: 'Out of print' not profitable or holding rights indefinitely by a Publisher? Umm... The main cause the Publishers give more often than not is, the book was not successful to warrant a second

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One reason for not paying royalties on the sale of a product might be that the returns policy allows retailers to hold the stock in a warehouse or (worse still) a store, and then just send it back for a full refund.

Certain retailers have been notorious for this in the past, and the publisher may be reluctant to pay out full royalties if they know that 50% of the stock is going to come back and have to be pulped (and incur extra shipping and handling fees). They may hold a "reserve against returns" that reduces to zero when the sales are final.

The alternative is to pay out royalties, and then ask for them back a year later -- rather uncomfortable for everyone concerned.

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I cannot foresee a legal reason for a publisher to withhold royalty payments contrary to what is stated in the publishing contract.

As for "not let [the] public know about [other] authors or their books" there are times when a publisher will chose to suppress a contracted author's work in order to promote another contracted author (or his work) --usually one that has a good sales record or seen to have a better marketing/sales potential-- that is similar to or might otherwise be negatively impacted if the other author's work were promoted.

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