PublishersLunch
The man who made countless national secrets transparent without permission now faces a bit of turnabout, as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's memoir is set to be published tomorrow, over the author's apparent objection. Canongate will release the book in the UK, but will present it as "an unauthorized biography" since by their own account the author wanted to cancel the contract.
Canongate says Assange "had already signed his advance over to his lawyers to settle his legal bills" and did not pay them back, so the house "decided to honour that contract and to publish. Once the advance has been earned out, we will continue to honour the contract and pay Julian royalties." They are going to "publish the unauthorized first draft which was delivered to us in March. It fulfills the promise of the original book proposal and is, like its author, passionate, provocative and opinionated. We are proud to publish it."
The book was originally announced for April 2011 publication, and Canongate sold rights to 38 houses around the world. Knopf was lined up as the US publisher and Assange said early in the process they were paying about $800,000 for rights. But Knopf never set a formal publication, and now they have canceled their publication. Spokesperson Paul Bogaards says: "We have cancelled our contract for Julian Assange’s memoir. The author did not complete his work on the manuscript or deliver a book to us in accordance with our agreement. We will not be moving forward with our publication." It was unclear when we published today whether other licensees around the world will follow Knopf's lead or go ahead along with Canongate. They had originally planned a big one-day rollout in multiple territories. With no formal US publisher, it's also possible that Canongate could make the ebook available immediately, though we could not find any metadata listings for it at major US ebookstores.
Assange's reservations were on display from the very start, beginning in December 2010, when he told the Times, "I don't want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent [more than $300,000] for legal costs, and I need to defend myself and keep WikiLeaks afloat." The first real retreat came at the end of March, when the first draft ghostwritten by novelist Andrew O'Hagan (who spent more than 50 hours with Assange) was completed. Canongate says at that point, "after reading the first draft...Julian declared, 'All memoir is prostitution.'" Yet earlier that month, Assange "had posed for a photo shoot and cleared the portrait that now graces the book's front cover" according to The Independent, which will serialize parts of the book beginning tomorrow.
On June 7, by Canongate's account, "Julian told us he wanted to cancel his contract." The Independent adds Assange was "increasingly uncomfortable about how the book contained too many personal biographical details and read less like a political manifesto than he had hoped for." O'Hagan, meanwhile, had already asked to have his name taken off the book, having become "increasingly uncomfortable about the furor over the book." Since Assange could not repay his advance, Canongate gave him two months to revise the book, though he never submitted a new draft. In early July, the Guardian suggested the book might not be published, reporting that Assange "indicated he no longer wished to write the kind of book that was initially envisaged" and was concerned it "could give ammunition to US prosecutors, whom he fears may seek his extradition on terrorist charges relating to WikiLeaks disclosures."
The publisher's lawyers indicate to the Independent Assange was given a final "twelve day window to seek an injunction" blocking publication before they issued the book. That deadline passed on Monday, and in a preface to the now-unauthorized biography--repeated in a statement today--Canongate explains: "We disagree with Julian's assessment of the book...We believe it explains both the man and his work, underlining his commitment to the truth. Julian always claimed the book was well written; we agree, and this also encouraged us to make the book available to readers."
No comments:
Post a Comment