Monday, 10 December 2012

Rights and wrongs

In the absence of any further suggestions from agent or publisher, I decided to contact the Society of Authors. I had a very nice reply from one of their lawyers, saying it was a highly unusual case and she'd never heard of anything like it. She has asked for a copy of the contract and correspondence between myself and the publisher, but the trouble is the only emails I kept were those containing editing instructions. I didn't think to keep the ones that asked me to make the sex more graphic. If I had, I may have had a good case for... for what? I've had two-thirds of the money and can't expect to get the third I was to receive on publication..

I suppose all I can push for now is to get the rights back so I can publish the damned thing myself. Or to ask to be paid a further advance in order to rewrite what will in effect be a very different book, with all the smutty jokes and talk and raunchy references taken out, as well as the sex scenes themselves. Any views, anyone?

3 comments:

Jackie Sayle said...

Well, I wish you'd kept the e-mails but, even if you had, you couldn't force the publisher to publish your books, though I'm sure you'd have a good case for breach of contract or something and getting the final third of you money.

However, I think it might pay you to self publish, as long as you publicise it properly, and to publish the version you like best. I seem to remember you saying you liked the original version best. Publish the version that you feel most pleased with as a writer. Hope that helps!

P.S. I've left you a message on my blog in the comments about how to type a € sign when you don't have one on your keyboard. xx

Teresa Ashby said...

Depending on your email account, you can sometimes find old deleted emails on the online version. Might be worth taking a look x

Perovskia said...

That's what my first thought was. Check the trash, see if they're there. If you didn't empty it, they may very well be.

I also second Jacula.

I'm glad you got an external opinion that this in fact, was a rare case (does it justify your stress a bit?).