Well, it looks like the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement is not completely in the books. Kim Pawlak, the Executive Director of Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) submitted a 4-page, single-spaced letter to Judge Martínez-Olguín. The letter alleges numerous problems textbook authors have faced. Under the terms of the settlement, the distribution of settlement funds for academic books is not governed the default 50%-50% split between authors and publishers as other books are.
That has left academic textbook authors in the predicament of having to negotiate the % split with their publishers. And some academic publishers are reportedly taking the position they are entitled to “85% to 95%” of the distribution from the settlement fund. That would leave the actual authors with only 5% to 15%.
Moreover, apparently few authors realize that a Special Master, Theodore K. Cheng, has been appointed by Judge Alsup to handle such disputes, much less that the authors have to explicitly ask for the Special Master to resolve their dispute with their publisher. From Judge Alsup’s order:
Excerpt:
DOWNLOAD THE LETTER:
DOWNLOAD SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION OF ISSUES BY AUTHORS: