As the publishing recession drags on, agents scramble to make sure authors finish their books on time–in 2009, a missed book deadline can be fatal.
At the NY Observer, reporter Leon Neyfakh interviewed agents and discovered a new reverence for author deadlines. While some still hold romantic images of the tortured artist toiling on his or her masterpiece years past deadline, most publishers won’t tolerate costly delays these days. Even bestselling authors Dan Brown and Jon Krakauer both turned in long-delayed manuscripts earlier this year.
Here’s a quote from Writers House agent Simon Lipskar, from the article: “Publishers are going to look at every opportunity to save money in this climate … Most of them aren’t being quite as venal as calling to cancel a day after the due date, but my standard recommendation to my authors at this time is to just deliver their books on schedule.”