Trust, Power, and Control in Author-Publisher Relations
Sorry to have taken so long to post again. I'm deep into a revision of my first book, Writing and Developing Your College Textbook. Thought I would share some of my new material (all rights reserved) on author-publisher and author-editor relationships. This is the first post on issues of trust, power, and control in publishing. Any feedback from readers is most welcome. --Mary EllenEstablishing a Positive Relationship
A prospective author’s attitudes and ability to work well with other professionals are important factors for the success of a project. In addition to teaming with an acquisitions editor and possibly a coauthor or two, you also might be working with a development editor or managing editor, production coordinator, copyeditor, photo researcher, packager, marketing manager, supplements authors, and others. Through interpersonal conflicts and misunderstandings about the roles of all the players, projects can fail to meet their potential or can altogether crash. Legendary cases involve lawsuits. Your sponsoring editor therefore has a stake in establishing friendly rapport with you and gauging your cooperative spirit. Unproductive author attitudes toward publishers and editors usually relate to issues of trust, power, and control.
TRUST
Mistrust about contracts and the publisher as capitalist are common. It is true that publishers try to cut themselves the best possible deal and some are not above misrepresentation. So-called standard contracts favor the publisher. You should be aware, however, that there are industry standards regarding ethical practices, and reputable publishers take those standards seriously. Normally, it is not in a reputable publisher’s long-term interests to be underhanded with authors.
In abnormal situations, however, such as small subsidiaries being squeezed for profits, things can change. Also, in giant mergers large numbers of books on the same subjects change hands, and publishers routinely discontinue less profitable titles by putting them out of print. Discontinued authors justifiably feel abused, although, as mentioned previously, all rights are reassigned to them eventually and they can seek another publisher. In the balance, authors should be wary of potential ruthlessness but should not assume that author-publisher relations are predicated on opportunities for exploitation.
Trust issues may also arise over the role of publishing in society. Some see the publishing industry is a threat to academic freedom, not to mention democracy, and portray publishing conglomerates as bastions of thought control. The reasoning seems to be that by determining or censoring what gets published, unscrupulous plutocratic monopolists can amass wealth and global political power and influence through the control of information. Certainly the control of information is a crucial concern of the twenty-first century, but in mass media such control is more a by-product of business than the goal, even for a Rupert Murdoch. The goal is, simply, profit. As in all media, it’s the ratings that count, and this dynamic more profoundly affects the quality of information than the control of it.
Labels: author-publisher relations
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home