Court battle for royalties divides men behind ‘experiment’

An unhappy epilogue is being written to the unlikely success story behind the book that shook up the Christian publishing world.

The three men who joined forces to publish The Shack when no one else wanted to—going on to see the novel sell more than 12 million copies in three years—are now in a legal fight about the book’s profits.

Author William P. Young has filed a suit against Brad Cummings and Wayne Jacobsen—who helped him rework his original manuscript and founded Windblown Media to publish the book under their start-up imprint.

The pair has countersued, while Hachette Book Group (HBG)—whose Christian publishing division is FaithWords, and which assumed distribution of The Shack in 2008—has also gone to court, seeking clarity on where the royalties should go.

According to the Los Angeles Times, which broke news of the dispute in July, at the center of the fallout are allegations of “improper accounting practices, millions of dollars in missing royalties, contract breaches and copyright disputes.”

A spokesperson for HBG said that the breakdown in the relationship between Young and the Windblown team, “with each party making different claims related to the publication and distribution of the book,” had prompted the company to file an interpleader action in court.

This meant that HBG had deposited into federal court the proceeds from The Shack over which the two parties were “battling and asked the court to decide how the proceeds should be divided. HBG hopes that the court will facilitate an efficient and early resolution of the Young-Windblown dispute.”

The litigation had not affected the company’s activities or distribution of The Shack, the spokesperson added.

Jacobsen, president of Windblown Media and an author himself, said in a statement that the conflict with Young was “a tragic chapter in the collaboration that produced such a wonderful book about God’s love, forgiveness and passion for relationship.”

Cummings and he had worked on The Shack at Young’s insistence, he said. “Our time of collaboration in writing, publishing and distributing this book over three years was one of the most joy-filled and spiritually enriching times of my life. Unfortunately, a collaboration works only as long as each one in it puts the relationship first.”

Young had cut off communication 18 months ago “for reasons that are still unclear to me,” Jacobsen added. “Over the next year his new management team began to make an increasing set of demands and accusations. We have made numerous attempts to discuss this with Paul and failing that, have offered to have others mediate this conflict (both mutual friends and professional mediators), to address any way he didn’t feel fairly treated and to deal with whatever personal issues compromised our friendship.

“Every attempt has been refused without comment. ... The decision to resolve our differences legally is Paul’s alone, and I have been forced into an environment that violates everything I love about relationships and all that Scripture asks believers to do to deal with our differences.

“I did everything I knew to do to avoid litigation, but in the end I have to respond to Paul’s charges in that venue to protect the commitments we have with others, based on his assurances to us.”

Jacobsen said that “nothing in my lifetime has brought greater confusion or grief to myself and my family, and I continue to pray and hope for the opportunity to resolve this in the same spirit of friendship and brotherhood that began this journey.”

God was not “for us or against our brother Paul,” Jacobsen said. “He is for a resolution steeped in the very things we wrote about together—love, grace, truth, forgiveness and laying down our lives for each other. I’m sure Jesus yearns for a full reconciliation, but lacking that, would at least appreciate it if we could find a gracious resolution and a peaceful parting.”

Writing of The Shack’s success in a guest column in Christian Retailing in 2009, Cummings and Jacobsen said they believed part of the success of the book was because they had not followed Christian publishing norms.

“People are tired of the same old, same old,” they wrote. “But, when dollars are on the line, the currency of courage tends to get ignored. ... The Shack was our little experiment. With nothing to lose (and nothing to really prove), we could risk what others wouldn’t.”

The book had “caused a lot of industry veterans to rethink their strategies,” the pair noted. “It has rekindled the fires for why they went into publishing—to tell great stories that can capture hearts and imaginations and dare to dream that such things can help change the world.”

Young’s attorney, Michael Anderson, at the Los Angeles offices of business law firm Loeb & Loeb, told Christian Retailing that the suits filed concerned more than 
$8 million in royalties. Young’s contract had promised him 50 cents per paperback sale and $1 per hardcover sale, and a third of net profits.

“After we did an accounting, we recognized that he wasn’t getting paid anywhere near what he should,” said Anderson, noting that the court had ordered an attempt at mediation before November.

Brian Flagler, principal of the Flagler Law Group in Eugene, Ore., and a consultant to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, told Christian Retailing: “Based on what I have read of this situation, it highlights a principle I share with my firm’s Christian publishing clients: Books can have long lives, and therefore publishing agreements have longer lives than most contracts.

“Developing the organizational discipline to clearly and proactively document publishing rights and copyright ownership for all of your intellectual property can substantially reduce the risk of expensive disputes and relational friction down the road. Clear documentation provides the added benefit of increasing the value of publishing rights to a potential buyer if you ever choose to sell your company, and it frees your house to invest in distributing your content through new media channels.”

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