Penguin Up For Pecking

It seems like everyone's favorite academic novel publisher is in a bit of trouble...

Apparently, authors are in the process of suing the self-publishing service called Author Solutions and its parent company Penguin for "deceitful, dubious business practices", claiming that the defendants have

“marketed themselves as an independent publisher with a reputation for outstanding quality and impressive book sales," the complaint reads. "Instead, Defendants are not an independent publisher, but a print-on-demand vanity press.”

Ouch. Now that's what I call getting stuck with false advertising.

Publishers Weekly author Andrew Albanese writes the authors claim Author Solutions lures authors in with grand promises of higher royalties, greater speed, and more control over their works. Instead, the authors have suffered delayed publication, errors, generated fees, worthless services for sale, and failure in regards to fulfilling promises. Author Solutions has also been accused of failing to pay the authors the royalties they are due.

Luckily, the case is before a judge who has a sense of what's going on: with a background in publishing,

"Judge Denise Cote, currently presiding over the ongoing e-book price-fixing scandal"

will handle the angry authors and their accused publisher. Of course, the fire is on the wall with the news of this case. Albanese warns that

"This case could strike a nerve, as it comes at a boom time for self-publishing, and recalls a dark self-publishing past—the days of the Vanity Press—when unsuspecting authors were wooed in by companies, only to be saddled with expensive fees and left with stacks of sub-par print books."

Indeed, reading this myself I get the same second-thought feelings regarding self-publishing, which I had only just begun to consider as a possibility in my future. Do I still consider it? Yes, I think so. Will I be in a hurry to jump in with a company I don't know?

Not on your life, and not on my book, thank you very much.

Of course, Albanese concludes with a calming statement, asserting that

"It remains to be seen if the case has any legal merit, but it makes for fascinating reading, and one can certainly imagine a large contingent of similarly discontented self-published authors who would love a peek behind the self-publishing curtain."

Publishing is entering tabloid mode? Well, I guess it's only a matter of time before we have a reality TV show on authors, too. Maybe the editor-lifestyle will gain some screen time. Of course, none of the editors will ever actually see it, being too busy...well...editing!

The writers may hear of it when they life their heads out of their typewriters/word processors and blink blearily in that direction.

Being both, I may just shrug and grab another Diet Dr. Pepper.