(WASHINGTON) Stephen King, the author of horror bestsellers, expressed his fears about the increasing concentration of the publishing industry before a US court on Tuesday.
Posted at 3:56 pm.
Father of such works will shine And It is It testified in Washington against a merger between its own publisher, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House.
The U.S. government is contesting the birth of a juggernaut with enormous influence over “published authors and works and amounts paid to authors,” and has asked Stephen King to be its star witness during the trial.
Dressed in a gray suit and tie to reflect the seriousness of the problems, the 75-year-old, with a slender figure and angular features, spent about an hour describing developments in the field during his long career.
“I’m here because I think consolidation is bad for competition,” he explained.
“I have been in the book business for about 50 years. When I started, there were hundreds of publishers. One by one, they were swallowed by others or the key was left under the door”, he recounted.
As a result, “it became harder and harder for writers to find enough money to live on.”
At the heart of the file: advances in receipts that publishers give their authors before writing works. Newcomers usually have little or no rights to it, but for successful writers, publishing houses compete and sometimes outbid each other.
Photo by Manuel Pauls Seneta, Associated Press
After the trial, Stephen King signed on.
Stephen King claimed his first check in 1974 was for $2,500 CarrieIts sales exploded after its film adaptation.
After a few other best sellers, including will shine, he proposed to his publisher to reserve his next three books in exchange for $2 million. He refused to “burst into laughter.”
Stephen King moved elsewhere, playing in competition, scoring a series of successes with major publishers in the 1980s, while continuing to release some of his books to more secretive and less profitable houses.
“I was lucky enough to buy it and no longer have to follow my bank account, but follow my heart,” said Stephen King, who had already distinguished himself in 2012 by advocating for stronger taxation of the rich. His own luck.
Aware of privilege, he lamented that his colleagues operate in “a tough world.” At the end of the trial, he said he was “very nervous” as he signed autographs.
The trial is expected to last another two weeks.
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