Nominet spent £135k on a book - of no value to them today

[rob]

If you have not seen the details: https://community.nominet.uk/t/thou...aders-guide-to-digital-transformation/1188/11

 

[JMI]

Shocking. So what are all these so called 'big guns' we got pummelled to vote in to change all this type of thing doing?

Exactly.. a year later nothing.

(unless someone knows the contrary)

 

[diablo]

No access to story. What's the gist of this?

 

[super-whois]

No access to story.

If you're a Nominet member, you can sign up for access:
https://members.nominet.uk/registration/

 

[diablo]

Surely if £135k has been spent on a book unwisely, the details can be shared outside of a Members forum?

 

[CreativeMix]

@diablo The gist is that Nominet paid Forbes £135k to publish a book written by Russel Haworth when he was CEO. The book is irrelevant to the company now and Haworth has been gifted the rights (it's due to be published soon and Haworth has been posting about it on social media). The decision was apparently taken solely by Haworth and a senior independent director who no longer holds the position. I think that's roughly it?

 

[martin-s]

Wow

 

[diablo]

@diablo The gist is that Nominet paid Forbes £135k to publish a book written by Russel Haworth when he was CEO. The book is irrelevant to the company now and Haworth has been gifted the rights (it's due to be published soon and Haworth has been posting about it on social media). The decision was apparently taken solely by Haworth and a senior independent director who no longer holds the position. I think that's roughly it?

I have worked in book publishing on and off since the 1990s.

Book publishers pay authors: not the other way round.

The only "publishers" who charge authors are vanity publishers. They prey on the gullible.

The idea that Nominet would pay £135,000 to have a book published seriously merits close inspection. Not in their wildest dreams could they have realised a profit on such a venture given the subject matter.

 

[CreativeMix]

Nick Wenban-Smith is incompetent and I think his position is untenable.

 

[LCHappy]

Nominet say they have no record of anyone authorising Howarth to make this payment for his own benefit. Nominet's current board don't seem to be interested in finding out who if anyone authorised this.

If nobody authorised it, then it's possibly a criminal issue. If someone did authorise it, why is there no record of it, and why did they authorise it, under what authority and why is it not in writing? This is very easy to find out, just write to the Director's involved and ask.

As usual though, we need to look forward not back, come together for the good of social cohesion blah blah blah, it stinks.

I'm particularly disappointed in Simon Blackler, when he needed our votes, these are the types of things he would be screaming about. Now, silence! At least the last guy that got elected told us straight he was Kool-Aid drinker before the vote, can't have complaints when he sits on his backside and does nothing. I admire his honesty. Blacker though, different story.

 

[JMI]

I'm particularly disappointed in Simon Blackler, when he needed our votes, these are the types of things he would be screaming about. Now, silence! At least the last guy that got elected told us straight he was Kool-Aid drinker before the vote, can't have complaints when he sits on his backside and does nothing. I admire his honesty. Blacker though, different story.

Maybe someone was blackler mailed?

 

[LCHappy]

edited by LC

 

[Nigel]

Article in The Telegraph about this today:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technol...f-russell-haworth-defends-135000-forbes-book/

 

[diablo]

Article here for those without access to The Telegraph one directly:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth...pany-money-on-a-book-deal/ar-AA16l5S9?ocid=sf

Andy Green, Nominet’s chairman, said: “The book is of no value to the Nominet of today."

I would argue that it never had any value to Nominet. It will be lucky to sell a dozen copies. If it had ever had any legs, a publisher would have paid Howarth to publish it. It is a vanity project, pure and simple.

 

[Nigel]

I have no experience in book publishing and wonder why Nominet didn't just cancel the deal. Couldn't they have got some refund on the £135k fee if the book wasn't published (i.e. there wouldn't be any print costs/set up/proofreading etc). Or doesn't it work like that?

 

[jasman]

I agree that paying to have a book published seems very odd. Given that there are well known "print-on-demand" publishers nowadays who print copies to order from an uploaded pdf as and when a customer purchases a copy e.g. amazon, lulu etc so if no copies are sold, there are no printing costs, this seems a terrible use of Nominet's resources. I do hope it wasn't some kind of contract where client pays £x to get book published and publisher guarantees a minimum of £y in royalties.

 

[martin-s]

Vanity projects are expensive. It's the sort of thing any badly-run organisation awash with other people's money might do to amuse itself.

 

[Nigel]

I agree that paying to have a book published seems very odd. Given that there are well known "print-on-demand" publishers nowadays who print copies to order from an uploaded pdf as and when a customer purchases a copy e.g. amazon, lulu etc so if no copies are sold, there are no printing costs, this seems a terrible use of Nominet's resources. I do hope it wasn't some kind of contract where client pays £x to get book published and publisher guarantees a minimum of £y in royalties.

Good points. If you google it you will find lots of 'on demand' publishers offering a comprehensive 'on demand' service including isbn, book cover design, kindle, publicity etc - everything included except the books are 'on demand' to bookshops but most publishers seem to be under £5k fee. One well established publisher I looked at quotes a fee of £2750 for their comprehensive ('on demand') book publishing service. Have nominet given any explanation how the fee of £135,000 was arrived at?

Which leads me to the next question. When are registration fees being reduced? They racked up fees by 50% (on top of the doubling of many fees with the introduction of .uk) and where has the money gone? On things like this and millions on failed ventures! It's time to reduce fees again.

 

[super-whois]

Have nominet given any explanation how the fee of £135,000 was arrived at?

I wonder if it involves using a ghostwriter.

 

[diablo]

I wonder if it involves using a ghostwriter.

Almost certainly.

You are also paying a huge premium to be associated with the Forbes brand. "Look at me. I'm a published Forbes author."

For a traditional publisher, this book would be a non-starter. There is no market for it.