Hesperus and Hachette reach Jonasson settlement

Hesperus Press and Hachette Book Group have reached a settlement concerning the royalty pay dispute for bestselling author Jonas Jonasson, which became public last year.

As part of the agreement The Bookseller understands Hesperus Press has made a first payment of 25% of the money owed to Jonasson, who has only received a “small amount” of the royalty payments on his UK sales of the hit title The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, which has sold 573,264 copies for £4.22m in the UK to date and over 700,000 e-books. While HBG said the terms of the agreement were confidential, it is understood Hesperus can no longer sell the novel, which is instead being sold by Hachette UK, as HBG own world English language rights.

Jonasson said: “I know that Hesperus has made a first, smaller, payment. It’s okay. But I will wait until I see the rest of the money before I´m satisfied. It’s a step on the way.”

In April 2015, Hachette Book Group USA and Swedish author Jonasson engaged lawyers to pursue royalty payments owed to the author by Hesperus. The Bookseller reported that Jonasson had only received a “small amount” of royalty payments for his book in the autumn of 2012, but had seen nothing since.

At the time, Jonasson said: "It has been difficult over the years to get any information at all from Hesperus Press." Following legal proceedings, the High Court banned Hesperus from selling or distributing further copies of the book.

A spokesperson for HBG said: "I can confirm that we have reached a settlement, but can’t offer any detail about the agreement."

Hesperus Press director Shadi Sharbain said in a statement: "Hesperus Press is pleased to announce that it and Hachette Book Group have reached an agreement on a settlement of the dispute between them which became public last year, with undertakings of equivalent effect to the grant of a permanent injunction having been given by Hesperus. Hesperus Press is delighted to have closed this unfortunate chapter and are looking forward to being able to concentrate on rebuilding and developing the business."

Around the time of the dispute in April 2015, all four members of staff at Hesperus – including head of publishing Nikki Griffiths - resigned their roles at the company.

Sharbain said he has now hired new staff - Linden Lawson, a free-lance editor, formerly at Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Yale University Press, and Peter Salmon, a novelist and former Arvon Centre Director, to its editorial department in a bid to rebuild the company. "We will announce our new list for 2016 and 2017 in the near future," he said.

The most recent accounts for Hesperus filed at Companies House for the year ending 31st December 2014 show that cash in the bank and in hand dropped sharply from £33,660 to £8,324 while its overall losses increased from -£541,447 to -£810,570.