On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports that the Anthropic settlement has received its final legal approval, with nearly half a million titles eligible for a payout of around $3,000 — and legal fees cut to just over $100 million. He covers Simon and Schuster's second new imprint for indie authors, Simon Stream, offering 50 percent net ebook royalties, alongside the previously reported Pocket Books relaunch. And he closes with Canadian survey data showing readers are already paying an average of US$8.74 for ebooks — neatly vindicating KDP's recent royalty cap rise to $12.99.
Listen to the Podcast: Anthropic Settlement Gets Final Approval
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About the Host
Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.
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Read the Transcript
Dan Holloway: Hello, and welcome to another Self-Publishing News podcast — brought to you by the public information announcement that running 40 miles in sunshine with no shade, next to no water, and no food is not the world's most sensible idea, as I've been finding out in the interests of science over the last couple of days. Nonetheless, I am able to bring you the news of the final legal approval for the Anthropic settlement.
The $1.5 billion settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic has finally had its last legal piece put into the jigsaw. And the big news is that nothing much has changed. Ninety-one point three percent of all eligible titles have come forward — nearly half a million titles whose authors will be eligible for a payout of, as has been expected, around $3,000.
The reason the payout has remained so high and consistent, even as the number of participating titles has grown and grown, is that the legal fees have been slashed yet again. The standard for settlement pools is around 25 percent of the pool — 25 percent of $1.5 billion is $375 million. That was already halved because it was considered too much, and it has been reduced again to just over $100 million. The argument being that the lawyers didn't really have a lot to do — with apologies to all my legal friends out there.
There is another notable development: the objections were considered and set aside. One of those objections — which you'll recall — pointed out that the class was smaller than it could have been because of the requirement for timely copyright registration with the US Copyright Office. The objectors argued that registration is not actually required by law for copyright protection, and that many indie authors — and indeed many authors whose publishers didn't register on their behalf — were disadvantaged by that requirement. The fact that this objection was set aside doesn't set a legal precedent, but it does make it harder in future cases to argue that unregistered works should be included in class actions.
And this comes at the same time as the Copyright Office is putting forward a proposal to raise its registration fee from $45 to $55 per title — a significant hike that would make an already burdensome step even more costly, just as many indie authors are thinking harder about whether to register at all. This hasn't gone through yet — it's a proposal still moving through the relevant legislative channels — but if you're considering registering existing titles, this might be a moment to act rather than wait.
If you registered as part of the class action, the payout is approximately $3,000. Whether and when people actually receive that money, we will wait to see.
Simon & Schuster Launches a Second Imprint Targeting Indie Authors
Another interesting story from last week follows the trend we've been seeing of Big Five publishers launching imprints specifically to attract indie authors. Earlier this month I reported on the relaunch of Pocket Books — the Simon and Schuster imprint originally focused on mass-market paperbacks, now relaunched to publish two to three titles a month in bestselling genres like romance, dark romance, and detective thrillers, targeting highly successful indie authors looking to add a print presence through a major publisher while retaining their ebook rights.
This week brings another Simon and Schuster imprint called Simon Stream, also aimed at successful indie authors but with a digital focus. It will publish all three major formats — ebook, audiobook, and print — but with ebooks front and center. The headline figure is 50 percent net royalties on ebooks, offered as a sweetener to attract indie authors who want access to in-house editing and marketing while still earning a far better royalty than traditional publishing typically offers.
This is clearly a pattern we're going to see more of, and the cynical reading is that publishers are using indie author success as pre-sifting — finding proven commercial properties with established audiences rather than taking chances on unknowns. The optimistic reading is that the market is finally recognizing the value indie authors create.
Canadian Ebook Prices Vindicate KDP's Rate Rise
This comes at the same time as a survey of Canadian readers and their ebook buying habits. The figure that stood out: the average price Canadian readers are paying for ebooks is C$11.85, or US$8.74. If that's the average, a significant number are paying more than $9.99 — which fits neatly with the news that Amazon's KDP has just raised its cap for the 70 percent royalty rate from $9.99 to $12.99. Amazon appears to be trying to keep indie authors on its platform by sweetening higher royalty rates, while publishers simultaneously compete for their attention with attractive deals.
Highly successful indie authors are very much in demand from all sides. That feels, as I say, like a very positive note on which to end. I look forward very much to speaking to you — minus the sunstroke — next week. Thank you very much indeed.
