Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
She switched publishers. That surprises me. Wasn't she rejected by several publishers before being accepted by Bloomsbury? You'd think she'd be more appreciative and loyal.
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You might think that, but contracts for new writers (which she signed with them for the 1st HP book, and possibly the 2nd and 3rd at the same time, that's not uncommon) are often . . . not very favorable to the writer. In fact, they're often outright screw jobs. Once you've got one (or three) books of a series with one publisher, it's generally a bad idea to switch. And there may have been a right of first refusal on
any new books in the series for said publisher.
In any event, it's not at all uncommon, especially for a writer looking to do "something different" than what they're known for. Lois McMaster Bujold is a loyal Baen author, but when she wanted to do some fantasy (rather than science fiction) she went to a different publisher "just because." And when she went back to science fiction, she went back to Baen.
In any event, loyal is only loyalty if it's reciprocal, and publishers are, generally speaking, loyal only to their profit/loss statements, and not a damned thing else.