Tuesday, August 11, 2015

The Art of the (Jointly Authored Book) Deal


"I can never understand how two men can write a book together; to me that's like three people getting together to have a baby."-- Evelyn Waugh

If are an expert in your field and have a story to tell, but lack the skill set to tell it, hiring a ghost writer an attractive solution.  By some estimates, up to 90% of books by celebrities and politicians are ghost written. For example, it is widely believed that Theodore Sorenson wrote John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Profiles in Courage,” for which JFK took both the prize and sole author credit for. Clearly, a talented writer, who knows the ins and outs of publishing, can be a great asset in helping a celebrity, politician, or expert in their field (but not an expert writer), go from concept to published author.   
 
While trust is an essential component of any relationship, without a written agreement laying out each other's responsibilities, compensation, credit, copyright ownership and an exit strategy you are ill-prepared for the challenges ahead. 
 
Good Contracts Make Good Writing Partners

The key reasons collaborations fail are lack of commitment, lack of communication and unrealistic expectations.  Contracts define the parties' responsibilities, rights, remedies, and if closely followed will help you avoid disputes.   The art of converting a deal into an effective agreement, requires you to address the following: (i) money (how much and when paid), (ii) business and creative decision-making authority, (iii) ownership, (iv) authorship credit, and (v) how to handle disputes.

How you choose to address these issues depends largely on your sense of fairness, your bargaining power, industry custom and practice, and, if you are represented by an attorney, their support and guidance in reaching a workable agreement.   And yes, sometimes it's not about the money, but what the book can do for you, your brand, or a cause that matters to you.  

The Law Presumes 50/50 Ownership

In the absence of a formal agreement, the way copyright law deals with authorship is black and white.  When two people blend their independently copyrightable contributions with the intent to write a book, or other creative work, each party is presumed to co-own the copyright.   That allows either party to publish the work without the other's permission.  If there is no written agreement, each co-author receives 50% of the profits. Judges do not apportion a larger or smaller share based on the collaborators' contributions, experience, reputation or seniority.   

Decision-making problems arise when there are multiple offers for the work or requests for exclusive rights and no written agreement exists between the parties.  If there is no written agreement, or the agreement fails to address the issue, an uncooperative co-author (or a deceased co-author's estate) can prevent the other party from licensing or selling book, film or other rights, as no publisher, or producer, will acquire rights on a non-exclusive basis.  If the book is a memoir, or an extension of one author's business or brand, then that party should be concerned about controlling business and creative decisions. Relinquishing control, or foregoing credit, however, does not necessarily mean the party giving up those rights receives a smaller financial interest.  Neither does it equate with lack accountability or transparency, provided those concerns are advanced by the party drafting - or negotiating - the agreement.

Ghost Written & "As Told To" Books 

If you are a ghostwriter of a memoir, or the writer of an "as told to" based on conversations with the subject, are you delivering a “warts and all” portrait?  Alternatively, is your role to put the best face on your subject’s story, without resorting to blatant deception?   You need to flesh this out.  In drafting the agreement, the subject's attorney will structure it so payment to the writer is tied to delivery and acceptance of the manuscript.   

Compensation is generally in the form of progress payments tied to satisfactory (and timely) delivery.  A portion of the writer's fee is paid on signing the ghostwriter or collaboration agreement.  A further payment will be due on delivery of an acceptable book proposal. If the book is is sold to a publisher, further payments will be tied to payments of the advance.  The greater you detail what is to be delivered, the less arbitrary the acceptance standards will be.

If you can't hold it together long enough to see the work published, the impact of a literary breakup can be devastating.  One such disaster scenario is the unilateral termination of "as told to" collaborations, such as the failed collaboration between Fay Vincent, the former commissioner of baseball, and writer David Kaplan, who worked without a contract, on the chance a publisher would acquire the book and pay them an advance.  The authors signed a deal with Little Brown, which promised to pay them an advance of $300,000, half of which was paid on signing, with balance due on delivery and acceptance of the complete manuscript.  After 90% of Vincent’s memoir was completed, Vincent withdrew the project from his publisher, which required him to repay the advance. However, he allowed Kaplan to keep his share of what had already been paid, or $60,000.  While Kaplan and Vincent had exchanged draft versions of a collaboration agreement before their relationship devolved into an intractable dispute, the issue before the court was whether Vincent could prevent Kaplan from publishing any of the work they created.  See, Kaplan v. Vincent, 937 F. Supp. 307 (SDNY 1996).  Because they were friends, Kaplan "did not believe a formal agreement was necessary."   If they had a formal agreement – as opposed to an oral understanding -- costly, time consuming and psychologically draining litigation would have been avoided.

The Elements of the Deal

Some of the deal points found in these agreements are quite simple and other are not.   Below are the major elements of a typical ghostwriter or collaboration agreement.  Whether you push and push, or settle for less, is between you and your attorney (or agent).  But, don't lose sight of  the fact a workable agreement, is often a reasonable agreement. 

Responsibilities. Be specific.  What must be delivered?  What is the date it must delivered by?  When you engage a writer to help you write a nonfiction book, generally, the writer will prepare a book proposal before completing the manuscript.  A book proposal is a detailed overview of the book, it contains the author’s credentials and information about how the book can be marketed, plus one or two sample chapters.  The proposal is the bait used to solicit interest from publishers. A nonfiction book proposal is usually written with the understanding that substantive work on the actual manuscript will not begin until there is an offer from a publisher. 

In some circumstances, where one party is more knowledgeable in publishing matters, it may be appropriate to grant that person the exclusive right to negotiate with agents and publishers. If you are not the one shopping the proposal, you will either reserve the right of final approval of the publishing contract, or predicate approval on receiving some minimally acceptable payment.  

Compensation.  If one of the parties has greater immediate financial needs -- whether money is needed to pay their rent or for travel-related research -- the other party can defer all or part their compensation from the initial advance.  As discussed above, it is customary for commercial publishers to advance a sum of future royalties to the authors when they sign a publishing agreement.  It's been likened to a pay day loan.  Once that money that has been recouped or refunded from future proceeds, the author who deferred can start getting paid, perhaps on more favorable terms than if they had not deferred payment.  Deferring payment is also a way for the subject of a book to obtain the services of a more experienced writer without having to go out of pocket for a large sum.  

Delivery dates in publishing are tied to publisher advances.   A missed deadline can result in cancellation of a book contract. That, in turn, can trigger an author's obligation to repay their advance.  Any agreement between collaborators should deal with the return of the portion of the advance paid to each collaborator.   

If the subject gets cold feet and pulls out (assuming both writer and subject are parties to a third party publishing agreement), stipulating in the collaboration agreement that the writer does not have to repay their portion of the advance will take some of the sting out of a failed collaboration. In other types of creative divorces, it may be possible to separate out each author's contribution, and transfer those rights to the original contributor. These strategies overlap, and are not at the exclusion of each other.

Keep in mind, even those who do not qualify as joint authors for copyright purposes (for example, individuals who made an important – but not copyrightable -- contribution to the manuscript) may still share in the profits and control of a work through an appropriate contractual arrangement.   

Credit. B

Writing credits take various forms.  The most common writing credits are: "by Subject and Writer" or "Subject with Writer" or "as told to Writer." By definition, if the book is ghostwritten, sole authorship credit for the work will be in the subject’s name only. In that case, the writer-for-hire must make peace with the fact the subject will receive sole authorship credit. Some might argue that ghostwriters should receive higher fees, because their names don’t appear on the finished book.   In the case of an equal in credit collaboration agreement, the size and prominence of names, as well as the order of names on the cover and title page, needs to be negotiated and agreed to in writing. 

Copyright.  A work for hire is a term defined by statute.  It can either be a work specially commissioned, or one created by a regular employee in the course of their employment. If you are the hiring party, it is especially important to clarify the nature of the writing services before you hire the person you wish to perform those services.  Later may be too late if your objective is to own all of the rights. After-the-fact attempts to classify a work as "for hire" often fail, which is why an effective contract includes a back-up copyright assignment.  

Death & Disability.  In the event of  either party's death, disability or an intractable disagreement, the agreement should have rules for hiring a new writing partner to complete the book. The agreement might specify that the authority to enter into contracts, and make creative decisions, vests solely in the subject's estate, or the writer (subject to a duty to account).  If a work is likely to be revised, the agreement should include a clause that allows the remaining author to revise the work and reduce the compensation paid to the other's heirs or representatives if it becomes necessary to hire an outside writer.  The agreement should also specify whether the person hired to complete the work is entitled to receive credit as an author.  

Control of Business & Editorial Matters. Control of business  affairs (e.g., who is responsible for seeking out and approving book deals?) and editorial matters (e.g., who has the authority to approve the final draft of the work or authorize revisions?) are critical issues. Unanimity may be required for certain decisions (e.g., approval of the initial publishing contract).  If one party retains approval rights over the manuscript, the other party should try to impose reasonable limitations, such as a chance to correct the manuscript within (e.g., 30) days after receipt of the other party’s comments.  Requiring the party with approval rights to provide detailed editorial reasons for any dissatisfaction, arguably, establishes objective criteria by which the writer can revise and have their contribution judged. 

Representations & Warranties.  From a ghostwriter, or "as told to" writer's perspective, the subject must provide representations (or promises) and warranties that they have or will: (i) provide access to pertinent documents, whether diaries or memorabilia, or business papers; (ii) provide reasonable access to themselves; (iii) use their best efforts to provide the writer with access to other individuals as may be required to write or finish the book; and (iv) cooperate in good faith with the writer in pursuing a publishing deal.  Special attention should also be paid to the indemnity clause.  An indemnity is a promise to reimburse the other party should they breach their warranties.  

Reciprocal representations and warranties are the norm as well.  They include: (i) no contractual commitments (e.g., a confidentiality agreement) exist that will interfere with the ability to perform their obligations; (ii) their contributions are original and will not violate any copyrights, proprietary rights, or rights of privacy, publicity, or constitute a libel against, or violate any other common law rights or other rights of any person or entity.  

If any liability arises because of a breach of either party's’ representations or warranties, the non-breaching party should be reimbursed for costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees), and damages paid out to others.   If you are a "for hire" writer, meaning, the copyright vests in the party that hired you, the agreement should require the hiring party to make best efforts to have the publisher name you as an "additional insured" on the publisher's media liability policy.  If a writer is relying on material provided them by the person who hired them, they should exclude this material from their own representations and warranties.   
TIP.  Since verifiable truth is a complete defense to libel (at least in the United States), your agreement should require that both parties retain copies of all recorded interviews, transcripts, books, notes, letters, emails and other research materials used in preparation of the book. If there is a lawsuit, you may be required to prove the truth of the statements that are published. (see §9.12.1, The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook (John Wiley & Sons).
Confidentiality & Non-Disparagement Clauses.

