In
what is being billed as the biggest leak of hacked documents for the book
publishing industry, news has spread that Penguin Random House’s merger was
anything but pleasant, that Harper Collins tried and failed to finance a
competitor to Amazon, that Hachette wanted to rip up its contract with one of
its prized authors, and that a high-ranking executive at Simon & Schuster
was having an affair – and exchanging trade secrets with someone at Macmillan’s
inner circle.
Ok,
so none of that may be true and there is no leak of documents – yet. But if recent history serves as an example,
look for a day to come when PublishingGate lands on the top page of social
media sites.
You
may have heard about a real leak recently, dubbed The Panama Papers. On April 3 documents from a Panamanian law
firm, Massack Fonseca, were exposed anonymously, shedding light on how the uber
wealthy hide their money. Stretching back four decades, 214,000 off shore shell
companies in 200 countries are tracked, showing where heads of state,
celebrities and the powerful stash their money to evade public notice, taxes,
and the law. Over 11 million documents show a slew of criminal actions and
morally upsetting events. The secret
financial lives of the 1% of the 1% have been aired out. Couldn’t the same
happen for the book world?
What
could we learn if such records were hacked in the book industry?
·
Which
authors got paid advances of certain sums, sparking angry discussions from
literary agents.
·
Email
exchanges from editors showing what they really think of their authors and
books, sure to ignite outcry and backlash from the writers.
·
Embarrassing
selfies and nude pictures that found their way through the digital transom.
·
Insensitive,
racist, sexist comments shared by colleagues.
·
Exposure to lawsuits and sex harassment complaints.
·
Materials
that reveal the strategies, insights and thinking of the inner circles at the
elite houses.
·
Revelations
of corner-office jealousies and plots to get people fired.
What
if the documents show something we didn’t expect to see, something so shocking
and enraging or disheartening that it would take years for the industry to
recover? Or, what if what’s revealed as
really nothing exceptional and representative of what we’d expect? As more and
more documents get released about the rich, famous and powerful do we become
immune to what gets exposed?
Snowden
and Wikileaks revealed political and military matters. The Panama Papers show wealth and criminal
activities. PublishingGate, if and when
it happens, may not be as sexy as one would expect – but no doubt a book will
be written about it.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog
are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016
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