Time for Casebook Writers to Unite: Rethinking Author Contracts Because the eBook is Coming

Some snips from UCLA law prof Stephen Bainbridge's blog post:

Change is coming. The major law school casebook publishers are working on game changers like eBooks and textbook rentals, while trying to do so unilaterally within the confines of standard form contracts designed for the 19th Century.

Textbook pricing is out of whack. Our students are paying outrageous prices. I am willing to consider how we can fairly take steps to reduce that financial impact, but not at the expense of gutting my royalty income.

....

Individual authors have little bargaining power. Collectively, we would wield considerable bargaining power, but there are huge obstacles to collective action on our part. As a result, we are all subject to huge pressure to accept unilateral changes imposed by the publisher even if the outdated form contract we signed 20 years ago doesn't remotely cover the situation.

We need to find ways for collective action. Blogs can get the word out. Individual authors can contact their publishers. Yet, I'd also like to see some sort of national collective action. Perhaps the AALS could schedule a conference between leading authors and the major publishers. Maybe we need a quasi-union, like the Author's Guild. Heck, maybe we need a real union, like the Writer's Guild.

Rethinking Author Contracts for the Digital World. Casebook authors may want to check out a recent podcast from Copyright Clearance Center’s Beyond the Book. The podcast features attorney Sara Pearl and literary agent John Silbersack, both of the Trident Media Group, as they discuss contract clauses and rights negotiations between publishers and authors in the digital age. Here's the podcast and transcript. [JH]