The following is my response to an open invitation by Mr. Zacharius, the President and CEO of Kensington Publishing Corp, made after he posted an article to Huffington Post and then posted comments on The Passive Voice. The idea behind my post is to share my experience and educate.
Dear Mr. Zacharius, President and CEO
of Kensington Publishing Corp.,
My name is Delilah Marvelle and I
write historical romance. After writing 40 manuscripts and receiving over 200
rejections letters from the publishing industry over the course of 11 long years
well before the digital revolution, Kensington was the first and only publisher
to give this author a chance given the edgier and racier content of my stories.
Kensington took a chance with an author that the rest of the industry brushed
aside. I firmly believe, I would not be where I am today, as a writer, if it
were not for Kensington giving me an opportunity to be part of the industry.
And I thank you and all of Kensington, including and especially John
Scognomiglio for putting me into the hands of readers.
That said, I would like to open up the
discussion about traditional publishing that you and most of the American
population may not be aware of. And that is the history of our publishing industry
that made it into what it is today.
Back in 1842, a rising star of the
writing world known as none other than Charles Dickens, came to the United
States with an open plea and a stance regarding American publishers to favor
International Copyright laws. Why? Because American publishers weren’t paying
ANY royalties on imported manuscripts to authors. None. Zero. All copies
imported by New York publishers were pirated and every penny was pocketed. Have
you ever wondered why all the print publishers were historically living on the
east coast? So they could hop on a ship and buy up copies of books in England
that they then brought back to the States so they could make a huge profit that
no author would ever see. Needless to say, American publishers were *astounded*
that a popular author would come into their country and educate them on their
business practices. What did HE know about the industry of publishing? He was
just an author. They tried to intimidate and silence him, telling him he was
being “petty and self-serving and undemocratic” by speaking out against their
business despite the fact that supporting International Copyright Law would
have put more money into the pockets of American authors.
This is the history of New York
Publishing. To pay no royalties unless required by law. And in my eyes, not
much of New York has changed. This mentality of not discussing the business has
been ingrained in the old school brain of every publisher going back to 1842. They
intimidated authors into not discussing their contracts, their numbers or their
rights. Why? Because if they started discussing the details, the authors might
actually realize that they were being financially raped. The services that you,
as CEO, boast about (which are hardly unique to the publishing world) comes to
an author at an obnoxious price no publisher in New York is willing to discuss.
Should ANY publisher get more than half the profits of an author’s work? Are
you saying you do more work than, I, as an author, do and that your services
are worth more than the content of the book itself? No. I’m sorry. I don’t
think so.
The traditional publishing industry
has created a hostile environment in which an author is the outsider from
beginning to end. Because if I, as an author want more information about
royalties or outside contracts (like the one Kensington signed with Scribd),
not only did Kensington refuse to share those contracts with me, even though my
books are being included in those contracts, I need lawyers and auditors to get
anywhere. Does that sound like we’re in business together?
I guess my biggest concern in all of
this is knowing that the CEO of Kensington is going online to “talk” about the
“realities” of self-publishing, when in fact, Kensington is not a self-publishing
expert (obviously). And why was it back in 2011, when RWA had its conference in
NYC and the big 6 (at the time) were on a panel discussing the industry with
PASIC, the big 6 barred Amazon from even being in the room to listen to their
panel? We know why. Self-publishing is a threat to the traditional way of
publishing. It’s the first time in HISTORY authors are actually making the
money they deserve. No, not millions, Mr. Zacharius, but above minimum wage.
And THAT is the “reality” of self-publishing.
Delilah Marvelle
UPDATED RESPONSE TO STEVEN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE!STEVEN: *Authors enter into a contract, quite often with an agent who represents their behalf. No one is forcing them to enter this contract. I believe that contracts are a personal matter between the author and the publisher.*
DELILAH: When I signed my contract back in 2007, even with an agent on my side, I was unable to change any of the percentages in my contract because (as the publishers and agents go on to say even today), it’s a “standard” contract. Your suggestion that contracts are personal when we, as authors, are told by agents and publishers alike that it’s a “standard” contract, leads me to believe that the contract isn’t THAT personal.
STEVEN: * I don't see musicians talking about their contracts in an open forum either.*
DELILAH: I think musicians talk a lot more than you think. They talk about the same things we authors are talking about. How we don’t get paid what we’re due and how the contracts are in the favor of everyone but the author/musician. I’ll just give you one link to look at, but there is a mass amount of discussions out there. Sadly, the creative industry is notorious for taking advantage of an artist’s need to be seen. http://bit.ly/LIQxL6
STEVEN: * I don't know how you're coming up with the fact that the publisher is getting more than you're making. I can't tell you how many contracts we have where the author ends up making far more than we do. The higher the advance the more likelihood this has of happening.*
DELILAH: I know that you aren’t referring to me. In fact, your example of where the publisher would make less does not apply to me. And I strongly believe you are not talking about most of your authors. Let’s get into some quick specifics on me and Kensington.
1.) For every electronic book that Kensington sells of mine, they make three times the money I do. If I get .25, Kensington gets .75. (Keep in mind that my digital sales are higher than my print sales).
2.) I know what my percentage is, but what I don’t know is what your percentage is. At no point has Kensington ever shared how much it actually profits from my books. I would love to know. And if you feel I don’t need to know then it’s hard to validate your claim that you’re the last in line to get paid. I would *love* to hear the core numbers of what Kensington has made off my book in comparison to what I have made. Put it here or email it to me with a disclosure. I’m thinking, however, that it won’t ever be disclosed. Why? Because what author would be happy to learn that their publisher was making far more on each book sold than the author who wrote it. The other thing you haven’t addressed is the time of payment. As a self-published author, I’m getting paid monthly. Kensington pays me once every six months on year old sales. I have not seen any interest paid to me for the money that sits in the bank over that six month duration.