Confidentiality clauses are huge issues for celebrities and other public figures.  The downside of not dealing with confidentiality and non-disparagement issues is reputational harm.  Here's an example of the confidentiality clause from the unexecuted collaboration agreement between Fay Vincent and David Kaplan discussed above:  
All material whether oral or written contributed by either party for use in the manuscript, including materials and information provided prior to the execution hereof, shall be considered confidential, and neither party shall use any of such material or the facts or the information contained therein that have been provided with the parties' collaboration except as permitted hereunder or under an agreement with a third party to which both parties have previously agreed in writing, without the express prior written approval of the other party. In no event shall any confidential material otherwise be used by the party that has not furnished the same in the event there is any termination of the agreement. Specifically, Kaplan agrees not to participate in interviews, write any articles or books, or take any actions in or by which he discloses in any manner any of the unpublished information furnished to him hereunder, or any portion thereof, in connection with the work which is not publicly available or independently discovered by Kaplan, including any non-public aspect of the relationship of the parties involved in the preparation or the writing of the Work and/or its adaptation for use in any media whatsoever ....
An effective contract might also include a non-disparagement clause.   This is particularly important if you are a public figure, or represent a public figure.  
You agree that you will not (nor will you cause or cooperate with others to) publicly criticize, ridicule, disparage or defame Subject, his family, his business associates, company, directors, officers, shareholders, employees, agents, or attorneys, with or through any written or oral statement or image, whether or not they are made anonymously or through the use of a pseudonym. 
The subject's lawyer will also include a provision that requires the writer to agree to treat the ghostwriter agreement itself as confidential.   One common error is not to include exceptions, such as sharing the agreement with your agent, attorney, tax preparer, or as compelled by a court or  government agency (e.g., the IRS).  In terms of remedies for breach, in addition to injunctive relief (necessary because "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." -- Charles Spurgeon), the ghostwriter might be required to forego royalties, or repay amounts previously paid, but any such remedy will be subject to scrutiny by the courts and a possible finding of unenforceability.  

Conclusion

The time to address these issues is before the actual creative process begins. Although collaborators might not feel comfortable discussing long-term financial and other issues, an effective agreement deals with these matters up front, rather than after the brickbats start flying.       

© 2013 - 2022.  Lloyd J. Jassin  


Disclaimer: This article, parts of which were previously published, discusses general legal issues of interest and is not designed to give any specific legal advice concerning any specific circumstances. It is important that professional legal advice be obtained before acting upon any of the advice contained in this article.


 Lloyd J. Jassin is a publishing attorney and entertainment lawyer.  He counsels clients on contract, licensing, copyright, trademark, unfair competition, defamation, right of privacy and general corporate law matters. His practice includes drafting and negotiating publishing and entertainment industry contracts, intellectual property due diligence, trademark prosecution, dispute resolution and litigation. A graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School, he is co-author of The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook (John Wiley & Sons). 

Contact: Law Offices of Lloyd J. Jassin, The Paramount Bldg., Floor 12, 1501 Broadway, NYC, 10036, (tel.) 212-354-4442; (Email), or visit: http://www.copylaw.org. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LloydJassin
Thursday, January 8, 2015

How to Negotiate a Publishing Contract: A Checklist of Terms

Book Contract Negotiation Checklist

Standardized book publishing contracts wield considerable power in contract negotiations.  However, publishing contracts are not etched in stone. Book publishers, understanding the ebb and flow of the literary world, often adapt their contracts when asked. The crux of success in this process lies in discerning exactly what changes to ask for. 

When it comes to deciphering the complexities of a publishing agreement, authors often navigate these waters with different compasses. Some entrust their journey to literary agents, who, for a 15% commission, become lifelong partners in the transition from aspiring writer to published author. Others opt for the counsel of publishing attorneys, offering their services for a flat rate or hourly fee to guide them through the dense forest of legal terminology and publishing industry lingo.

However, once the initial excitement of securing a publishing deal wanes, a stark realization may emerge with startling clarity: signing the contract might have meant relinquishing your rights for an extraordinarily long period. In most cases, the publisher's exclusive control over a work spans the author's lifetime and extends a further 70 years beyond.

Caution is key. Publishing contracts are often laden with hidden traps and legal intricacies, particularly regarding royalties. It's a deceptive maze where the written word and its true meaning can diverge significantly. While major publishers don't typically set out to exploit authors, they are inclined to optimize their benefits, sometimes at the author's expense. As for smaller publishers, they range from benevolent guides to cunning adversaries.     

If chomping at the bit to sign a contract but cannot afford to hire a lawyer, visit Victoria Strauss' Writer Beware blog - a beacon of light in the "shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls." Writer Beware doesn't offer legal advice, but it does a stellar job exposing and raising awareness of questionable business practices in the literary world.   

Book Publishing Checklist

  I.   The Basics

      1.  Sign personally or on behalf of a corporation or LLC?
           -Why signing on behalf of a corporation or LLC may not offer as 
           much protection as you think
      2. Description of work (synopsis)
          -Tentative title, # of words, # of photos, intended audience, fiction, non-                    fiction

II.   Grant of Rights and Territory

      1. Is it a license of certain rights or an assignment of all rights? 
      2. Term of years or life of copyright? 
      3. Geographic scope
           a)     World?
           b)     Limited?  (e.g., the U.S., its possessions & Canada)
      4. Exclusive rights granted
           a)     Primary rights
                  -Hardcover
                  -Trade paperback
                  -Mass market
                  -eBook
          b)     Secondary (subsidiary rights)
                  -Periodical rights
                  1) First serial (right to publish pre-publication excerpts)
                  2) Second serial (right to publish excerpts after publication date)
                  -Book club
                  -Dramatic rights
                  -Film/TV rights
                  -Video Recordings / Audio Recordings
                  -Ebook rights
                  -Other digital versions (apps, enhanced eBooks)
                  -Podcast / Radio rights
                  -Merchandising (commercial tie-in) rights
                  -Future technologies
                  -Foreign translation rights
                  -British Commonwealth rights
        c)    Rights Reserved by Author - Film, Television, Dramatic, Merch         
        d)    Ask for audiobooks or foreign translation rights to revert if they go
                unexploited after a period of time

III.   Manuscript Delivery

    1. Delivery requirements:

          a) When due? Is the date realistic?
          b) What format? Specify the size of the paper, spacing, margins, etc.
          c) What to deliver?
               -Index (who pays?)
               -Number of illustrations, charts, photos (who pays?)
          d) Permissions
                The copyright permissions you receive from third parties 
                 must encompass the same rights you have granted to your publisher.
    
