In his role as president of the Society of Authors, His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman is urging the government to pass into British law a version of a new proposal from the European Commission which would give better protection to the rights of authors. The new EU draft directive on the ‘digital single market’ would better enable authors to make a living by ensuring that if their work becomes unexpectedly successful (a so-called ‘bestseller clause’) they don’t lose out because of disadvantageous contracts signed early in their career as unknown authors.
The proposed law would give writers the grounds to claim additional income if their royalties proved ‘disproportionately low’ compared to profits made by publishers and media companies exploiting their work. Meanwhile a ‘transparency clause’ would obligate publishers to provide authors with full information regarding sales and income.