Authors Guild finds Simon & Schuster's new contract unacceptable.

The new contract promises a book to be on the shelf for a year, and thereafter, available electronically.

"A publisher is meant to publish, to get out there and sell our books," Guild president, author and humorist Roy Blount Jr. said Thursday in a statement. "A publishing house is not supposed to be a place where our books are permanently squirreled away."

Contracts from the vast majority of publishers include boilerplate language requiring a minimum number of annual sales, often 150-250, for the book to be considered "in print," meaning rights belong to the publisher, not the author. Simon & Schuster has removed that language, says Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken.

Read more here
More resources on the topic:
http://www.writers.ns.ca/contracts.html

http://www.writersbreak.com/Marketing/Articles/article_marketing_epstein.htm
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/05/authors_and_agents_have_been.html.printer.friendly
Alert (blog)
Simon & Schuster Reacts; Agents Angry
Text of e-mail to Guild Members, May 18, 2007

A quick update on Simon & Schuster's rights grab: S&S has fallen back some, now saying they'll negotiate regarding the reversion of rights clause "on a book-by-book basis." They also accuse us of an "overreaction." Click here to read their official statement!!