      2. Manuscript Acceptance
          a) Criteria: Satisfactory in "form and content" or at "sole discretion" of the  
            publisher? (This clause is often a litigation flashpoint)
          b) Termination for unsatisfactory manuscript (define "unsatisfactory")
          c) Termination for changed market conditions (potential deal breaker)
          d) When must the publisher either accept or reject? 
          e) Good faith duty to edit
          f) Return of the author's advance
                 -First proceeds clause
                 -False first proceeds clause
 
  IV. Copyright Ownership / Ownership of Series Titles

      1.  Whose duty is it to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office?
      2.  
Joint author?
      3. Work for hire? 
      4.  Rights typically reserved to the author
            -Film, television, dramatic rights, multimedia, merchandise licensing
      5.  Who owns the trademark to your series title

V. Author’s Representations & Warranties
      1. The author is the sole creator
      2. Not previously published; not in public domain
      3. Does not infringe any copyrights
      4. Does not invade the dual rights of privacy or publicity
      5. Not libelous or obscene
      6. No errors or omissions in any recipe, formula, or instructions
      7. Limited only to material delivered by the Author

VI. Indemnity & Insurance Provisions
      1. Typically, the author agrees to reimburse the publisher for losses & expenses
      2. Way to limit author exposure, e.g., author approval of settlements
      3. Can the publisher withhold legal expenses? Is money held in an interest-  
      bearing account
      4. Name the author as additional insured on the publisher's media perils policy 
      5.  Other drafting tips

VII. Publication
      1. Duty to publish within ___ months of delivery & acceptance
          -
Failure to publish triggers the author's right to terminate the agreement
      2. Specify which formats the book will in initially be published in
      3. Author's approval over the use of name and likeness
      4. Bound galleys / Library Reviews 
      5. Review copies
      6. Style or manner of publication
          a) Title consultation or approval?
          b) Book jacket approval (needed if the book is a brand extension of a                             service or business)  
        c) No changes to the manuscript galley proofs approved by the author
      
 
VIII. Advances & Royalties
      1. Advance against accumulated royalties
      2. When payable? (in halves, thirds, etc.)
      3. Royalties and subsidiary rights:
          a) Primary rights
                 -Hardcover royalties
                 -Trade paperback royalties
                 -Mass market royalties
                 -eBook royalties
                 -Royalty escalation(s)
                 -Bestseller bonus
                 -Royalty reductions
                  1) deep discount and special sales
                  2) mail-order sales
                  3) premium sales
                  4) small printing
                  5) slow-moving inventory
                  6) bundling with other works
          b) Secondary (subsidiary) rights royalty split                                           -                                -Serialization (first serial, second serial)
                 -Anthologies, selection rights
                 -Large print editions
                 -Hardcover
                 -Trade paperback
                 -Mass market
                 -Foreign translation
                 -British Commonwealth
                 -Future technology rights
.                 -Audio rights
                 -Motion picture/TV/live stage
                 -Merchandising
                 -Advertising
     4. Reasonable reserve for returns
          a) What percentage is withheld?
          b) When liquidated?
      5. What is royalty based on? (Retail price? If based on "net," define the term                   net carefully)
          a) At an average discount of 50%, 20% of net is the same as 10% of the list
          b) At an average discount of 40%, 16-2/3% of net is the same as 10% of the list
          c) At an average discount of 20%, 12-1/2% of net is the same as 10% of the list
       6. Recoupment of advance 

IX. Accounting Statements
      1. Annual, semiannual, or quarterly statements
      2. Payment dates
      3. Cross collateralize (good for publishers, bad for authors)
      4. Audit rights
      5. Limit on time to object to statements 
      6. Limit on time to bring legal action
      7. Examination on a contingency basis
      8. Pass through clause for subsidiary rights income
      9. Important! Termination for failure to account

X. Revised Editions
      1. Frequency
      2. By whom?
      3. 
Does the contractual in royalties correspond to the extent of changes                        made in comparison to the original author's contribution?
      4. Why is selling a revised edition bad for the author's bottom line?
      5. Reviser/Author credit

XI. Option
      1. Definition of next work
      2. When does the option period start?
      3. Definiteness of terms (i.e., is the publisher's option actually enforceable?)
      4. What type of option? (e.g., first look, matching, topping)

XII. Competing Works      
      1. How is competing work defined?      
      2. How long does non-compete run?
      3. Any reasonable accommodations?
      4. Special issues for fiction writers

XIII. Out-of-Print = Reversion of Rights
      1. How defined? (number of copies sold over __ accounting periods)
      2. Notice requirements
      3. Author's right to purchase digital files, inventory

XIV. Termination
      1. What triggers the reversion of rights?
          a) Failure to publish within (usually between 12 - 18) months of manuscript acceptance
          b) Failure to account to the author after due notice
          c) Failure to keep the book in print (see Section XIII)
      2. Survival of Author's representations and warranties
      3. Do licenses granted before termination survive
 
XII. Miscellaneous
      1. Choice of governing law
      2. Mediation or arbitration?
      3. Bankruptcy
      4. Literary agency clause
      5. Personal guarantee if the author is a business entity, not a human being.
                     

Related Blog Posts

Contact: 
Law Offices of Lloyd J. Jassin
The Paramount Building
1501 Broadway, Floor 12
New York, NY 10036
212-354-4442 (tel.)
jassin@copylaw.com (email)

Offices in New York and Northern N.J.


