Can publisher edit books that are already published, without the authors permission?

[DAgent]

This might not be the right section for this question, and it's probably been asked before, but with the more recent-ish news about certain publishers are wanting/going to edit existing works by dead authors, I am wondering two things. Do they have the legal right to do so to the works of dead writers, and are they allowed to do this to the works of a living author without their permission?

The whole thing is a morally grey area to me. On the one hand I can understand why they might feel it's a good idea to remove offensive terms so as to not upset anyone those terms might offend. But at the same time it reeks of censorship to me. Could you really justify editing the works of Shakespeare for example, and then have an English teacher read the sanitized text to their class as ask the question "What is Shakespeare trying to say here?" when the section they are reading are not his words at all, and have been stripped of any real meaning?

There's apparently a line in a Bond novel where Bond himself marvels as the idea of a Black Doctor, he's not being dismissive about the Doctor being Black, he's amazed and impressed that there is such a thing, probably because he's been raised to think that is impossible. But I have seen concerns from Bond novels fans that this section might be edited out, thus robbing Bond of any character development from it, thus leaving him thinking all the racial stereotypes he's been brought up to believe are true.

Surely a trigger warning near the front of the story, similar to warnings and age ratings are put on movies and TV shows, would be better? And likewise would they put a warning on the edited books that these are essentially the redacted versions? Apparently there are plans to do this on the works of Terry Pratchett, which will leave his criticisms and observations of the real world intact, but it's rather telling that they think his work might offend someone.

I for one, do not plan to buy books that I know have been essentially edited after the death of the author without their permission.

 

[Le Panda du Mal]

There are definitely cases of living authors seeing their works edited/ mutilated without their permission. The legality of this would depend I guess on the kind of contract that was signed and the applicable laws.

As far as public domain authors like Shakespeare go, anything goes.

In terms of moral justifiability, I think it's one thing to openly mess with a work as long as you're making it clear it's not the original. I think the idea of intellectual property is insane and untenable. It's another thing though to bowdlerize works in the service of some cretinous puritanism where a given work must be rendered perfectly virtuous before being enjoyable.

 

[The Judge]

We touched on this in a discussion in a Chronscast thread back in April Episode 16 - Excalibur with Bryan Wigmore

Basically, it's an issue of contract.

If the author is dead, but copyright is still held, then it's up to the copyright holder and the publisher to agree the issue. If copyright no longer applies, then anyone can publish and make whatever changes they want.

There's nothing new in work being changed to suit prevalent (or personal) morality/taste -- Thomas Bowdler was reworking Shakespeare in order to make the plays more "suitable" and edifying back in 1818.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You'll find that most books you read are not first editions. That means that something has been changed, and unless you have access to the original text (which is often prohibitively expensive) you won't know what.

Recently I bought a facsimilie 'first edition' copy of The Hobbit, and unless you compare the two side by side (or know the text extraordinarily well) you probably won't know the difference. Often it is the author 'tidying up' grammatical inaccuracies, or sometimes making a passage easier to read; occasionally also updating to make it tie in with later sequels that hadn't been written or planned for at that time.

What happens when they have passed on? Well, I think that this will in part depend on what deal they had with their publisher, and what belongs to who in their will. I'm not that familiar with the music industry, but didn't Taylor Swift re-record all of her songs after a dispute with her record label?

It's interesting to know though how far you can go with these things. As an extreme example could the Tolkien estate (or whoever holds the writes to the literary work 'The Hobbit') re-write it in its entirety, and then put it on the bookshelf still with the same title? Or would there then be grounds for customers to sue them for selling goods under false pretences?

There are also times when a story is edited to make it more socially acceptable. This then becomes a more contentious issue, as happened recently with Roald Dahl, when even the British Prime Minister stepped in to have his say. But this then starts to stray into territory that is off-limits on this website.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

As the judge says this is something that happens all the time and no one gets in a twizzle about it. Abridged versions, younger audience versions, updated versions…

 

[JunkMonkey]

I for one, do not plan to buy books that I know have been essentially edited after the death of the author without their permission.

How would you know? All books go through some editorial process and changes are made to the 'original' text even in first editions. I recently bought the Penguin Classics version of Burroughs' 'Junky' which claims, in its blurb, to be the 'definitive edition [that] painstakingly recreates the author's original text word for word.'

The introduction by the learned editor spends pages discussing the fact that Burroughs' original title was 'Junk', and it first published as 'Junkie' but this edition has 'Junky' on the cover.

We're not even one word into the book and there are already three different versions.

 

[DAgent]

How would you know? All books go through some editorial process and changes are made to the 'original' text even in first editions. I recently bought the Penguin Classics version of Burroughs' 'Junky' which claims, in its blurb, to be the 'definitive edition [that] painstakingly recreates the author's original text word for word.'

The introduction by the learned editor spends pages discussing the fact that Burroughs' original title was 'Junk', and it first published as 'Junkie' but this edition has 'Junky' on the cover.

We're not even one word into the book and there are already three different versions.

I'm not talking about the process of editing a book before it is even published, that is a different issue altogether and not one I am addressing.

I'm talking about posthumous changes where the author simply has no way to agree or disagree with said changes, or a publisher forcing changes through on the already published work of a still living author regardless of having their consent or permission.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well I have no information to share about posthumous changes—though I expect that they would generally be made with the approval of the author's heirs. But as for this:

or a publisher forcing changes through on the already published work of a still living author regardless of having their consent or permission.

All my contracts—and I assume it is boilerplate with all large and established publishers—say that the author has the right of approval on the edited manuscript. Nothing is said that this right of approval expires when the manuscript is published, or doesn't apply to later editing. But here is the rub: it also says "such approval not to be unreasonably withheld." What is reasonable and who determines it can be subjective.

Still, I think if the book is deemed worth re-editing and reprinting (which is to say, the book has been successful) the publisher would wish to stay on the right side of the living author, with an eye to acquiring further works, and therefore would also feel inclined to be "reasonable" in what they ask. An agreement that is acceptable on both sides seems likely, and no need to force anything on anybody.

As TJ and Jo both say, this is nothing new. But anyone who is worried about this happening to their work should check their contracts before signing. (Not that this clause is at all likely to be negotiable. At least not for any writer with sales less robust than a Stephen King or a J. K. Rowling. And maybe not even them.)

 

[Steve Harrison]

Similar to @Teresa Edgerton, my two contracts (with a small publisher) gave me final say on any editorial changes, which led to a number of battles mostly won by the editor. Damn those professionals!

Not sure what will happen after I pop my clogs, but the thought of the arbitrary editing of any dead (or living) author is horrifying.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm not talking about the process of editing a book before it is even published, that is a different issue altogether and not one I am addressing.

I'm talking about posthumous changes where the author simply has no way to agree or disagree with said changes, or a publisher forcing changes through on the already published work of a still living author regardless of having their consent or permission.

cf Jo's reply above:

As the judge says this is something that happens all the time and no one gets in a twizzle about it. Abridged versions, younger audience versions, updated versions…