Five conservative authors--Jerome R. Corsi (Unfit for Command), Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson (Dereliction of Duty), Joel Mowbray (Dangerous Diplomacy), and Richard Miniter (Shadow War & Losing Bin Laden)--are suing Regnery Publishing. "They've structured their business essentially as a scam and are defrauding their writers," Miniter told the New York Times, "causing a tremendous rift inside the conservative community."

Basically, the authors' gripe involves the relationship between Regnery and the Conservative Book Club, both of which are owned by Eagle Publishing. Regnery sells books at a deep discount to the Conservative Book Club, which in turn sells the books at deep discount to club members. In the process, authors forgo much of the royalties they would have received had those books been sold in stores. "The difference between 10 cents and $4.25 is pretty large when you multiply it by 20,000 to 30,000 books," Mr. Miniter told the Times. "It suddenly occurred to us that Regnery is making collectively jillions of dollars off of us and paying us a pittance."

That's one way of looking at it. I viewed the arrangement otherwise when the Conservative Book Club selected Intellectual Morons as a "main selection" for one of its monthly mailings. (They had done the same with Why the Left Hates America, but I was oblivious, learning of it several years later). In short, I was ecstatic. I realized that I would make a fraction of the money from the Conservative Book Club that I would have had those books been sold in a traditional store instead. But the promotion the Conservative Book Club does to attract members and sell books, I reasoned, would more than make up for the royalties lost. I always could use more money, but I prefer more readers and the Conservative Book Club gave me that.

On the backs of magazines like National Review, on the pop-up ads on conservative sites like Newsmax, and in the mailings to tens of thousands of conservatives, the Conservative Book Club would advertise my book, alongside the books of Mowbray's, Miniter's, and the other litigants. This free advertising, I surmise, led to many, many indirect sales. In other words, the Conservative Book Club advertises the book, but doesn't reap the exclusive rewards. How many people who become aware of my book through a double-page spread in, say, Human Events (yet another Eagle Publishing company), bought the book through Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Amazon (where I basically make 15 percent off the price), rather than through the Conservative Book Club (in which I split an agreed upon amount received from the Conservative Book Club with my publisher)? And how many people bought the book to fulfill annual club quotas on books bought or because they forgot to mail in their monthly cards saying "no book"? Put another way, how many people who would have never purchased the book otherwise did so because simply because they were a member of this club?

Might I have had a more negative view of such an arrangement if I were a Regnery author? Perhaps. As it stands now, I split the proceeds of such bulk book-club orders with Crown Forum. We take a hit in direct income on the deal. But what if Crown struck such a deal with another company owned by Bertelsmann? In essence, they would not be taking the hit with me but would be reaping huge profits as publisher and book store. Ultimately, however shady such a deal might appear, the arrangement would still be beneficial for me because of all the free promotion my book would receive. Just because one party benefits does not mean the other party is harmed.

Perhaps the bottom line on this is the bottom line, i.e., your signature on the agreement. If you have a contract, the best time for complaining about the terms is before you sign. Presumably, the litigants agreed to the terms they now decry.

Corsi, Mowbray, Patterson, Gertz, and Miniter don't see it that way. Not knowing the specifics of their suit, I can't sit in judgment on it. I can judge my own dealings with the Conservative Book Club positively, but my dealings aren't their dealings. I am very interested in how this turns out, and not just in the courtroom. There are a finite number of conservative publishing houses and imprints. Suing one limits your options as an author. It may even scare away other suitors. A few of these writers are established enough that they need not worry about such matters. But a few of them aren't. Should we view them as brave crusaders doing the dirty work so that other conservative authors will benefit, or as ingrates killing their own careers by biting the hand that fed them? As the facts of the case pour out, the answer to that question will be clearer.

Funny how Miniter has rethought this "tort-reform" thing as soon as his own panties got in a twist. The jokes write themselves.

How could these fools have been unaware that the sales numbers of their books have been pumped up by the giveaways? It's the only way these books can get on the best-seller lists, even though they are not exactly being...sold. Richard Mellon Scaife probably has warehouses full of them.

It's been an open secret that Regnery is a form of welfare for wretched authors whose work reinforces themes considered important by the publisher, but which resonates so poorly with the public that they can't even GIVE these books away.

The authors should be happy with the 10 cents a copy. Isn't that an example of the free market setting the price?

A liberal is a conservative who has been screwed by a big corporation. Next thing you know, when their health insurance runs out, the authors will be calling for national health care.

How can anyone not love this comeuppance?

Repack, how is the conservative book club a giveaway? And how much warehouse space is Scaife paying for to sit on mounds of books by conservative authors? Are they guarded?

Your claims make no sense economically, as you suggest that getting on the bestsellers list (easier than you think) is worth filling warehouses w/ unsold and unread books. Also, how would taht get a book on the bestseller's list anyway? Those lists are generated by compiling the number of books sold at certain bookstores and chains of bookstores. Scaife or someone buying a warehouse full thus wouldn't get books on the lists since they aren't generated simply by what numbers publisher's report.