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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

200+ Songs That Reference Books (Spotify Playlist)

SONGS* ABOUT BOOKS & AUTHORS 
*and some Monty Python and Beat Poetry


Click Here for link to Spotify Playlist

Jason Anderson – A Book Laid On It's Binding
Angus & Julia Stone – A Book Like This
Benny's Head – A Bookish Girl
Adam's Plastic Pond – A Brief History of English Literature
The Gentle Waves – A Chapter in the Life of Mathew
Tom Waits – A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Television Personalities – A Picture Of Dorian Gray
Simon & Garfunkel – A Poem on the Underground Wall
Simon & Garfunkel – A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)
Nancy Wilson – A Sleepin' Bee
Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail
Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Bruce Springsteen – Adam Raised A Cain - 2010 Remastered Version
The Connells – Adjective Song
X – Adult Books
Johnny Flynn – After Eliot
Crash Test Dummies – Afternoons & Coffeespoons
Titus Andronicus – Albert Camus
Tom Waits – Alice
Norman Mailer – Alimony Blues
Bob Dylan – All Along The Watchtower
Jay Farrar – All In One
The Great American Novel – All the Sad Young Literary Men
Green Carnation – Alone
Tim Kasher – American Lit
The Hot Toddies – Anaïs Nin vs. The Pirates of Santa Cruz
PJ Harvey – Angelene
Stevie Nicks – Annabel Lee
Of Montreal – Art Snob Solutions
The Divine Comedy – Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
Roxy Music – Avalon
Langston Hughes – Ballad of the Gypsy
Serge Gainsbourg – Baudelaire
David Linx – Becoming Streams
The Divine Comedy – Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Bon Iver – Beth/Rest - Rare Book Room
Jay Farrar – Big Sur
Morrissey – Billy Budd
The Decemberists – Billy Liar
Smooth Toad – Bixby Canyon
Death Cab for Cutie – Bixby Canyon Bridge
Billy Bragg – Blake's Jerusalem
Blossom Dearie – Blossom's Blues
Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
Bob Hope Bing Crosby – Bob's Book - Put It There, Pal
Lana Del Rey – Body Electric
Jimmy LaFave – Bohemian Cowboy Blues
Arkells – Book Club
A Smile and a Ribbon – Book Cover
Rick Danko – Book Faded Brown
John Hiatt – Book Lovers
Steven Wright – Book Store
Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends
Eddie From Ohio – Bookends
Library Voices – Bookish
Joy Kills Sorrow – Books
The Ergs – Books About Miles Davis
Absofacto – Books About Nothing
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's – Books About Trains
Hüsker Dü – Books About UFOs
The Tandoori Knights – Books And Ribs
XTC – Books Are Burning - 2001 - Remaster
Maximo Park – Books From Boxes
Camera Obscura – Books Written for Girls
Ty Segall – Booksmarts
Sonic Youth – Bookstore (Mote) - 8 Track Demo
Harrison Hudson – Bookstore Girl
Jeff Landeen – Bookstore In Nepal
Weezer – Brave New World
Reagan Youth – Brave New World
Graham Forster – Breakfast At Tiffanys
Jay Farrar – Breathe Our Iodine
Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes
Frightened Rabbit – Bright Pink Bookmark
Dick Hyman – Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Modest Mouse – Bukowski
Tom Russell – Bukowski # 1
The Menzingers – Burn After Writing
Honig – Burning Down Bookshops
Third Eye Blind – Burning Man
Jay Farrar – California Zephyr
Lou Reed (Featuring Laurie Anderson) – Call On Me
Suzanne Vega – Calypso
Bob Weir – Cassidy
Horace Pinker – Catch Twenty Two
Guns N' Roses – Catcher In The Rye
Cabins – Catcher In The Rye
Red Directors – Catcher In The Rye
Sammy Walker – Catcher In The Rye
The Boo Radleys – Charles Bukowski Is Dead
Cell:Adore – Chekhov's Gun
Leonard Cohen – Chelsea Hotel #2
John Cale – Child's Christmas In Wales
Van Morrison – Cleaning Windows
Guy Clark – Cold Dog Soup
Charles Bukowski – Conusmmation Of Grief Read By Charles Bukowski
Mary Shelley – Copyright Notice 2012
Tori Amos – Cornflake Girl
Bobby Bare Jr – Daddy What If
Dipsomaniacs – Daddy's on a Book Tour
Patricia Barber – Dansons La Gigue
Tired Pony – Dead American Writers
Eric Taylor – Dean Moriarty
The Hardy Boys – Dear Seamus Heaney
Son House – Death Letter Blues
John Wesley Harding – Death Of The Ghostwriter
The Avett Brothers – Denouncing November Blue (Uneasy Writer)
Reckless Kelly – Desolation Angels
Bob Dylan – Desolation Row
Lou Reed – Dime Store Mystery
Rabbitt – Dingleys Bookshop
U2 – Dirty Day
Steve Earle – Dixieland
Mississippi Bones – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Matches – Dog-Eared Page
Gordon Lightfoot – Don Quixote
Kelly Joe Phelps – Don Quixote's Windmill
Madeleine Peyroux – Don't Pick A Fight With A Poet
The Police – Don't Stand So Close To Me
The Real Tuesday Weld – Dorothy Parker Blue
The Damned – Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
Say Hi – Dramatic Irony
U2 – Drunk Chicken/America
Munny & the Cameraman – E.B. White
Samo Salamon – E.E. Cummings
Lou Reed – Edgar Allan Poe
Suzanne Vega – Edith Wharton's Figurines
Timesbold – ee cummings
Admiral Freebee – Einstein Brain
Brad Mehldau – Elegy For William Burroughs And Allen Ginsberg
Traffic – Empty Pages
Neal McCarthy – Esperanza (English Version)
Emmylou Harris with The Band – Evangeline
