BTW Talks With New AAP Head Tom Allen

Tom Allen

On May 1, Tom Allen succeeded Pat Schroeder as president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers. As Allen settles into his new role as head of AAP, the book industry is facing a number of challenges and opportunities, among them the growing role of digital technology, the Google copyright case, the development of standards to reduce publishing's impact on the environment, and the revival of efforts to repeal Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

As a former six-term congressman from Maine and a Rhodes Scholar with a law degree from Harvard, Allen is well-versed in the ways of Washington politics and appears ready for the challenges that await him. "I'm thrilled to be here," Allen told BTW in a recent telephone interview. "I know Congress, and I know how it works. I can bring a high level of knowledge of the underlying issues and the personalities. I spent 12 years serving the public. It's a real advantage having lived through a whole host of issues and shifting moods."

Perhaps the most high profile issue now facing the publishing industry is the challenge to the settlement in the Google copyright case. In October 2008, the Authors Guild, AAP, and Google announced a settlement agreement in a class-action suit brought by book authors and the Authors Guild and a separate lawsuit filed by five publishers representing AAP's membership. The lawsuits, filed in fall 2005, challenged Google's plan to digitize, search, and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission of the copyright owner.

The settlement would allow Google to display books online and sell access to individual texts as well as subscriptions to its collection. Proceeds would be divided among Google, authors, and publishers. Last month, however, the Justice Department launched an inquiry into the antitrust implications of the suit, although, as the New York Times noted, this does not mean the Justice Department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. In addition, the deadline for authors to opt out of the settlement and for other parties to oppose it or file briefs was extended for four months beyond the prior May 5 deadline.

Allen said that finalizing approval of the Google settlement is an important priority. He stressed that the settlement would provide the public with access to books that have been out of print and would keep them more easily available.

"The delay is not really a surprise given the complexity of the settlement," Allen said. "The more authors and other rights holders understand it, the more comfortable they will be with the settlement. People can look at it and say, I don't like one point here or there, but Google has the capacity to make an extraordinary number of books available to the public.... There were bound to be objections, there were bound to be concerns, but this is a good, solid agreement between the three parties. I think it works."

Another key initiative for AAP is the repeal of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, said Allen. In early April, AAP joined its sister organizations in the Campaign for Reader Privacy in launching the latest phase in a five-year campaign to restore reader privacy safeguards that were stripped away by the USA Patriot Act. (Other campaign members are the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, and PEN American Center.) Since 2003, the Department of Justice has used its expanded power under the Patriot Act to issue more than 200 secret search orders under Section 215 and more than 190,000 NSLs. "I always supported getting rid of [Section 215] as a member of Congress," Allen said.

Protecting free speech is a core initiative of AAP, Allen continued. The Freedom to Read Committee, which protects the free marketplace of ideas for American publishers, and the International Freedom to Publish Committee, which was one of the first groups in the world formed specifically to defend and broaden the freedom of the written word, are "central to who we are and what we believe in," he said. "We will continue to work on that."

How the publishing world adapts to changing technology is another key, long-term initiative for AAP, said Allen. As more content is delivered and read in a digital format, it brings up challenges like piracy, marketing, and how people take in content. "Will it be the Kindle or the Sony e-Reader or in another form?" he said. "The world is changing, and going forward it creates some interesting challenges for the publishing industry on how to adapt."

AAP is also focused on creating a greener publishing industry. In June 2005, AAP established the Paper Issues Working Group to provide its members with a forum to discuss environmental issues relating to the production of paper used in books, and a conduit for obtaining concise and accurate information in this area. The group meets regularly with various constituents with interests in book production and the environment, and last year "created the Handbook on Book Paper and the Environment, which contained a variety of suggestions on how to be more eco-friendly," Allen said. "There are a number of ways to drive down waste."

Overall, a diverse publishing industry is a healthy industry, Allen said, which is why small and independent presses are important to the well-being of publishing and the free flow of information. "Any industry that is concentrated among a few large [companies] will lack diversity," Allen explained. "Small publishers have a diversity of titles that is fundamental. Independent booksellers are the same way, they are vital for the industry -- they create an enormous amount of interest and buzz among the books they sell." --David Grogan