I saw this article online in THE NEW YORK OBSERVER this morning and I just had to share it:
Note to Authors: Make Your Deadlines!
By Leon Neyfakh
The New York Observer, August 4, 2009 | 7:17 p.m
There was a time not so long ago when authors never had to worry about handing in their manuscripts on time. Deadlines back then were a formality—something publishers took about as seriously in the course of contractual negotiations as they did the profit-and-loss statements they used to justify their acquisitions. If an author hit their delivery date, great! But if they didn’t, that was O.K., too.
For the most part, that is still true. But as book sales fall and publishing houses look for ways to cut costs, many literary agents are growing increasingly worried that publishers looking to trim their lists will start holding authors to deadlines and using lateness as an occasion to renegotiate advances and, in some cases, terminate contracts altogether.
Emphasis added. For the rest of the article click here.