The Gaslight Anthem – Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Every Day I Write The Book
Jill Tracy – Evil Night Together
Joal Ryan – Ezra Pound
Charles Mingus – Fables of Faubus
Bob Nanna – Fahrenheit 451
Johnny Cash – Family Bible
Destroyer – Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Sea of Tears)
Marina and The Diamonds – Fear and Loathing
Lagwagon – Feedbay of Truckstop Poetry
Ten Foot Pole – Fiction
Belle & Sebastian – Fiction
Belle & Sebastian – Fiction Reprise
Buzzcocks – Fiction Romance - 1996 Digital Remaster
Jay Farrar – Final Horrors
William Fitzsimmons – First Page of Kerouac's Tristessa
Amores Vigilantes – Five Blocks With Ferlinghetti
Tom Waits – Flash Pan Hunter/Intro
Gabrielle Chiararo – Flaubert Chante
James Blake – Footnotes
Tom Waits – Frank's Wild Years
Ira Marlowe – Frankenstein The Matchmaker
The Clean – Franz Kafka At The Zoo
Ben Hermanski – Friends and Bookshelves
Case Studies – From Richard Brautigan
Aimee Mann – Ghost World
Garland Jeffreys – Ghost Writer
RJD2 – Ghostwriter
Grand Hallway – Giant Novels
Patti Witten – Goin' Back To Moline
Bright Eyes – Gold Mine Gutted
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra – Gone With The Wind
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
John Cale – Graham Greene
Laurie Anderson – Gravity's Angel
Klaxons – Gravity's Rainbow
The Gaslight Anthem – Great Expectations
Allen Ginsberg – Gregory Corso's Story
Stefano Guzzetti – Haiku
John Grant – Haiku Fourteen B
Dave Pietro – Hamartia
Jack Kerouac – Hard Hearted Old Farmer
John Vanderslice – Harlequin Press
Cold War Kids – Harold Bloom
Little Green Cars – Harper Lee
The Anniversary – Hart Crane
Poe – Haunted
Sparklehorse – Heart Of Darkness
Carly Simon – Hello Big Man
John Cale – Hemingway
Coastwest Unrest – Henry Miller Library Incident
The Sundays – Here's Where The Story Ends
10,000 Maniacs – Hey Jack Kerouac
The Measure [sa] – Historical Fiction
Sonic Youth – Hits Of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)
Bill Morrissey – Holden's Blues
Weezer – Holiday
R.E.M. – Hollow Man
Cornershop – Hong Kong Book Of Kung Fu
Kenny Loggins – House At Pooh Corner
The Measure [sa] – How Do You Spell 'sartre'?
Florence + The Machine – Howl
Solander – Huckleberry Finn
Casey Donahew Band – Hunter S. Thompson (Rocketship)
Frank Sinatra – I Could Write A Book
Miles Davis Quintet – I Could Write A Book
Procol Harum – I Keep Forgetting
Frank Turner – I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
Bodi Bill – I Like Holden Caulfield - Two In One Version
Harpers Bizarre – I Love You, Alice B. Toklas
Gregory Corso – I Met This Guy Who Died
Nick Lowe – I Read A Lot
Jets To Brazil – I Typed For Miles
The Trouble With Templeton – I Wrote A Novel
Dave's True Story – I'll Never Read Trollope Again
Blossom Dearie – I'm Hip
Matt the Electrician – I'm Sorry Hemingway
Father John Misty – I'm Writing a Novel
William S. Burroughs – Ich Bin Von Kopf Bis Fuss Auf Liebe Eingestellt (Falling In Love Again)
Sam Phillips – If I Could Write
The Band Perry – If I Die Young
The Weakerthans – Illustrated Bible Stories for Children
Sonic Youth – In The Mind Of The Bourgeois Reader
Meg & Dia – Indiana
Hold Tight! – Irony Is For Fuckers
The Owls – Isaac Bashevis Singer
Boardroom Heroes – Ishmael
Billy Koumantzelis – Jack Kerouac’s Morning Beer Shot
Manic Street Preachers – Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
Aimee Mann – Jacob Marley's Chain
Pernice Brothers – Jacqueline Susann
William Parker – James Baldwin To The Rescue
Steve Hackett – Jane Austen's Door
Ron Sexsmith – Jazz At The Bookstore
Noah And The Whale – Jocasta
Judith Holofernes – John Irving
Teddy Thompson – Jonathan's Book
The Clox – Jules Verne
Doc Cheatham – Just An Old Manuscript
Graham Parker – Just Like Hermann Hesse
Pete Shelley – Keats Song
Morphine – Kerouac
Dizzy Gillespie – Kerouac
The Appleseed Cast – Kilgore Trout
Born Ruffians – Kurt Vonnegut
Richard Séguin – L'ange vagabond
The Clancy Brothers – Lady Chatterley
Dire Straits – Lady Writer
Graham Parker – Last Bookstore in Town
TimLee3 – Last Page Of The Book
Marilyn Monroe – Lazy
Sonic Youth – Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)
Field Music – Let's Write A Book
Hunter S. Thompson – Letter To William S. Burroughs And Ode To Jack Hunter S. Thompson
My Morning Jacket – Librarian
Final Fantasy – Library
Reina del Cid & the Cidizens – Library Girl
Arctic Monkeys – Library Pictures
Stars – Life 2: The Unhappy Ending
Ella Fitzgerald – Like Young
As The Poets Affirm – Literary Non-Fiction
Jose Vanders – Literature Lovers
The World War I's – Little Librarian
Belle & Sebastian – Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
Cannonball Adderley – Lolita
Ennio Morricone – Lolita
Lana Del Rey – Lolita
Throw Me The Statue – Lolita
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Long Hard Book
John Parish – Longfellow Forlorn
The Pogues – Lorca's Novena
Billy Kyle – Lorna Doone Shortbread
Paper Bird – Lost Boys
Roger Waters – Lost Boys Calling
Woody Allen – Lost Generation
Franz Ferdinand – Love and Destroy - Live
Jimmy Buffett – Love In The Library
The Mountain Goats – Lovecraft In Brooklyn
Jay Farrar – Low Life Kingdom
John Cale – Macbeth
Ciccone Youth – Macbeth
Kinky Friedman – Marilyn and Joe
