In the past few days, a human rights article has sparked a lot of discussion in the book publishing industry.
On November 15, at 14:00, a former employee of Living Character Culture, who goes by the pseudonym Yi Xiaoyu, posted an article on Douban titled “Editor: Blood-sucking “Living Character Culture” PUA Staff Fraud and Manuscript Washing No Limits”, accusing the publishing company “Living Character Culture” of violating the Labor Contract Law, stealing the author’s autograph rights, and manuscript washing.
Living Word Culture then refuted Yi Xiaoyu’s article on the publication process of his own version of the book “Raspberry”.
From the 15th to the 19th, the two sides exchanged views, and new claims and evidence were constantly presented, which triggered public discussions on the publishing industry, copyright and other issues.
“Compensation for Contributions” or “Attribution”?
In late October and early November 2018, Yi Xiaoyu applied for an editorial position at Living Word Culture, which finally decided to hire her. Yi Xiaoyu was in the process of finishing up a full-length novel, and due to health reasons, she joined the writing of Moon Over Water before she arrived.
In the four months before she joined the project in March of the following year, Yi Xiaoyu said that she had conducted market research, selected materials, and planned the concept. Both parties mentioned that Yi Xiaoyu participated in meetings with producers, was provided with interview materials, and that she submitted outlines, but was not paid for her work.
In March 2019, Yi Xiaoyu officially joined the company. According to Yi Xiaoyu’s testimony, she was offered a six-month individual trial contract, which did not comply with China’s labor laws, and was paid “several thousand dollars less than agreed upon”. “The book is now being published.
According to Yi Xiaoyu, although the writing of the book was halted several times due to the rescheduling of the movie’s release, she continued to work on the book until it was restarted. Subsequently, Living Word Culture identified Yi Xiaoyu as the author of the manuscript and moved forward with the book, and Yi provided photographic evidence that her name had indeed been placed in the author’s column.
On September 14, 2020, Li Xuejun informed Yi Xiaoyu that the quality of the original manuscript was not up to par and that new interviewees had been added to the manuscript, so he could not sign it. The new manuscript, according to Yi Xiaoyu, did not differ much in content from her first draft, and the structure of the article was very similar to the version she had previously provided.
The new interviewers that Li Xuejun mentioned were exactly the ones that she had told Yi Xiaoyu that she could ignore.
In October 2020, when the book was published, Yi Xiaoyu found that the cover bylines were “pedestrian culture” and “movable type culture,” and no information about Yi Xiaoyu could be found on the copyright page at the end of the book.
All now contacted Li Xuejun, the general manager of Living Character Culture, on November 17. In Li Xuejun’s opinion, Yi Xiaoyu’s post questioning the culture of the living word is “a very personal behavior”. The first wave of articles she posted had a lot of imaginary stories in them, and I think it’s hard for us to refute them one by one. “Li Xuejun said he has been overwhelmed by this two days, for the current situation of the living word culture will have a unified tone after the public.
In the past few years, there have been a number of companies that have been working on this project. According to the statement, Yi Xiaoyu’s first draft had many flaws, and the quality was not up to publishing standards, and his content was not used in the final draft. But in this response, there is still no mention of why Yi Xiaoyu was not consulted immediately after the quality of the first draft was deemed substandard. At the same time, Yi Xiaoyu did not respond positively to the manuscript quality issues raised by the culture, nor did he provide further evidence of the manuscript’s redaction.
Unclear Editorial Rights
Yi Xiaoyu’s main claim is to be the author of the book, but she has not made any claims of financial interests.
Through the voices of various parties, it is basically confirmed that Yi Xiaoyu’s name will still be placed in the position of author in the internal presentation materials of the Living Character Culture until July 2020.
The current controversy focuses on two points: whether the first draft of Yi Xiaoyu’s text, as determined by Word Culture, meets the requirements for publication, and whether the third draft, which will be printed as a book, contains the fruits of Yi Xiaoyu’s labor.
In a statement issued on November 18, Living Character Culture cited evidence that Yi Xiaoyu’s first draft was substandard. In the opinion of Wang Wen (a pseudonym), the original editor of Living Word Culture, this in itself is ludicrous. The first draft was submitted in March, and it’s not appropriate to assess the first draft on the basis of the requirements of a finished manuscript. What else is an editor for? “Wang Wen said.
