(NewsNation) — Andrew Lownie — the world’s #1 bestselling author on Prince Andrew and the British Royal Family — is taking Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books to court in a David versus Goliath legal battle that exposes this publishing house’s abuse of even best-selling authors.
His bombshell biography, “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York“ became an instant UK bestseller, hit #1 on Amazon, topped the Sunday Times bestseller list and was instrumental in Prince Andrew’s spectacular fall from grace.
But while HarperCollins published it in the U.K., Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, was supposed to publish it in the U.S.
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However, shortly before the publishing date, Lownie claims the book contract was abruptly canceled and his book was declared “unpublishable,” forcing the author to self-publish on Amazon.
“(Gallery) bought the book based on a finished manuscript in February,” Lownie told me.
”They advertised the book and everything — and then pulled the plug a few weeks before the book was set to come out, and they said it was unreadable.”
”But according to their contract, they had to give me 90 days’ notice, which they did not.”
Lownie sold “Entitled” to Gallery for $250,000 — but only collected $83,000 before the contract was canceled.
He is now suing for $500,000.
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According to the lawsuit: “On May 15, 2025, Defendant terminated the Agreement for ‘unacceptability’ despite Plaintiff having sixty-two days remaining in that ninety-day period — a clear breach of the Agreement’s express provision and in bad faith…. Because the Defendant terminated the agreement prior to the 90-day period the contract provided for revisions, and ultimately failed to publish within the timeframe required by the Agreement, Plaintiff is entitled to the second and final installments of the advance payment.”
“They didn’t go through with their own contract,” Lownie said. “They basically just pulled the rug out from under me. I had to create a company called Westminster Press to publish my own book.”
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”This was very damaging. I didn’t have any copies out in bookshops. The copy, it was pretty terrible looking. There was none of the marketing … and this was my breakout book (in the US). This was my attempt to break America after 40 years of books. And they just, you know, killed it, and they killed it for no apparent reason.
”I’ve won prizes for my books, you know, I’ve been a top 10 bestsellers, I mean, you’ve read the book. You can see the impact the book has had. And I just wonder what’s going on at Simon Schuster. I feel really cross, because it’s part of this sort of casual cavalier approach, caning books, thinking that there’s been no repercussions for anyone, and they can get away with it.”
Aimee Bell, the publisher at Gallery Books, didn’t return emails.
Since Lownie’s book was published in August, Prince Andrew has had all of his titles rescinded and is now referred to as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The disgraced Duke has been forced to agree to move out of his 30-room Royal Lodge and is now facing scrutiny by England’s Metropolitan Police for his financial activities as well as his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
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