Tom Waits – Medley: Jack & Neal / California Here I Come
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Memoir
Descendents – 'Merican
Léo Mérie – Mexico City Blues
Zero 7 – Milton At Midnight
Led Zeppelin – Misty Mountain Hop
Steve Goodman – Moby Book
Led Zeppelin – Moby Dick
Ciccone Youth – Moby-Dik
Pretty Girls Make Graves – Modern Day Emma Goldman
Eartha Kitt – Monotonous
Audrey Hepburn – Moon River
James Wesley Stemple – More Book Covers
Stereophonics – Mr. Writer
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Mrs. Hemingway
Gateway District – Murakami Novels
Emmylou Harris – My Antonia
Bob Dylan – My Back Pages - Remastered
Patti Smith – My Blakean Year
Stars – My Favourite Book (Flack)
Duke Ellington – My Little Brown Book
Warren Zevon – My Ride's Here
American Music Club – Myopic Books
Hailey Wojcik – Nabokov's Butterfly
The Homewreckers – Nancy Drew
The Weather Underground – Neal Cassady
Fatboy Slim – Neal Cassady Starts Here
The Doobie Brothers – Neal's Fandango
J Church – New York Times Book Review
Ernest Hemingway – Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
The Black Crowes – Nonfiction
George Gershwin – Novelette In Fourths
Gregory Alan Isakov – O' City Lights
Lana Del Rey – Off To The Races
The Doubleclicks – Oh, Mr. Darcy
Woodpecker! – Old Photos of Coney Island in the Queens Museum v. Coney Island This Afternoon
Lou Reed – Old Poe
Tom Waits – On The Road
Jay Farrar – One Fast Move Or I'm Gone
John Prine – Onomatopoeia
Kenny Clarke & His 52nd Street Boys – Oop-Bop Sh-Bam
Natalie Merchant – Ophelia
Andrew Bird – Orpheo Looks Back
The Donkeys – Orwell's Town
Company of Thieves – Oscar Wilde
Monty Python – Oscar Wilde
Grand Archives – Oslo Novelist
Lagwagon – Owen Meaney
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Patty Larkin – Pablo Neruda
Sons Of The Never Wrong – Pablo Neruda
The Mouse Folk – Paperback
Tegan And Sara – Paperback Head
Paul McCartney – Paperback Writer - Live At Citi Field
John Cale – Paris 1919
Mark Murphy – Parker's Mood
The Chills – Part Past Part Fiction
Sonic Youth – Pattern Recognition
The Clientele – Paul Verlaine
Ramones – Pet Cemetery
The Young Fresh Fellows – Picture Book
Bastille – Poet
Lizzie West – Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Woman (Thank You)
Adriana Calcanhotto – Portrait of Gertrude (Excerpt from "Gertrude Stein Reads From Her Poetry")/Sieben Frühe Lieber
The Shins – Pressed In A Book
The Smiths – Pretty Girls Make Graves - 2011 Remastered Version
Aaron Diehl – Prologue
Blonde Redhead – Publisher
Patty Larkin – Pundits & Poets
Belle & Sebastian – Put The Book Back On The Shelf
Ken McLeod – Quotation: Douglas Adams
Counting Crows – Rain King
Led Zeppelin – Ramble On
Van Morrison – Rave On, John Donne
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – Raymond Chandler Evening
I Am Robot And Proud – Read & Re-read
The Teardrop Explodes – Read It In Books
Morrissey – Reader Meet Author
McGuinness Flint – Reader To Writer - 1996 Digital Remaster
Idlewild – Readers & Writers
John Cooper Clarke – Readers Wives
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Reading in Bed
Jefferson Airplane – Rejoyce
Stephen Scott – Renaissance Suite: 1. The Harlem Renaissance
Muse – Resistance
Scissor Sisters – Return To Oz
Paul Simon – Rewrite
Joan Baez – Rexroth's Daughter
Simon & Garfunkel – Richard Cory
Steve Harley – Riding The Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Donovan – Riki Tiki Tavi [*]
Massimo Volume – Robert Lowell
Chariots of Eggs – Robert Ludlum
Thin Lizzy – Roisin Dubh
Maud Gonne – Roman A Clef
Lump Sum – roman à clef
Parade – Romance Morlock
Honest Bob And The Factory-To-Dealer Incentives – Romance Novel Guy
Tonio K. – Romeo And Jane
The Killers – Romeo And Juliet
Lou Reed – Romeo Had Juliette
Dexter Romweber's Infernal Racket – Romeo is Bleeding
Peter Wolf – Romeo Is Dead
Steve Forbert – Romeo's Tune
Futures – Sal Paradise
The Crookes – Sal Paradise
Jay Farrar – San Francisco
Bombay Show Pig – Sancho Panza
Hello Saferide – Sancho Panza
The Passion of Anna – Sartre - Jean-Paul Sartre
Sufjan Stevens – Saul Bellow
Audio Recording Club – Scenes From Your Favorite Mystery Novel
Nirvana – Scentless Apprentice
XTC – Science Friction - CBS Demo
Jay Farrar – Sea Engines
The Waterboys – September 1913
U2 – Shadows And Tall Tress
Fink – Shakespeare
The Mahones – Shakespeare Road
Ed Sanders – Shakespeare's 57th Sonnet
The Smiths – Shakespeare's Sister
Robert Lund – Shakespearean Pie
Peter Bradley Adams – She Has to Come Down
Television Personalities – She's Never Read My Poems
Tom Waits – Shiver Me Timbers
Don Cherry – Siddhartha
Al Stewart – Sirens Of Titan
Joni Mitchell – Slouching Towards Bethlehem
The Books – Smells Like Content
The Strokes – Soma
The Strokes – Soma
Barry Adamson – Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Decemberists – Song for Myla Goldberg
Stephane Furic – Song Of The Open Road
The Decemberists – Sonnet
Patti Smith – Spell
R.E.M. – Star Me Kitten - Featuring W.S. Burroughs
Gregory Isaacs – Story Book Children
Belle & Sebastian – Storytelling
Leon Russell – Stranger in a Strange Land
Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction
The Pogues – Streams Of Whiskey
The Hold Steady – Stuck Between Stations
