Authors Guild Wins Key Concessions in Settlement with Authors’ Place Press

New York City — The Authors Guild has announced a settlement with the publisher Authors’ Place Press, winning key concessions that protect the interests of authors into the future.

Last month, ten authors filed a federal lawsuit against Authors’ Place, coordinated by the Authors Guild and lead plaintiff Karyn Schoenbart. Complaints included the publisher’s consistent failure to pay authors the full royalty amounts they were owed, its false under-reporting of royalties, and its refusal to revert rights back to authors.

In the settlement agreement, Authors’ Place owner Tony Ferraro agreed to:

1. Revert rights to all ten authors who were plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and terminate Authors    Places’ agreements with them, so that the author-plaintiffs are free to publish their work elsewhere;
2. Provide legal documentation of the rights reversion upon request;
3. Provide authors with all electronic and text design files, as well as any artwork associated with their work at no charge to the authors;
4. Make a token monetary payment to lead plaintiff and author Karyn Schoenbart, who helped organize and finance the suit.

Further and most importantly, Authors’ Place has shut down operations, so we are assured that it will not be able to exploit other authors in the future.

“This settlement means Authors’ Place can no longer hold authors hostage while cheating them out of payments they’re owed,” said Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger. “And it sends a clear message to other publishers that they’ll be held accountable for any attempt to take advantage of authors.”

The authors’ attorney, Barry Kamar of Meland Budwick, filed a notice of settlement in the U.S. District Court in Florida on Friday.

The settlement comes after the Authors Guild last month won a promise from another publisher, Adelaide Books, to pay outstanding royalties and revert rights to a group of authors who had complained about the publisher’s practices.

About the Authors Guild

With more than 12,000 members, the Authors Guild is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers. It advocates on behalf of working writers to protect free speech, freedom of expression and authors’ copyrights; fights for fair contracts and authors’ ability to earn a livable wage; and provides a welcoming community for writers and translators of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and journalism. Through its educational and charitable arm, the Authors Guild Foundation, it also offers free programming to teach working writers about the business of writing, as well as organizing events that highlight the importance of a rich, diverse American literary culture and the authors that contribute to it.