Andrew Lownie condemns publishing 'land grab'
15 Apr 2014
With the London Book Fair set to open tomorrow (8th April), agents have told The Bookseller there has been a “land grab”, with some major publishers accused of refusing to publish e-books where contracts state an author royalty rate of more than 25%. The Society of Authors (SoA) has also said it is seeing “unfair” practices from publishers. But publishers denied the claims, emphasising they have strong relationships with agents and always act in the best interests of authors.
Andrew Lownie, of the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, said he was “increasingly concerned about the ‘bullying’ approach of some major publishers”. “An area of concern is publishers trying to unilaterally impose a 25% rate on contracts—clearly stated in the contract to be mutually agreed—arguing that that’s the ‘standard’ rate and simply uploading the books without agreement,” he added.
