Today the Authors Guild called Wiley’s recent contract letter to Bloomberg Press authors a “spectacular failure,” noting that publisher had rejected the Guild’s three-point proposal to sort out the contract dispute with an “independent royalty auditor.”
Here’s more from the Authors Guild alert: “This week, we discussed a proposal with Wiley to help sort things out. In a press release yesterday afternoon (you can find it below), Wiley rejected our proposal, but agreed to disregard any signed contract amendments at the author’s request. While this is progress, and we’re relieved that Bloomberg authors will have this opportunity, we still don’t know whether those authors will be given the clear information they need regarding how the changes will affect their royalties and other material terms of their book contracts.”
Wiley responded to the Guild’s request with another press release–the document is embedded below. Here’s an excerpt: “we concluded that the best way to proceed is to call each and every one of these authors to make sure they understand the changes that we have proposed. If any of them are uncomfortable with our proposed changes, they can choose to retain their original Bloomberg contracts.”
The Authors Guild is urging Bloomberg Press writers to reconsider signing a letter from John Wiley & Sons. Wiley acquired Bloomberg Press in March, and the company has sent a letter to hundreds of Bloomberg writers “about a few differences in the accounting systems of Bloomberg and Wiley.”