I know, you'd think – if, like me, your work has yet to appear between two hard covers with only your own name on the front – that once you get to the point when a publisher is running proposed cover designs by you, you would be so darned happy about having a firm upcoming publication date, you just might be in a pretty agreeable mood.
Or, not.
Ken Whyte, editor-in-chief of MacLean's magazine, got into a cover art tug-of-war with Random House for his upcoming first book (Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst) and shares the brief mess in an earnest and ultimately self-chastising piece on his magazine's blog. An excerpt:
"I went on strike. I quit answering emails from my editor’s production staff and announced that I was no longer in a mood to promote the book upon publication.Read the whole (short) story here, and learn more about the book and Whyte's writing process in this interview.
A few days went by.
My agent called: “Are you an idiot?”"
3 comments:
Hi! Came over here from Ask Wendy's blog.
Thanks for the useful links. I'm shocked that he's done that to the editorial staff. I would so not do that (that's how hard I'm craving for a book deal. I'd probably keel over and walk on fire just for that). There must be a pretty good story behind it.
I'm really liking your blog so far. I'll be dropping by again. :)
Oh to be in a position to negotiate on covers!
Very funny story.
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