Manning's response to Big Data authors

Publishing a book is a long and complicated process, and from time to time disagreements arise between Publisher and Author. Recently, such a disagreement arose between Manning and authors Nathan Marz and James Warren over the publication of Big Data. Although we've tried to address these concerns privately, Nathan and James have publicly accused Manning of unethical behavior, and we feel that it's important to respond.

In the first printing of Big Data, we made a mistake: The agreed-upon presentation of the authors' names on the front cover was changed for design reasons just prior to going to print. We acknowledged the error as soon as it came to light and made efforts to remedy the mistake, in print and in the eBook. We regret our error, and we have apologized to Nathan and James.

However, we reject the idea that Manning has behaved unethically. We made a mistake and have made a good-faith effort to correct it. The statement that Manning as a company, and in particular the people at Manning who were involved in this book, were intentionally deceptive is wrong and unfair. We don't do business that way.

We are proud of this book and the excellent work the Manning team and the authors put into it. Our conversation with the authors is ongoing, and we hope that we'll be able to resolve this dispute and get back to sharing this fine book with as many readers as possible.

Marjan Bace
Publisher
Manning Publications Co.