In the constantly evolving romance landscape, Blushing Books has long occupied a specific niche: spanking erotica. Now some of its most successful writers just want their books back...
In interviews with The New York Times, a dozen Blushing authors and seven former employees described a haphazardly run business that frequently failed to pay authors on time, and threatened them with lower royalties and defamation lawsuits if they defected. Some writers who spoke to The Times discovered they were not being paid for books that Blushing was selling through certain online vendors or in audio format. Others were locked into contracts that gave Blushing "permanent and exclusive" rights to their books and pen names, which publishing experts called onerous and outside of industry standards...
"Writers who really want to get published are so easy to take advantage of, and there are more and more people out there to take advantage of," said Mary Rasenberger, chief executive of the Authors Guild.
While every creative field has horror stories about artists who are underpaid and exploited, the dynamics of the romance industry can be especially difficult to navigate...
In interviews with The New York Times, a dozen Blushing authors and seven former employees described a haphazardly run business that frequently failed to pay authors on time, and threatened them with lower royalties and defamation lawsuits if they defected. Some writers who spoke to The Times discovered they were not being paid for books that Blushing was selling through certain online vendors or in audio format. Others were locked into contracts that gave Blushing "permanent and exclusive" rights to their books and pen names, which publishing experts called onerous and outside of industry standards...
"Writers who really want to get published are so easy to take advantage of, and there are more and more people out there to take advantage of," said Mary Rasenberger, chief executive of the Authors Guild.
While every creative field has horror stories about artists who are underpaid and exploited, the dynamics of the romance industry can be especially difficult to navigate...