In a recent interview, O Magazine books director and former Publishers Weekly editor Sara Nelson blamed both journalists and publishers for pushing author advances to destructively high sums over the last few years.
Here’s an excerpt from her interview, conducted by Christopher Kenneally from Beyond the Book: “it’s only in the last, maybe, 50 years–or not even–in this country, that we think that one has a full-time profession as a writer that supports you and sends your children to private school. That has never been the norm,” she explained.
Nelson concluded: “I think part of the reason for that is writing programs, which I think are in many ways great. I take some responsibility for it, as the former editor of Publishers Weekly, because we would run articles about people who got $500,000 advances for books of short stories. And then everybody thought they were supposed to get $500,000 advances.” The whole interview is archived at the Copyright Clearance Center. (Image via wowOwow)