AUTHORS SURPRISED WHEN OLD WORK IS PUBLISHED AS NEW

by Lynne Lamberg

How do you market a more than decade-old series of science and health books to high school and public libraries? One publisher's solution was to change the covers and give the series a new name, while leaving the contents untouched.

Four NASW members--I among them--authored or co-authored six books in a 20-volume series titled 21st Century Health & Wellness published by Chelsea House, based in Broomall, Pa. (www.chelseahouse.com). None of us was consulted about possible revisions or even notified of our books' republication.

All of the books were originally published by Chelsea House between 1988 and 1990. The "new" books carry a 2000 or 2001 copyright date. I came across my book while searching the Internet on a related topic, verified its existence on the Chelsea House Web site, and told the others about theirs, while seeking comment for this article.

Then and Now

My book bears no indication that it was published previously. Its contents are identical to the 1990 edition, except for an updated introduction and new foreword. A sampling of other titles revealed only the later copyright date. A book on AIDS is the only one in the series to be marked "revised" (without the author's knowledge) and bears 1988, 1999, and 2001 copyright dates.

Chelsea House markets the 21st Century series for $499. Individual books sell for $24.95 and are readily available through the popular online booksellers. "The goal of 21st Century Health & Wellness," each book's copyright page notes, "is to provide general information in the ever-changing areas of physiology, psychology, and related medical issues."

"The real story here," says Jon Zonderman, co-author of Mononucleosis and Other Infectious Diseases in the series, "is the publisher's attempt to palm off texts written in the late 1980s as current.

"It's a terrible thing to do to students in an area where the state of the art is far advanced now from where it was then," Zonderman asserted. "Material that was appropriate in 1988," he said in reference to his own book, "is now four generations old."

In my book, Skin Disorders, the acne treatment section is out of date. It cites the risk of birth defects in women who take isotretinoin (Accutane) while pregnant, but the number of such births (reported in 1990) might lead a current reader to conclude the risk is smaller than it is.

The text doesn't discuss Accutane's possible association with depression and suicide, now highlighted in an FDA-mandated medication guide and informed-consent form. Teenagers receiving prescriptions for Accutane should receive counseling from their physicians. I'm uncomfortable with these omissions in a 2001 book with my name on it.

Ed Edelson, author of Allergies, The Immune System, and Sports Medicine, takes a more cynical view. "Ten-year-old science isn't going to do any harm to the readers of these books, whose understanding of science," he maintains, "is something this side of nonexistent."

Each book in the Chelsea House series includes an introduction by C. Everett Koop, M.D., former Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. The 2001 version of the introduction contains 900 words not in the earlier edition summarizing a 1998 report on the nation's health.

The series' republication is "all news to me," Koop said. "I think it is highly unethical that any publisher would republish a series under a new name, that the authors were not notified, and especially that my small contribution was re-edited without my knowledge."

"Obviously, being unaware of this," Koop said, "I didn't authorize anything."

Haights Cross Communications acquired Chelsea House from its former owner, Phillip Cohen, in 2000, after work on the 21st Century series was completed. Chelsea House's new editor in chief, Sally Cheney, said it is company policy to contact consultants about revisions and to notify authors in writing when a book is coming out again. She offered no evidence to counter Koop's assertion, but speculated that previous editorial staff may have made some contacts by phone. None of the former editorial staff is still with the company.

Bill Check, a Wilmette, Ill., freelancer, wrote AIDS, the one book in the series marked "revised."

"I don't know whether the putative, alleged, hypothetical new material in my book is harmful to readers or to my reputation," Check said. He requested a copy of the book from the publisher in July, but never received it.

None of us was consulted about possible revisions or even notified of our books' republication.

"Doing my normal everyday work is enough of a drain that I don't have energy to pursue something like this," Check added. "I never thought at the time about the possibility that they would reprint these books ten years later. I might have assumed if they hired me to write the book in the first place, they'd come back to me for revisions."

All of the books in the series are about 20,000 words, and were written as a work made for hire (WMFH). Chelsea House paid a flat fee, with no royalties, and purchased all rights to the manuscript "to be published in any format at The Publisher's sole discretion." Chelsea House thus appears to have the right to re-use the work as it did.

"This situation demonstrates what can happen when publishers get all rights," says NASW member Karen Dustman, who is also a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors' (ASJA) contracts committee and a non-practicing lawyer. While authors who feel their reputations have been damaged by a book's republication theoretically could sue a publisher for defamation, lawsuits likely would be prohibitively expensive for most authors, she says, and proving such damage could be difficult.

"If you feel you must sign WMFH or 'all-rights' contracts," Dustman cautions, "be sure you're compensated well for giving up rights to future use of your work." She suggests writers try to limit the rights they're signing away, and perhaps insert a clause giving them the right to look at/proofread and be paid for reviewing/updating any revised editions.

ASJA has an active contracts committee. While its members can't give legal advice, Dustman notes, they can help identify shortcomings in contracts ASJA members submit for review and suggest possible alternative wording for negotiation. For the ASJA's position paper on WMFH and "all-rights" contracts, see www.asja.org/pubtips/wmfh01.php.

In Europe, the concept of "moral rights" helps protect authors and other creators against a publisher's unauthorized changes. It says, in essence, that creators retain the right to maintain the integrity of their work, as their reputation is on the line. About a decade ago the U.S. Congress took a small step toward recognizing this right by amending the Copyright Act to provide limited protection for visual works, according to Kenneth P. Norwick, legal counsel of the Association of Authors' Representatives. Some publishers already ask authors to relinquish moral rights when they sign contracts, Norwick notes in a 1995 article on this topic (still current) at www.publishersweekly.com/AAR/MoralRights.html. For more on moral rights, see www.megalaw.com/top/copyright/copyrightmoral.php3.

Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association (www.ala.org), reviewed two volumes from the 21st Century Health & Wellness series, believing them to be new books, reports Gillian Engberg, assistant editor of the publication's "Books for Youth" section. "The lack of identification of the prior publication date is an extremely frustrating omission," Engberg said. "We rely on publishers to provide this kind of information, because we can't research the history of every volume that comes in."

When advised of the republication, Engberg said Booklist "will not be reviewing any more titles in that series, unless they are indeed original, recently published titles," and "we'll increase our efforts to identify other reissued material."

"This sort of scam is used widely in the schoolbook industry by all the major publishers," said William Bennetta, president of the Textbook League, a Sausalito, Calif., group that provides independent, expert reviews of middle- and high-school textbooks.

While not familiar with the 21st Century series, which are considered supplemental texts, not textbooks for ongoing classroom use, Bennetta said, "I have some high-school books here that have been reissued several times since the early 1990s with no significant change in content.

he material in these books is laughably obsolete, and erroneous material has been printed and reprinted, even after critics have demonstrated the errors."

It took months of letters, e-mails, and phone calls to get through to Cheney. "Lots of surprises turn up when you inherit a job," she said when we finally talked. Cheney said she would be willing to put an errata sheet with authors' corrections and updates in remaining stock of the 21st Century series' books, and to incorporate these changes when the books are next reprinted. She also said she'd pay authors to update their books. If any NASW authors take her up on this offer, let me know and I'll update this saga.

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Baltimore freelancer Lynne Lamberg edits "New Books by Members" for the nasw-online forums.