When Yi Xiaoyu was interviewed, she repeatedly looked up the communication records with Li Xuejun and other officials related to movable type. The communication records showed that she had communicated with Li Xuejun at every stage, from outline to draft. She would report on the progress of the manuscript at the weekly company meeting, and other colleagues have corroborated this.
From the time the first draft was submitted until September 14, when the manuscript was re-edited and she was asked to give up her editorial credit, Yi Xiaoyu never received any objections from Living Word Culture about the manuscript.
“Even if the manuscript is really not up to par, it must be done in consultation with the former editor to settle on a plan before operating. “In the opinion of Wang Wen (a pseudonym), in “rewriting” It is unreasonable to notify the original author after the manuscript has been written that the previous first draft was not up to snuff.
Yi Xiaoyu’s ability and work ethic have been recognized by several former employees of Word Culture.
Min Ren (a pseudonym), the original editor of Live Word Culture, recalled working with Yi Xiaoyu in 2019 and said, “The movie was delayed, so the company asked her to plan and collect material while editing other books. ”
In Ren Min’s recollection, Yi Xiaoyu is a diligent person, probably because of having been a journalist, strong writing ability, the company before the start of an archaeological book manuscript to her to organize, which is also a lecture manuscript, a lot of oral content, finishing the difficulty, she also obeyed the finishing.
“Although I couldn’t see the specific content of her work on her computer screen, Yi Xiaoyu really didn’t miss any overtime. Sometimes I forget to punch in from work, and when I go back to the office, I will see that she is still in the office. “Wang Wen said.
Living Word Culture was forced to abandon the manuscript written by Ms. Yi and no longer seek to revise it on the basis of its manuscript, but to reorganize and write it based on the transcript of the film interview,” said the lawyer’s letter of reply issued by Living Word Culture on November 15. ”
In this regard, the relevant informed person Mao Chengcheng (pseudonym) also said: “before Yi Xiaoyu sued the living character culture, directly abandoned her manuscript is certainly not, is based on the original manuscript for additions and repairs, but as for the revision of the length and proportion, need a professional comparison. ”
In Yi Xiaoyu’s view, the redo was unlikely in terms of timing. After she sent the lawyer’s letter, which directly led to the reversal of the redo of the book in order to avoid legal disputes, the manuscript went on sale in October, less than half a month.
Yang Lin of Beijing Yangtao Law Firm said that even if it is a compilation work, Yi Xiaoyu still enjoys the copyright.
According to her analysis, both parties have confirmed that the book was written from a large number of interviews. According to Yi Xiaoyu, the writing cycle of the manuscript lasted more than a year, during which time she culled and arranged the huge amount of interview material and used her own expressions to create the manuscript.
“If Yi Xiaoyu’s account is true, then it is reasonable to infer that she was not engaged in simple editorial work,” the legal practitioner argued. ” the legal practitioner argued. On the contrary, Yi Xiaoyu spent a great deal of time and energy in the compilation process, making original selections and arrangements of material, and forming content that could independently express ideas or literary and artistic aesthetics.
“The manuscript she created is by no means a copy of an interview, nor is it a compilation work, but an original written work. ” the source revealed.
Non-compliant contracts
Of the two contracts with movable type that Yi Xiaoyu is currently proving, the fixed-term employment contract and the probationary employment contract are independent of each other. The fixed-term contract states that the contract is “effective from March 4, 2019 to December 31, 2020, with a probationary period until June 30, 2019. The probationary contract states: “Effective March 4, 2019 to August 31, 2019. Neither contract indicates salary.”
In contrast, Article 19 of the Labor Contract Law stipulates that the probationary period shall not exceed one month for labor contracts with a term of more than three months but less than one year; for labor contracts with a term of more than one year but less than three years, the probationary period shall not exceed two months; and for labor contracts with a fixed term of more than three years and an open-ended term, the probationary period shall not exceed six months. The probationary period is included in the term of the labor contract. If the labor contract only provides for a probationary period, the probationary period is not established and is the term of the labor contract.
