receipts terms. All of the authors with the net receipts contracts who have responded to Wiley’s contract modifications so far have accepted them, Wiley said, contending that , just as its letter states, “the royalty calculations will be simplified and royalty payments overall are likely to increase, not decrease, due to factors plainly described in Wiley’s letter to our authors.”
Regarding authors with a list price royalty arrangement, Wiley explained that in the existing agreements, those royalty rates are lowered for discounts greater than 50%. “For most of the financial books involved here, the average discount rate is higher than 50%. Therefore, we believe the authors will benefit with the proposed, simplified Wiley terms,” Wiley said.
Wiley closed by promising to contact all authors to clear up any misunderstandings that may have occurred due to the “inaccurate information that have been recently disseminated.”
The dispute started when the Authors Guild sent an alert to members saying that the proposed changes by Wiley to authors with list price contracts has the potential to cut their payments by 50%. Wiley acquired the Bloomberg list in March.
It was the Guild's turn this morning, and the organization continued to dispute the argument that authors will do better under the terms Wiley is proposing. Regarding Wiley's claim that authors operating under the list price rate would do better because the average discount is lowered for discounts greater than 50%, the Guild said rates don't fall uniformly and that at best authors would do as well under the Wiley amendment and some could face a 25% decline in pay. The Guild said it hasn't seen any net receipts contracts, but suspects that authors are "seeing substantial royalty reductions when books are discounted 56% or more." The Guild also continued to take issue with Wiley's stance on print-on-demand, saying Wiley's response ignore termination rights. According to the Guild, Wiley wants to use POD to keep works in print without negotiating a minimum sales threshold for determining when a book remains in print. The 5% royalty rate on POD titles, the Guild repeated, is the lowest rate it has ever seen.
Wiley's response came after the Guild issued an alert Friday saying it stood by every word in its first alert. Newly inducted president Scott Turow put it bluntly: "Wiley should knock it off and do the right thing." The Guild's alert to members called Wiley's April letter to its Bloomberg Press authors "deceptive" and "misleading." Now, the Guild has elaborated, with a statement that notes, “No sensible Bloomberg author with a contract providing royalties based on the retail list price of their book would have signed Wiley's amendment if they were fully aware of its effects. Wiley should send Bloomberg authors a new letter, informing the authors that they are disregarding any previous consents to Wiley's proposed contract changes and clearly explaining how the new terms they're suggesting differ from the authors' existing contracts.”
The statement (which may be read in full here) replies to five different assertions from Wiley, and ends with advice for authors to not sign “Wiley's misleading letter” or send it back to the publisher. “First consult us or your agent or your attorney,” the statement reads. “If you have signed the letter, we urge you to contact us immediately.”
The Guild said Monday, it will make a "simple proposal" to Wiley that it hopes will resolve the matter.
