At the head of developments that threaten freedom of speech is the stranglehold that media conglomerates exert on publishing.
True, the Internet has prevented media giants from entirely dominating the landscape. But the Internet environment itself isn’t free from the perils of the big boyz, from Google to Amazon.
Here are some of the ways writers get ripped off:
1. Editors sit on timely manuscripts until their timeliness is undermined. Then they pass on the author’s original insights or work to other writers in their stable, or undercut them for politically or economically expedient reasons. End result, they steal credit from the writer who deserves it.
2. Editors cut manuscript for political reasons and then claim they did it for editorial reasons, so you can’t argue with them.
3. Editors subject manuscripts to unauthorized and substantial changes and then when you have to spend time to get the writing back into its original form, they try to bill you for the cost overrun.
4. Publishers not only don’t promote their authors, they can be involved in efforts to sabotage them, if they think their other book deals might warrant it.
5. Publishers call up radio/TV stations and present misleading information on copyright and contractual issues so as to derail the author’s credibility and ability to promote his/her work. They do this fully aware that the average author cannot easily prove what’s happening in court.
6. Publishers routinely hide or misrepresent sales to defraud authors of royalties.
7. Publishers collude with other writers in their stable to defraud authors.
8. Publishers pay net profits to authors – giving them something like 5-10 cents on each dollar made….or less. But when it comes to liability, all of it is on the author, even though authors rarely if ever carry media coverage and though all publishers carry it.
9. Publishers routinely ruin books by second-rate production and promotion and then try to stick authors with the bill for corrections or returns.
10. Publishers no longer vet manuscripts with lawyers or even check them in any serious way. They don’t even do it at the author’s request, even though the authors might be forced to make multimillion dollar payments in liability settlements (and could even pay big bucks for frivolous law suits).
(more to come)