I’m 100% in favor of pay transparency and I believe that shrouding it in mystery only helps the publisher/employer. I was under the impression that publishers usually already know what an author was paid for a previous book (given that they seem to know when an author fails to earn out, regardless of whether its the same publisher or a different one), so don’t see how keeping quiet is likely to help the authors.
They don’t always know, though. They can guess, from sales numbers and other indicators, but a lot of times the information is secret enough. I can see the argument both ways.
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I’m 100% in favor of pay transparency and I believe that shrouding it in mystery only helps the publisher/employer. I was under the impression that publishers usually already know what an author was paid for a previous book (given that they seem to know when an author fails to earn out, regardless of whether its the same publisher or a different one), so don’t see how keeping quiet is likely to help the authors.
They don’t always know, though. They can guess, from sales numbers and other indicators, but a lot of times the information is secret enough. I can see the argument both ways.