Archive for October 6th, 2009:

Apparently securing a book deal is not cause for celebration until you actually have the printed book in your hands. According to London’s TheBookseller.com, the online arm of book industry magazine The Bookseller, the poor economy is forcing publishers to cancel book titles. Some of the book deals were commissioned when the economy was stronger, so those authors spent a year or two working on their books, only to have the publishers reject them. Generally publishers give reasons such as the final manuscript was not up to snuff or was not what the publishers expected. Deadlines, too, are more strictly enforced, so if a writer can’t make the deadline, that’s another easy out for the publisher.

Benedicte Page, associate editor of The Bookseller, commented in a blog post, “The lesson appears to be that, even during the warm glow of entering into a new contract with an enthusiastic publisher, authors and agents need to be highly vigilant over the details—especially if the book in question is not likely to be delivered for several years, during which time the market may have changed markedly.” In other words, writers should get good agents and attorneys who can negotiate airtight contracts.

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