In terms of both the length of the probationary period and the manner in which it was signed, there are obvious inconsistencies between the two separate contracts. In an interview with a number of former employees of Word Culture, Quan now found that this is not an isolated case.
I was told when I joined the company that I had to do two choices,” said Wang Cheng (a pseudonym), according to the company, during the probationary period, either get only 80% of the salary, or get the full amount. He was paid but the company did not pay insurance. In the end, Wang chose to receive his full salary, so he had no social security coverage during the trial period.
Another ex-employee of Word Culture also said that Word Culture signed a separate six-month probationary contract with him after he joined the company, “which is obviously not in compliance with labor laws! “. After the employee raised the unreasonable to the company, the company replied: “Now the system is not standardized, can only be perfected later, we all sign a separate probationary contract”. At the end of the probationary period, you can only sign a one-year formal contract.
Xiao Yang (a pseudonym), the current editor of Live Word Culture, also corroborated in her article: “Many of the problems mentioned by Miss Yi in her article regarding social security, wages, probationary period and the like did exist before. “Mao Chengcheng, a person with knowledge of the matter, said, “There are still employees at Living Word Culture who are not protected by compliant contracts. ”
In addition, a number of former employees of the company said that the company would “make it up as they go along. For those who “worked very hard to find them,” and ” For “highly educated” employees, they will give a shorter, three-month trial period.
According to a screenshot provided by another former employee of Word Culture, the employee received a payslip in his mailbox that said: “The social security fee of 2,644.26 yuan during the probationary period is to be borne by the individual! “This confirms Yi Xiaoyu’s claim in his post that the company does not pay social security contributions to probationary employees.
According to many former employees of Living Word Culture, the company’s editorial turnover rate is high, but the same situation also occurs in other private publishing organizations.
Tong Li (a pseudonym), who joined the company in 2019, and the editors who joined in the same batch have mostly left, while the two editors who replaced Yi Xiaoyu as editors of “掬” are new employees.
As a private publisher, Living Character Culture needs to interface with state-owned publishing houses for many of its business, for example, the editorial column on the publication page of “Juice” is signed by the name of the editor of Sichuan People’s Publishing House.
For the newcomers, the error tolerance rate of the movable type was not high, and you were responsible for a lot of things,” Ren Min recalled. You were responsible for a lot of things,” Ren Min recalled.
Yi Xiaoyu’s article about editors being caught between the leadership and the art editors is also corroborated by a former employee of the Living Character Culture. “The editor of Living Character was really too weak, the beauty editor was too strong, and then the new deputy editor, Liu Jingshi, was also very strong. ” said Wang Wen (pseudonym).
According to Yi Xiaoyu’s article, the leadership of Living Character Culture said to her when they encountered difficulties in compiling the book “Rui Ju”: “It’s your own book, you have to sign it, so shouldn’t you put your heart and soul into it? ”
Li Li (a pseudonym), who works for a publishing house, said that Yi Xiaoyu’s post is a good thing for the whole industry, and it will make more people in the publishing industry who have been treated unfairly dare to come forward. According to Li Li’s observations, abuses against employees are not uncommon in the publishing industry as a whole.
She had worked for a famous domestic publishing company for three years, during which time her salary was paid from her private account, and she didn’t know or care about this. “. It wasn’t until she went to the bank for her visa, hoping to print out a few years’ worth of water from her work, that the bank said it couldn’t produce the relevant documents because of the transfer from her private account, and she gradually realized the seriousness of the problem. According to her recollection, the company’s five insurances and one pension are also paid in accordance with the local minimum standards.
Li Li has now left the publishing company and is now working for another publisher, shaking her head in regret at the memory of her experience with her former company. She has not yet graduated from university, she came to the publishing agency internship, and finally chose to stay behind to work, full of hope for the publishing industry, did not expect to end up only disappointed.
Yi Xiaoyu’s post triggered a heated discussion in the publishing industry, and several editors from other companies also expressed on Douban that Yi Xiaoyu’s post made some publishing companies realize their irregularities in copyright handling and other practices, and contacted them overnight to start processing again.
Recent Comments