"If authors sign abusive contracts, it leaves us in a situation of absolute helplessness, and if we don't sign them, professionalization is not possible," comments Maite Carranza on behalf of the Col·legial Association of Writers of Catalonia (ACEC), one of the six entities present at the public presentation of new contract models for authors promoted by AELC, which has united writers, playwrights, and translators. "It is important that as a profession we go forward together. This model could be a step forward for what happens in the rest of the State," emphasizes Carranza.Among the seven main points claimed by the new contract model are clarity, precise definition of duration, provision for new formats, and a guarantee of transparency. Helena Tornero, from the Catalan Association of Playwrights, comments that "in a world that is moving towards the tendency to trample on all kinds of rights, authors' rights must be protected and defended." In the case of theater, the fight is on a double front: "That of the dramatic text that is staged and that of the text that is published." Sònia Alejo, from the Valencian Association of Theater Writers, and Miquel Mas Fiol, from the Association of Playwrights of the Balearic Islands, emphasize the importance of keeping in mind "the very precarious bulk of the profession, apart from the big names." On behalf of PEN Catalan, Dani Vilaró recalls that "contract conditions must be adapted to the present, on issues such as digitalization or generative artificial intelligence," and Gemma Brunat, on behalf of the Professional Association of Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (APTIC), explains that most of the professionals they represent, being self-employed, "are afraid to negotiate for fear of being considered problematic professionals, even though in reality we are talking about minimum proposals."From the academic field, the Catalan Society of Language and Literature of the Institute of Catalan Studies and the Association of Professionals and Scholars in Catalan Language and Literature (APELLC) support the new contract model. "We hope that the recent changes in the boards of the Catalan Publishers' Guild and editors.cat will make dialogue with the publishing sector possible," wish Sebastià Portell and the rest of the entities that have joined the initiative.
Sebastià Portell: "Artificial intelligence has stolen works by Catalan authors"
The Association of Writers in the Catalan Language promotes an agreement to foster more "transparent, balanced, and respectful" publishing contracts
Barcelona"Today is an important day for the authors of our country, because the entities that represent them have joined together to promote a shared publishing contract model that is more transparent, balanced, and respectful", announced this Monday at the Ateneu Barcelonès Sebastià Portell (ses Salines, 1992), president of the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language since 2022, during the presentation of the initiative he has promoted and to which eight more entities have joined, representing a total of more than 4,000 authors. "The main objective is to improve the conditions of our representatives, which in many cases are precarious", he added, accompanied by representatives from PEN Català, the Association of Writers of Catalonia (ACEC), the Professional Association of Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (APTIC), and three playwright associations: the Catalan, the Valencian, and that of the Balearic Islands. The initiative, a pioneer in the State, has encountered a first hurdle, that of the publishers, who "for the moment have refused to be part of the conversation".
Authors should not be carried away by urgency or enthusiasm when signing a contract with a publisher, should they?
— Faced with the moment of signing a contract, especially in an author's first works, there is an enthusiasm and a desire to move forward that can harm them. Authors find themselves with contracts that border on illegality. There are clauses in contracts that can be fraudulent or imply malpractice: fortunately, they are a minority of what usually happens. Our intention is not to make a wholesale amendment to the system, but we would like to improve it.
Ask for more transparency, for example.
— Yes, especially regarding what happens after signing contracts: one of the main grievances we find among our associates is the lack of transparency on the part of publishers. A not insignificant portion of authors do not receive all the information that the law establishes about copies sold, nor about the editions of their books.
Between the editor and the author there is an unbalanced situation that needs to be corrected?
— The European directive on copyright in the digital single market recognizes in its preamble the vulnerable situation from which authors start when negotiating. Many of our representatives are self-employed...
Self-employed individuals who cannot live off their literature: only 22% achieve this, according to the latest study presented by the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language at the end of 2023.
— And this, even though the majority of respondents answered that the contracts they had signed were peaceful.
The third axis of the contract model you present is respect. How would you specify it?
— Respect involves the entirety of authors' rights. First, there are intellectual property rights, which include copyright, rights advances, and the proportional share that corresponds to us for the exploitation of our works. Then, there are moral rights, which have to do with the recognition of the paternity and maternity of the texts, and transformation rights, that is, the decision of how our works can take on other lives, both through translation and adaptation to other formats. Finally, there is the right of public communication, which has to do with the modalities in which our work can be transmitted: paper, e-book, audiobook, and other formats that may emerge.
There are contracts that are protected by anticipating adaptations, formats, and translations.
— They seek conditions much more beneficial for publishers than for authors. In each case, the author is free to negotiate what they consider appropriate, but what is provided is to exclusively cede those rights that the publisher is truly interested in exploiting and that the remuneration is suited to the uses they wish to make of them.
The contract model you present does not establish indicative amounts of money. Why?
— We go as far as we can by law. We cannot set tariffs or price scales.
A topic that concerns the AELC is the use of artificial intelligence.
— Yes, what is happening is horrifying. The implementation of generative artificial intelligence in the context of Catalan-speaking territories is contradictory. It is a systematic attack on authors' rights: artificial intelligence has stolen works by Catalan authors without permission, remuneration, and transparency. This creates tension with the linguistic rights of Catalan speakers, because from the moment a new technology emerges that has remarkable centrality in the global sphere, at least now, our language must also be present. Since, at the moment, the legislation is not sufficiently protective of copyright, for now we have a principle of zero use, both from the AELC and, at the European level, from the European Council of Writers, of which it is a member.
The contract model you present addresses, precisely, the use of artificial intelligence.
— It implies, on the one hand, that the author commits not to use artificial intelligence during the creative process, but also that the publisher will not use it to illustrate the book, for the cover image, for synopses, or for promotional materials. We must protect all links in the process. For a couple of years now, for example, we have encountered cases of professional translators who have received assignments called post-editing that hide a trap. In theory, they have to review texts, but in many cases they deduce that they have been previously translated by artificial intelligence.
And they have to humanize them?
— Yes. This implies a perversion, because translation fees are between 12 and 15 euros per page, approximately, and, on the other hand, correction fees are between 3 and 4 euros per page. Not only is there a clear economic benefit for publishers, but also the works they publish following this method suffer.
You have been chairing the European Writers' Council for a few months. It represents over 260,000 authors from 55 associations and entities. In which European countries should authors look to for inspiration regarding the contracts they sign?
— France and Germany are setting a good path. Following the 2019 copyright directive, several discussions have been organized in France, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, in which different agents in the book value chain have sat down to talk about good practices. In Germany there is a great tradition of authors' associations and they do very important coordinated work. One thing I have learned in recent years is the joy of noting that collective action implies change: sometimes, changing an adjective in a European law can mean an improvement in the lives of many people, especially regarding working conditions.