The academic publishing controversy may be the least popular in this list, but it is still a huge issue impacting the industry. In an article published by Big Think, Simon Oxenham claims that big publishers of academic journals have a vested interest in locking away knowledge from the majority of humanity. As Oxenham explains, this is how academic publishers are ruining the industry: 

Academics must generally hand away all rights to the copyright of their best creations, creations that often take millions of dollars of public money to make. Once the work is finished, it is given permanently, and for free, to publishers who reap a higher profit margin than practically any other industry. Since the value of academic research is incalculable, publishers can charge whatever they want. This means that the price of access to academic research is rising and access is becoming harder. Both public libraries and professional researchers are losing access en masse. universities and hospitals must pay millions of dollars per year to access work academics produced decades ago, work that was generally funded by the public purse, or charitable grants at great expense. Researchers and scientific organizations around the world are now working hand in hand to change the system to one based on open access. The goal is to end big publishers’ time as gatekeepers of the industry. 

Dan Mallory, who writes under the pseudonym A.J. Finn became a best-selling author with his 2018 debut thriller, The Woman in the Window. Before his success as an author, Mallory worked as an editor for several publishing houses both in New York and London. In Feb 2019, The New Yorker published an article written by Ian Parker, which exposed a web of lies and deceptions spun by Mallory himself. For years before his novel was published, Mallory spent his time taking advantage of the publishing industry and the colleagues who trusted him. 

The author claimed in an essay submitted with his application to Oxford’s prestigious New College that his mother died of cancer and that his brother had also died in his care. He claimed to have written a dissertation about Patricia Highsmith, the author of the Tom Ripley novels, while at Oxford. The New Yorker article revealed that Mallory never completed his dissertation, despite having once signed emails as “Dr. Daniel Mallory.” He’s never published scholarly work on Highsmith, either. Further into his career, he claimed that he had surgery for a brain tumor. Later his father confirmed that Mallory never had cancer, despite the fact that he missed work for the supposed high-risk surgery. In a statement to ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” Mallory blamed his deception on a 2015 bipolar II diagnosis.

In  2010, Apple made its big entry into the e-book marketplace, which had been dominated by Amazon and its Kindle reader. At the time, book publishers were frustrated with Amazon’s low prices and welcomed the new retailer with open arms. After all, Apple was willing to let them set their own prices with the condition of taking a cut from each sale. The problem with this was that the terms Apple had offered big publishers allowed them to engage in a price-fixing conspiracy. Some publishers involved in the conspiracy included Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. Under this deal some e-book prices rose from $9.99 to up to $14.99. 

In July 2013, US District Court Judge Denise Cote found Apple guilty of conspiring to raise the retail price of e-books and scheduled a trial for 2014 to determine damages. The court stated that  Apple broke antitrust laws when it entered the e-book market. Apple claimed that they had simply been promoting competition in a very monopolistic market. The court disagreed by stating, “Competition is not served by permitting a market entrant to eliminate price competition as a condition of entry, and it is cold comfort to consumers that they gained a new e-book retailer at the expense of passing control over all e-book prices to a cartel of book publishers.” In June 2014, the court issued a $450 million settlement, which Apple only agreed to pay if they lost the case in an appellate court. However, in 2015 The US supreme court decided not to hear Apple’s appeal, putting the settlement into effect. Furthermore, affected e-book buyers received $400 million in cash and credits.  

Elena Ferrante is a pseudonymous Italian novelist widely known for her book series, The Neapolitan Quartet. The subject of her real identity is one that has aroused great curiosity amongst the industry over the years. Ferrante’s anonymity particularly irritated Italian investigative journalist Claudio Gatti, who took it upon himself to unmask the author. Gatti believes that Ferrante’s readers have a right to know who she is, after all, they have supported her for many years. After months of investigative work that required the use of forensic accounting to uncover a money trail, the journalist was convinced he had uncovered the truth. So in October 2016, through a blog published by The New York Review of Books, Gatti “revealed” that Ferrante is really Anita Raja, a German translator who lives in Rome.  

The reveal; however, was not met with the enthusiasm Gatti had hoped for. Ferrante’s fans were upset and consternated by the violation of the author’s privacy. Many believe that the journalist’s stunt boils down to one thing, sexism. They argued that Gatti’s obsession might actually just be outrage at the success of a female writer who wishes to work on her own terms. And as it turns out, Gatti went through all that trouble for nothing. Not only did he get an unexpected response, but his findings were also wrong. It has now been proven that the person writing under the pseudonym of Elena Ferrante is not Anita Raja. 

In February 2023, Puffin Books, a children’s imprint of Penguin Books, announced that they are revising and editing some of Roald Dahl’s children’s books to remove language that today’s readers deem offensive when it comes to race, gender, weight, and mental health. Dahl is the author of many popular titles such as Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Witches. However, in the years since his death, many have brought attention to a number of harmful tropes used by the late author, including a history of anti-Semitic comments. These views and statements have left a stain on the author’s legacy and in 2020 the Dahl family quietly issued a statement apologizing for the hurt caused by his views. By editing Dahl’s works, Puffin sought to provide a better reading experience for today’s young readers. 

However, some writers and voices within the publishing industry have criticized the updated works as an act of censorship. Some critics claim that the publisher could take too many liberties and change more than small phrases or statements. And others state revisions to suit 21st-century sensibilities risk undermining the genius of great artists and will prevent readers from confronting the world as it is. The changes to Dahl’s books only add fire to an ongoing debate over cultural sensitivity. As for the publisher’s response, Penguin Random House, Puffin’s parent company, announced that it will continue to sell the original versions of the books along with the edited ones.