They seek more money for themselves – VG

– Goodbye, solidarity, write Anne Holt, Roy Jacobsen, Gunnar Staaelsen and Helene Uri in a new column.

Here the four ancestors face off against the seven authors Jørn Lier Horst, Unni Lindell, Anne B. Ragde, Vetle Lid Larsen, Thomas Enger, Tom Kristensen and Tom Egeland, who last week rebelled against major Norwegian publishers Cappelen Damm , Aschehoug and Gyldendal. and its streaming services Storytel and Fabel.

To cut a long story: All seven authors reply that they believe that publishers, with a few exceptions, have blocked their own authors from their respective streaming services, and in this the authors lose a lot of money.

Author’s rebellion: Enough!

– And they have every right to think so, says Anne Holt to VG.

– But we react to the fact that it seems as if the seven authors are doing all authors a favor by coming out this way. They think they are taking one for the team. We absolutely believe that this is not the case.

In contrast, authors Anne Holt, Roy Jacobsen, Gunnar Staalesen, and Helene Uri believe that it does NOT benefit everyone.

– We believe that it is the strongest who wins if everything remains the same. We believe that the bestsellers benefit from it, but that the more limited authors obviously lose. We also believe that the strongest energy service will win, and that the others will do the trick. This gives us a monopoly and everyone will probably agree that there is nothing special.

Annoying

Anne Holt herself admits that she is annoyed that several of her books published on Gyldendal are only available on Fabel, which has a much smaller market share than Storytel. According to Jørn Lier Horst, his income skyrocketed when his books became available on Storytel in addition to Fabel.

– Yes, I think it has been annoying not to be on both platforms. It’s pretty clear that for some authors it’s a huge advantage to be on all streaming services, and I understand that top-selling authors like Jørn Lier Horst and Unni Lindell want more money. But I think if these platforms are the same, the bestsellers will outshine the others.

– Jørn Lier Horst and the other authors believe that even the smallest authors will gain more from this.

– I don’t see it, and I don’t think they’ll defend it.

Anne Holt (who is at Gyldendal) believes that the seven authors, five of them are colleagues at Petter Stordalen’s Strawberry publication, take advantage of what may be a loophole in the agreement that is out of date when it comes to the new digital everyday life. Because it’s about CDs, not audio files.

– It will be too difficult to go into details on contract law here, and others will deal with the law. But we believe that the seven authors are changing the structure of the agreement in Norwegian literature to achieve something that they themselves earn a lot of money from. So they jeopardize the whole deal. It’s not comprehensive, says Holt, who also refers to a column Tom Egeland himself wrote four years ago.

– Here he writes much of the same thing that we believe: That it is very scary to shake the agreement in the literature. It is very strange to read what Egeland wrote at the time, and now to see that he is manipulating this himself. Suddenly he’s on a completely different team (read: Strawberry), and suddenly he means something completely different, says Holt.

– I completely agree with what Tom Egeland meant four years ago, says Holt.

Egeland: – We do not alter the agreement

Tom Egeland emphasizes to VG that he not he has changed his mind.

– These are two different cases. We do not alter the agreement, we ask for a clearer agreement that also includes streaming audiobooks in the same way that the agreement now includes paper books, e-books and audiobooks that are not broadcast, says Egeland, who has requested this since Storytel se established in Norway in 2014.

– Many years have passed without publishers and streaming services meeting with writers’ associations. We believe the counterpart is proprietary publishers and electricity services, not our colleagues. Rather, we hope that opening both streaming services to all authors will benefit both authors and readers. I don’t think he’s unfriendly, says Egeland.

The rage debate: Read Cappelen Damm boss’s response: – When some want all the cake

Jørn Lier Horst doesn’t disagree at all with Anne Holt and company that it is a lot of money.

– We do this to make money from it. Because as it is now, we are banned by three-quarters of the market. In this ongoing discussion, there are many parties with many interests that intersect, but in any case it is the author who is the losing party who is left with only 15 øre of the current crown. The remaining 85 percent remains in the publisher and electricity service, which in Norway means the same share. When authors are the lowest earners and cut off from much of the market, I think it’s odd that some fellow authors defend top publishers, says Jørn Lier Horst, adding:

– What they think we are moving is, in any case, a system that is changing. It just takes a very long time. That is why we have now taken the spoon into our own hands, says Lier Horst.

At the heart of the dispute over electricity services is the so-called acquisition and delivery obligation, which is enshrined in the Norwegian Book Agreement and is that all publishers can deliver or purchase books in all bookstores. In 2017, there was an addition to the book contract that referred to electricity services, and both the Authors’ Association and the Booksellers Association have confirmed to VG that this obligation will also apply to electricity services.

More discussion: Lydbokforlaget: Flow and confusion

He rebelled against the model book itself

However, Anne Holt points out that there must be an agreement between the publisher and the energy service for this to happen.

– I don’t think people understand what an electrical service is. It is not a publisher, nor is it a bookstore, but a service that buys a right to resell it. Editors must look out for their financial interests and the interests of the authors and make good agreements. Here the fact that there must be an agreement at the bottom in order to acquire and deliver is overlooked, Holt says.

– The authors also react to the fact that this has taken a long time, several years – and do you think the editors have deliberately trained it to avoid competition?

– Yes, they may have been slow, says Holt who has 27 years of experience in this industry. An experience that includes joining the charge when his wife Tine Kjær, nearly 20 years ago, helped start Piratforlaget, which was also something of a rebellion against the Norwegian book model.

– But time has passed. I am older and wiser, and so I have realized that the model we have in Norway is much better than I thought at the time. The system that we have in Norway, with the exception of competition law at various points, has led us to have as much good literature as we have. Wishing that all authors are available on all streaming platforms, we believe that it opens forces that we do not think are good.

Publishers Association: Still Trader

VG has asked the Publishers Association how far they are from a normal deal that also deals with streaming services and book streaming, and they don’t know the answer to that:

– Negotiations have been progressing for some time with great will for a good final result. We are concerned with good normal agreements also for flow, which ensures equal treatment and predictability. It’s hard to say exactly when these negotiations land, but I am concerned that we need to secure the ecosystem between the author and the publisher in the meeting with various digital platforms, and reduce the risk, says CEO Heidi Austlid of the Norwegian Publishers Association.

NB! Anne Holt is married to Tine Kjær in Cappelen Damm. Helene Uri lives with Einar Ibenholt in Gyldendal.

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