3.) As a self-published author, and a traditionally published author, I have the luxury to compare the two. In my School of Gallantry series, I only need to sell 1 copy of my self-published Lady of Pleasure, to equal 7 electronic copies of my Kensington books in the same series. The key point being I don’t even need to be as good at marketing to break even as a self-published author.
STEVEN: *I don't think we have created a hostile environment at all. Anyone who has ever asked me a question that I feel can be answered publicly, I have done so. I have no secrets about our deal with Scribd and if you had a question, you could call or email me. I have said publicly that the author is getting their FULL royalty due on any book read from Scribd once the reader goes past a small browsing percentage of the book. The deals are the same as with other subscription services.*
DELILAH: The attitude, which I admire you for publicly expressing, needs to trickle down to the rest of your staff and business practices. Because when I contacted Kensington a few weeks ago, they told me a.) I couldn’t see the Scribd contract b.) I couldn’t be given any other contract details other than that I would be paid my regular royalties. I would hope I’m getting my FULL royalties given I gave you the rights to do so. Because as of right now, here’s how it stands. When those contracts aren’t being shared with me, even though it involves the rights of my book, I’m supposed to just take your word that the deal is what it should be. Give me a legal document that tells me what I’m getting, who signed what and why. Don’t tell me I’m getting a full royalty. Show me. Because while I genuinely wish to believe you, Steven, in the world of business, a handshake isn’t enough. It has to be put into writing. I would love to see the Scribd contract, even if it means I get a disclosure saying I can’t share it with anyone. I’m fine with not sharing it with anyone. What I’m not fine with is not knowing what was in that contract. And that applies to all of the contracts Kensington has signed for me, including foreign rights and audible rights. I’d like to see them. I haven’t seen a single one. What’s frustrating for me as an author is that even with two agents, I can’t get anyone at Kensington to further address this. This is sadly, not unique to Kensington. This is the “standard” way of dealing with authors in the industry.
STEVEN: *You are telling everyone that you need lawyers and auditors to get answers. That is simply not true. If you or any author has a question about a royalty statement we are happy to provide answers without you having to hire an experts that will cost you money.*
DELILAH: When an author asks for a breakdown of where sales are digitally coming from (in other words Amazon or Kobo), Kensington has not been able to provide that. In fact, it refuses to. So I don’t know how many copies I’ve sold digitally to what store. All it shows in my royalty statement is GROSS UNITS. And nothing more. And if I want to ensure those numbers are right, I’m sorry, but it does cost me money. Because the only way I can *ensure* the numbers Kensington is giving me are correct is by taking it to the auditor because as all authors know royalty statements are notorious for obfuscating information. And that’s me speaking of royalty statements in the most positive light possible.
STEVEN: *I never claimed to be an expert on self-publishing. I got pulled into the conversation and just expressed my opinion which basically is that there is a very small percentage of people who are making any real money by self-publishing.*
DELILAH: I think when you speak for the publishing industry, while using your CEO name, it becomes more than just an opinion. Tossing out what you think is an opinion about “self-publishing” and using polls that clearly don’t encompass the majority of the self-publishing industry, is giving misinformation to unpublished authors who don’t know anything about either business. And that, to me, is wrong. Especially because it’s pretty obvious you aren’t speaking too favorably about the self-publishing industry. Which is a shame, because many of your own Kensington authors have gone on to self-publish, including myself, and have made more money doing it.
STEVEN:*And please don't going saying as a generality that authors were making only minimum wage before. That's simply not true.*
DELILAH: And this is where you’re wrong. Is it a generality to say that authors are making only minimum wage? No and no. It’s not. Out of the HUNDREDS of authors that I know through RWA, given I have been part of RWA since 1996, very few have been able to stay at home full time writing. When my husband landed his dream job but couldn’t take it because I landed mine, he made a hard choice that cost him an opportunity he will never get. We couldn’t afford for him to take his dream job given how much money it took to maintain my writing. Even though I was writing 3 books a year, my wage as an author (I broke down my hours) was $1.23 an hour. Not even minimum wage. And my story represents so many others who don’t have the courage to talk about it like I do. I would also like to share my personal story with my dealings with Kensington. I was one of the first Kensington authors to speak up back in 2009, when I lost my contract, not due to lack of sales (I sold out my print run in less than 8 months) but because they were closing a line (Zebra debut) that Kensington just didn't have the guts to openly announce. But what did Kensington do? It made authors like me believe my sales were too dismal to support. I guess selling out of my print run is dismal in the eyes of a publisher. Unlike many authors, I didn’t quit. I went on to publish somewhere else.
The bottom line is this: Kensington is competing with companies like Google, Apple and Amazon who have billions of dollars in capital for investment. Your only investment is your authors. Why destroy that by not giving authors the one thing that they want? 50/50. If Kensington or any other publisher in New York cannot give authors a 50/50 split due to their “costs” which New York cannot cover, then I really don’t see this ending well for Traditional Publishing industry. And that’s something that is hard for even me to swallow because my first and only dream coming into this business was to be published with New York.
If you would like to continue this conversation in private so we may discuss other details that you may not feel comfortable sharing in public, please email me at Delilah@DelilahMarvelle.com