I have read your typical liberal conceit many times before in other places and I still haven't seen any explanation of how this purported scheme works or where these graveyards for conservative books are located. I suspect that they are just a myth libs use to reassure themselves that Americans don't hold to any conservative views at all (when you aren't calling Americans stupid for holding conservative views). It is quite bipolar actually.

Well Dan, when your next book comes out, I'll buy it someplace else so you make more. How's that?

Obviously its up to them to decide whether they like the terms of this arrangement, but if they don't then why did they sign a contract? Unless this is breach of contract on the part of Regnery or some kind of fraud on Regnery's part, I don't see how they can win.

Who has time to read all those crappy books anyway?

A boom a month seems like a bit much to me as well. I don't think I could handle a subscription like that, what w/ my hectic night life.

a book a month I meant.

how much warehouse space is Scaife paying for to sit on mounds of books by conservative authors?

Less now, since the tawdry details of his cheap-hooker girlfriend got into the divorce courts and his ex-wife brought home the gold because Scaife failed to get a pre-nup. This was the guy who said Clinton had ethical problems and spent millions to prove it. How delicious is THAT?

Are they guarded?

Guarded? From whom? If you can't give them away, no one is going to steal them either, unless they are short of fertilizer.

I love reading conservative books because they are based on truths. As opposed to more liberal offerings that are loaded with ideological supposition.

Repack,

Since you will come back to this thread I see please tell me where the evidence of this subterfuge on the part of publisher's of conservative books is? I always hear that claim from the left, particularly about Ann Coulter's book sales. But I have yet to see any indication that the claim is based on anything other than wishful thinking.

Repack: One of the gripes of the authors is that sales through the Conservative Book Club do not register on best-seller lists, so your point that "the sales numbers of their books have been pumped up by the giveaways" does not mesh with the truth. In other words, a book that has sold well through CBC has actually sold a lot more books than Bookscan or the best seller lists gives them credit for.

Dan,

You got this exactly right. Forget promotional value of having books sent out through book clubs...there is no knowing, except through direct comparison with say another comparable book through another publishers, how much potential money was gained or lost because of arrangements made with these book clubs. It seems like Mowbray et. al assumed they would have sold 10,000 books regardless of the book clubs, which is an erroneous assumption. It is possible that they actually made more money through Regenery's current marketing strategy. The plaintiff must assume that the books they sold through book clubs, they would have sold at least 10% of those books through normal channels, which, I think, is a very high mark to achieve.

And of course regardless of all this, as someone else said previously, unless this constituted a breach of contract (which unless regenery had a really bad lawyer I would highly doubt), they have no chance in court.

Hi Dan

As one of the litigants, let me add to the discussion. There is much more to the suit than was covered in the NYT piece. For example, the book giveaways that Regnery does for its publication Human Events are not left over inventory but, in my case, pre-releases of the book. The giveaways for Dereliction of Duty were 25% of what was scanned through Book Scan. That's not chump change when you sell 200,000 books...and that was not in my contract.

Buzz

That's interesting information, Buzz, which is why I wrote that "my dealings aren't their dealings." There are obviously some facts that didn't make it into the NYT piece. One item that did interest me was Mr. Miniter's juxtaposition of the $4.25 he would make from royalties off a book sold in a store and the ten cents he would make from a book sold in CBC. I wonder if Regnery's deal with its authors for the CBC is worse than outside publishers (Crown, Sentinel, Encounter, etc.) because, although I took a royalty cut through the CBC sales, it was not as severe as the one Miniter describes. I also wonder how the CBC sales affected your advance on royalties. In other words, do the book-club sales make it harder to start making royalties because sales within the club don't count for the money made toward paying back the advance?

Dan

I can assure you that the cuts from CBC for Regnery authors are much less, if any at all. The loss of payback of the advance is huge, obviously, but so is missed royalties on books given away for their benefit and the net affect of the loss of sales on BookScan to future contracts. Without revealing too much, Eagle has given away approximately 55,000 of my books which a) is a huge personal loss to me in terms of income but, b) is not reflected in my total sales and my potential for future book deals.

I have to also say Dan that I am a big fan of yours. Thanks for all you are doing for the cause. The sad thing about this suit with Regnery is that I value their association and admire them as people. Its not personal, its business.

Buzz

Thanks for the insight, Buzz. If you have the time, shoot me an email at the linked email in this post. I would like to get more information on the case and present to readers a broader picture than the one above. There are always two sides to a story. Despite the Times story quoting Mr. Miniter extensively, and not much from the Regnery side, my reading of the piece made wonder about the validity of such a suit. Much of what you have noted here puts things in a different perspective, particularly the alleged extracontractual activities of Regnery. The case really interests me.