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Publication of the biography Rooney's Gold by John Sweeney has gone ahead despite legal warnings to retailers from law firm Schillings, according to Biteback publisher Iain Dale.
Schillings acts for footballer Wayne Rooney, who is the subject of Sweeney's book, published by Biteback. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/114509-page.html" target="_blank">The book was originally signed by Century, which backed out of publication deeming the book "unsuitable". It has since undergone a significant re-write, according to Dale.
In a blog post today in his political blog Iain Dale's Diary, Dale asserted that http://tinyurl.com/3267pj6" target="_blank">Schillings wrote to
Waterstone's and W H Smith warning them of their legal obligations in connection with the book.
Both Waterstone's and W H Smith asked for an indemnity from Biteback, Dale said. "Waterstone's contacted us and asked for an indemnity - so if it came to legal action, we'd indemnify them. For a small company like us, we had to think really hard as to whether we could do this, but we had no choice. If we wanted the book out there we had to do it.
"W H Smith asked for the same and [we] gave them an indemnity too. Unfortunately their [Smith's] courage deserted them and in the end they caved in and are refusing to stock the book."
Dale went on: "If publishers accede to threats like this it effectively means that no one can write a celebrity biography any longer unless it is a complete hagiography. Our libel laws are allowing the likes of Schillings to threaten, bully and intimidate authors and publishers into abandoning perfectly legitimate books for fear of their whole company's existence coming under threat."
Waterstone's spokesperson Jon Howells declined to comment on any approach by Schillings, but said: "Copies [of Rooney's Gold] are on order and due in shortly. We are not centrally promoting it but stores which think they can sell it are ordering copies, and quite a few have done so."
A spokesperson for W H Smith also refused to comment on whether Schillings had approached them about the book, but said: "We receive invitations from publishers to stock many titles and we can't stock all of them. Our plans haven't been changed as a result of the controversy."
However Rooney's Gold is listed as for sale through W H Smith Online.
A Schillings spokesperson said the firm would not comment on client matters.