Deadlines

[varkat]

Yes, writing is an art.  It's also a business - see The New York Observer article on publishers cracking down on blown deadlines.

Comments

[barbarienne]

Are people surprised? HarperCollins made this point more than a decade ago.

I've been in the business 15 years, just after it ceased to be a "gentleman's" business (as far as I can tell. It may have changed earlier than 1994, and not everyone had noticed yet).

Maybe it's because I was raised by lawyers, but I read contracts, and I try to think of why a party to the contract would include a particular clause, and what circumstances would make them exercise it.

[varkat]

I think you'd be surprised at how often people are surprised by this.

[barbarienne]

That annoying successful survival trait of creating habits of thought based on repeated behavior. Durn evolution isn't keeping up with human economics! ;-)

[otterdance]

This is certainly true, and good advice. But when the publisher is pressing for a book a year, the writer is really squeezed or at least some of us are. The publisher have have it fast or they can have it good. Sometimes it's hard to do both, and fixing a rushed project takes time, too. :-/