Lessons from Taylor Swift's fight for her music catalog — and what it means for business book authors
Taylor Swift made headlines on May 30th when she announced a total victory: after years of legal battles, re-recordings, and reportedly $360 million in buyout costs, every song she has ever created now belongs to her. For Swifties, it was a triumphant moment. For business book authors, it should be a wake-up call.
Most authors will never have the resources Taylor Swift had to fight for their creative work. Which is exactly why Gillian Whitney, business book coach and host of the Easy Peasy Books podcast, says the lesson isn't about how to win your rights back — it's about never giving them up in the first place.
In Episode 40 of Easy Peasy Books, Gillian walks through the parallels between Taylor Swift's IP battle and the decisions authors face every day — from choosing a publisher to understanding what you actually own when your book goes out into the world.
The Publishing Control Problem
When most people imagine getting a book published, they picture a traditional deal: a big-name press, an advance check, and a team taking care of the rest. But the reality is more complicated — and more costly — than that dream suggests.
When a traditional publisher takes on your book, they often take control of far more than the printing and distribution. Here's what authors can lose:
- The ISBN — whoever purchases it owns it. If the publisher secures your ISBN, you cannot freely move or republish that book without getting a new one.
- Cover design and interior layout — publishers typically decide these, and authors may have limited or no say.
- Format decisions — if the publisher doesn't want to produce an audiobook, they may hold the rights that prevent you from producing one yourself.
- Price setting — a publisher can discount or adjust your book's price without your approval.
- Marketing decisions — publishers can withdraw marketing support at any time, leaving authors to fend for themselves.
Even more troubling: publishers can cancel a book after it's already written. Gillian shared a news story about author Sophie Lark, whose novel Sparrow and Vine was pulled by her publisher after advance readers reacted negatively to some of its content. Despite having written the book, Sophie was left with limited options — her publishing path had collapsed, and she was considering the self-publishing route she could have started with.
"Why would you ever want to be in a position where you have to buy back the rights to your own creative work?"
Why Self-Publishing Changes Everything
When you self-publish, you are the publisher. That means every decision — cover, title, price, format, distribution, updates — belongs to you. Gillian has five books on Amazon, all self-published, and she can adjust prices, revise content, or launch an audiobook edition whenever she chooses.
The financial picture is different too. With a traditional publisher, authors often have little visibility into sales data and receive royalties on a delayed, periodic schedule. With self-publishing, the dashboards are yours — you see every sale, every market, and every royalty payment in real time.
Pro tip: If you ever do negotiate a book contract with a traditional publisher, get a lawyer to review it. Contracts can contain clauses that strip far more than authors realize — rights to formats, translations, sequels, and derivative works can all be in play.
Gillian's Framework: The 5 Rights Every Author Should Own
Whether you're publishing your first book or your fifth, Gillian suggests thinking through these five areas of ownership before signing anything — or choosing a publishing path.
Step 1: Your ISBN
Buy your own ISBN through Bowker (in the US) or the national ISBN agency in your country. The entity that purchases the ISBN is the publisher of record. Own it yourself and you control where and how the book is distributed.
Step 2: Your cover and interior design
Commission design work with contracts that assign you the rights to use the assets across all formats and in your marketing. Don't assume the cover you love automatically belongs to you.
Step 3: Your format rights
Decide upfront whether you want a paperback, eBook, hardcover, and audiobook — and make sure no agreement limits your ability to produce any of those formats now or in the future.
Step 4: Your price and distribution
Own your pricing. Platforms like Amazon KDP and IngramSpark let you set and change prices yourself. Going wide (distributing beyond Amazon to Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Overdrive, and others) is entirely your call.
Step 5: Your revisions and future work
When your book is self-published, you can update it, release a second edition, or translate it into another language without asking anyone's permission. Traditional contracts may restrict all of these.
Real Stories from the Episode
Taylor Swift's $360 Million Lesson
The spark for this episode was Taylor Swift's announcement on May 30th that she had finally recovered full ownership of her entire music catalog. The victory came after years in court, a full re-recording of her back catalog (to establish new ownership of the masters), a blockbuster world tour partly used to fund the effort, and a reported $360 million payout to the company that had acquired her rights.
As Gillian points out, very few people have that kind of financial firepower. The far better strategy is to never lose your rights in the first place — a lesson that applies directly to authors.
Sophie Lark and the Publisher Pullback
Gillian referenced the recent story of Sophie Lark, whose novel Sparrow and Vine was cancelled by her publisher after advance readers took issue with some of its content — specifically, the author's admiration for ideas she'd encountered through Elon Musk. The publisher exercised their right to pull the project, leaving Sophie to weigh her options with a finished manuscript and no clear publishing path forward.
It's a stark illustration of what 'the publisher has control' can look like in practice.
The Ghostwriter Who Lost His Name
Gillian closed the episode with a parable about a writer named Jacob — a talented author who, after years of rejection from traditional publishers, took work as a ghostwriter through a literary agent. He wrote ten books. All of them sold well. None of them had his name on them.
One day, browsing a bookstore, Jacob saw one of the authors he'd written for doing a book signing — talking about 'his process' for writing a book Jacob had written entirely on his own. Jacob went home, opened his laptop, and finally wrote his own book. It didn't become a bestseller. But it got a review that said it had changed someone's life. And Jacob's name was on it.
The story captures what Gillian means by owning your words: not just the legal rights, but the identity, the credit, and the connection to the people your work actually helps.
"Owning your words is the best reward you can ever have."
Beyond the Book: Think Bigger
One of the most overlooked reasons to retain full rights to your book is everything that comes after it. Your book is often a gateway — to workshops, online courses, speaking engagements, licensing deals, and branded content. If someone else holds the rights to your book, they may also hold rights to the title, the brand, and potentially even derivative works.
Gillian encourages every author to think ahead: what else might this book become? A workshop series? A signature framework? A course curriculum? A film option? If those possibilities exist, you need to own the foundation they'll be built on.
"Always think beyond the book. What if somebody decided to pick your book up as something that would make a really good movie? You will be in a position to say yay or nay on that."
Listen to the Full Episode
Hear the full conversation — including Gillian's parable of Jacob the ghostwriter and her own experience as a five-book self-published author — in Episode 40 of Easy Peasy Books.
Ready for the Next Step With Your Business Book?
Whether you're writing your book, getting ready to publish, or looking for ways to market and promote it, Easy Peasy Books can help. Visit easypeasybooks.com to explore our book writing, publishing, and marketing services — or subscribe to the Easy Peasy Books podcast for a new episode every week.
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About Gillian Whitney
Gillian Whitney is a business book coach and the host of Easy Peasy Books: From Author to Authority. She helps professionals write and publish books that build credibility, attract the right clients, and establish lasting expertise. Learn more at easypeasybooks.com