Publisher set to purchase author in industry first

A leading ELT author is to sell his life to a major publishing house, according to industry sources. In what is believed to be the first deal of its kind, the so far unnamed scribe will sign over full rights not only to past and future work, but also to what legal experts have called ‘the physical side of his existence – the old world, analogue stuff – his body.’

No longer will educators have to wait for a conference appearance, live or filmed. In-home webcams, dedicated CCTV and P2P mouse-tracking software will allow people to follow authors’ physical and online movements 24 hours a day.

‘We don’t see it as an invasion of privacy,’ said a spokesperson for the publishers. ‘The boundaries between what is private and what is public have already been blurred by social networking, and the logical extension is full access to the author. It’s a bit like the Teacher’s Book, but with added value.’

Consumers will be offered a range of access packages across the day, with budget deals for afternoons - when authors are understood to be less productive.

‘I thought it was odd when this latest meeting was held at a crossroads,’ the author revealed to the Unplugged Index. ‘And I miss being able to see my shadow. But one has to move with the times.’

Industry sources have declined to comment on reports that a recent project ended in disaster when an author was turned into an app, downloaded for beta testing and subsequently lost when a hard drive failed.

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