# Authors and publishers of books. Who makes the decisions ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 9, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117 "2009-02-09T19:21:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chew\_Barker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chew_Barker)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/1 "2009-02-09T19:21:35Z")
After a book has been published can the publisher decided to modfiy the book without the author’s consent ? For example, add some illustrations, have it translated, or correct an authors mistake / typo.
Or is everything ran by the author first ?
Or does this depend on the contract held between a particular author and their publisher ?
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### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/2 "2009-02-09T21:46:34Z")
> [@Chew\_Barker](#):
>
> After a book has been published can the publisher decided to modfiy the book without the author’s consent ? For example, add some illustrations, have it translated, or correct an authors mistake / typo.
>
> Or is everything ran by the author first ?
>
> Or does this depend on the contract held between a particular author and their publisher ?
After it has been published? You mean to re-issue another edition of the book with some revisions? That would have to be covered explicitly by the contract. Every book contract I’ve ever signed included clauses about translations, electronic rights, revised editions, etc.. If you sign those things away, the publisher can do what they want. Otherwise, the standard book contract gives them the rights to publish a single version of the book.
As for whether the publisher can make changes to your manuscript before publishing it, that’s a different kettle of fish.
And it’s also worth noting that some books are actually done on a work-for-hire basis, which means you get paid upfront and relinquish all your rights after the manuscript is turned in.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/3 "2009-02-09T23:02:18Z")
> [@](#):
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> add some illustrations
A new edition with extra illustrations would trigger a whole series of contract terms. I don’t see how a publisher could do this without the author’s consent.
> [@](#):
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> have it translated
Translation rights are a standard part of every contract I’ve seen. Some give the author sole rights to contact foreign publishers, usually because the agent already has those connections in place. In those contracts, obviousby, it would be illegal for the publisher to commission one. If the publisher retains rights, the author is guaranteed a percentage of the sales to foreign counties. (Almost always foreign is anything other than the U.S. and Canada.) But the publisher just seeks out whatever firms want to do translation. The author is not consulted. Just, hopefully, paid. I had one book go into five languages and it was a thrill to get copies of them. I was also a millionaire in zlotys, which would have been a lot more impressive if zlotys hadn’t been 13,000 to the dollar at the time.
> [@](#):
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> correct an authors mistake / typo
It wouldn’t surprise me for a publisher to do this without consulting the author for true typos. A change that lead to any alteration of meaning would have to be run past the author first.
Everything does depend on the exact wording of the contract. Book contracts are quite long and contain lots of clauses and any agent worth the percentage will get some language changed or clauses added or deleted or something. Even so arguments always develop.
Do you have a particular example you’re thinking about so we can be more precise?
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/4 "2009-02-10T00:05:18Z")
I’ve long had arelated question about movies. I go to the [Internet Movie DataBase](http://www.imdb.com) a lot, and I often read that when a certain movie was shown on this network it had scene A deleted and scene B (which had been cut before it got to the theaters) inserted. And then when it was shown on a different network, it had scene C deleted and scene D added.
It seems to me that these sorts of changes are even more injurious than colorization, and I’ve often wondered what kinds of permissions are needed to do it.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/5 "2009-02-10T00:22:01Z")
Usually, the networks are allowed to make whatever changes they want. Some directors (e.g., Woody Allen) put clauses in their contracts that limit changes, but in general the network makes the decisions.
As Exapno pointed out, book publishers run most changes by the author. The only thing they’ll change without checking are true tyops that clearly are tyops. Note that the author does get to see the galleys of a work before publication and thus can note any particular changes.
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### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/6 "2009-02-11T02:08:27Z")
On the other hand, authors have much less input over what the cover looks like, and even the title.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/7 "2009-02-11T02:47:34Z")
Authors have **no** input over what the cover looks like. I suppose if you’re a best seller, you could make suggestions, but usually the cover is commissioned and finished before the author sees it. By then it’s too late.
The publisher will consult with the author about a title change, but can change it unilaterally. In my case, they changed the title from my original since it was a homonym for another book they were publishing and didn’t want people to order the wrong one. We agreed on a new title, but one day my editor called me and said, “The marketing department wants _Staroamer’s Fate_ as the title.” Luckily, I actually liked that better than my original.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/8 "2009-02-11T02:51:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …but usually the cover is commissioned and finished before the author sees it
By the looks of some, the cover is commissioned before the author WRITES it.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/9 "2009-02-11T03:00:59Z")
Well, in my case, yes. They asked me to provide a description of the main character for the artist and I realized I had left that out. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/10 "2009-02-11T03:24:37Z")
Some directors take their name off the movie if they don’t like the cuts. The first Dune movie is credited to Alan Smithee if you see it on regular TV channels (not premium) because David Lynch didn’t like the cuts made for TV. If you see it on HBO it’s still listed as directed by David Lynch.
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/11 "2009-02-11T05:07:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Authors have **no** input over what the cover looks like.
Not universally true, even for non-bestsellers. My SO is a book designer for a non-fiction publisher, and every cover is run by the author(s). They may not get their way if they want it changed, but they certainly see it and get to respond to it.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/12 "2009-02-11T05:12:44Z")
> [@Askance](#):
>
> Not universally true, even for non-bestsellers. My SO is a book designer for a non-fiction publisher, and every cover is run by the author(s). They may not get their way if they want it changed, but they certainly see it and get to respond to it.
Yes, the publisher the US edition of one of my books changed the cover from the original Panama edition. We did a lot of back and forth about what photo to use.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/13 "2009-02-11T16:09:15Z")
What Chuck says is almost universally true for the large New York publishers that dominate the U.S. industry. Smaller and specialty presses may be more accommodating, one of the reasons they get authors to submit to them.
I’ve certainly never had a publisher do anything but show me the final cover after it was completed, and I hated one of them with a passion. Still couldn’t do a thing about it.
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### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/14 "2009-02-11T16:37:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’ve certainly never had a publisher do anything but show me the final cover after it was completed, and I hated one of them with a passion. Still couldn’t do a thing about it.
I’ll second that, but I can live with the practice. The cover is just a marketing tool and a good design drives sales. If their version sells better (and obviously, they think it will), then I’m happy. Ideally, they’ve got reasons to support their choices. I’ve had more than a dozen books published, and I’m pretty sure all of the covers were done before the manuscript was delivered.
One thing that infuriates me is the practice of using draft versions of the cover in catalogs and online before the book is published. These often differ significantly from what actually gets used, and I think this sometimes creates confusion. People see a green and yellow cover online, go to the bookstore, and don’t find the book because it’s actually red and blue. Some of my book listing on Amazon still have the wrong cover displayed, years after they were released.
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-publishers-of-books-who-makes-the-decisions/485117/15 "2009-02-12T08:55:02Z")
Supposedly, I had the final say over what went into the American editions of my books (fiction).
Once I sold them to foreign markets, I had no idea. I got the galleys in some cases, but I can’t read German well enough to tell if they translated it brilliantly, although I can read it well enough to tell that they got the general idea. I can’t read Swedish, Dutch, or Czech at all. So they could say anything.
For the American editions my publisher (Ballantine) always asked me if I had any cover ideas. They didn’t necessarily use them, but they asked.
They changed two out of the first four of my titles. I fought really hard for the fifth one, and got it, only to have a best-selling author come out with an identical title about six months before mine was to come out. Changed it.