Lee Konitz – Subconscious Lee
Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues
Björk – Sun In My Mouth
Nickel Creek – Sweet Afton
Zella Day – Sweet Ophelia
The Antlers – Sylvia
Ryan Adams – Sylvia Plath
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil
The Beards – T.S. Eliot
Cream – Tales Of Brave Ulysses
Bob Dylan – Tangled up in Blue
The Police – Tea In The Sahara - 2003 Stereo Remastered Version
Matmos – Teen Paranormal Romance
Deb Talan – Tell Your Story Walking
Blur – Tender
Broadcast – Tender Buttons [Chosen by Warp co-founder Steve Beckett]
Josh Tillman – Tender Is The Night in Paperback
The Cannanes – Tennyson
Freedom Fighters – Textbook Editor
Grateful Dead – That's It For The Other One
Prince – The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
L.K.Potts – The Ballad of Poker Alice
Bluegrass - Various Artists – The Battle of Evermore
Phil Ochs – The Bells
Monty Python – The Book Ad
Lambchop – The Book I Haven't Read
Talking Heads – The Book I Read
Pere Ubu – The Book Is On The Table - Single Version
Julie Doiron – The Book Song
The Divine Comedy – The Booklovers
Frances England – The Books I Like to Read
Dirt Farm – The Bookstore
Johnny Flynn – The Box
Azure Blue – The Catcher in the Rye
Simon & Garfunkel – The Dangling Conversation
Jimmy Durante – The Day I Read A Book
John Adams – The Dharma at Big Sur, Part II: Sri Moonshine
Nicola Conte – The Dharma Bums
Frank Turner – The Fisher King Blues
Arthur & Yu – The Ghost Of Old Bull Lee
Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Nanci Griffith – The Giving Tree
Brad Ross – The Great American Novelist
The Anniversary – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
The Go-Betweens – The House That Jack Kerouac Built
David Bowie – The Jean Genie
Erik Enocksson – The Joy of D.H. Lawrence
Ed Sanders – The Keats Negative Capability Letter
Saxon Shore – The Last Days Of A Tragic Allegory
Center Divide – The Last Temptation of Odysseus
Justin Wells – The Last Temptation of Odysseus
Hefner – The Librarian
Swingin' Utters – The Librarians Are Hiding Something
Roudoudou – The Lover and His Lass
Roudoudou – The Lusty Horn Song
The Fugs – The National Haiku Contest - 2006 Remastered
The Next Great American Novelist – The Next Great American Novelist
June Tabor – The Old Man's Song - Don Quixote
Aztec Two-Step – The Persecution And Restoration Of Dean Moriarty [On The Road]
Jean Ritchie – The Printer's Bride
Mark Lanegan – The Raven
Nothing Ever Stays – The Revenge of Holden Caufield
PJ Harvey – The River
Chris Stamey – The Room Above the Bookstore
Muse – The Small Print
The Alarm (IRS) – The Stand - Long Version
Rosanne Cash – The Summer I Read Collette
Fionn Regan – The Underwood Typewriter
Jay Farrar – The Void
Eugene Mirman – The Will To Whatevs Book Tour And An Amazing Boy With AspergerÕs
Modest Mouse – The World At Large
Jay Farrar – These Roads Don't Move
Say Hi – They Write Books About This Sort of Thing
Spoon – This Book Is A Movie
Belle & Sebastian – This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
The Pogues – Thousands Are Sailing
The Tiger Lillies – To Be or Not to Be
The 5 Browns – To Kill A Mockingbird: “Main Title”
Brobdingnagian Bards – Tolkien (The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings)
Vashti Bunyan – Train Song
Eileen Laverty – Tread Softly
The Smashing Pumpkins – Tristessa
Horslips – Trouble (With A Capital T)
Künnecke & Smukal – Truman Capote
Robyn Hitchcock – TS Eliot Rap - Spoken Word
Anny Celsi – 'Twas Her Hunger Brought Me Down
Magic Arm – Type Endlessly
Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses
Donovan – Under The Greenwood Tree
The Pines – Ungrammatical
Dionne Warwick – Valley Of The Dolls [Theme From]
The Velvet Underground – Venus In Furs
Charles Trenet – Verlaine
The Scattered Pages – Virginia Woolf
Indigo Girls – Virginia Woolf
Vic Chesnutt – Wallace Stevens
Trampled By Turtles – Walt Whitman
Billy Bragg – Walt Whitman's Niece
The Black Heart Procession – Wasteland
Kind of Like Spitting – We Are Both Writers
Alela Diane – We Are Nothing
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – We Call Upon The Author
The Dandy Warhols – Welcome To The Monkey House
Galt MacDermot – What A Piece Of Work Is Man
Cornershop – What Did the Hippie Have In His Bag?
Lowe, Nick – When I Write The Book
Eddie From Ohio – When The Last Page Is Turned
Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
Green Day – Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
James Brown – Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? - Single Version
Phil Ochs – William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed
Jay Farrar – Williamine
Belle & Sebastian – Wrapped Up In Books
Star Wheel Press – Write a Novel (Modern Loss)
Sean Flinn & The Royal We – Write Me A Novel
Peter Bjorn And John – Writer's Block
Just Jack – Writer's Block
PT Walkley – Writers Block
South of France – Writers Block
Lloyd Cole – Writers Retreat!
Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
White Flag – Wuthering Heights
The Cranberries – Yeats' Grave
Ken Nordine – Yellow
Bo Diddley – You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover
Bob Dylan – You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Young Adult Fiction