(no subject)

[ksmith]

I admit that I did visit fivethirtyeight.com a few times prior to the election (a few=lots). More power to Nate Silver for nailing a good book deal, but this line got me:

The pricetag, we hear, is above $600,000 but below $1 million—a healthy sum even though it's paying for two books rather than just one.

It's a healthy sum for five books, even. Or ten. Twenty.

I know. I'm speaking from the genre side fo the fence, not up-to-the-minute nonfiction, which pays much better on average. But that "even though" got to me. The "rather than just one" didn't help.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Look on the bright side -- his tax bill will be higher than our advances . . .

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Just once, I would like the problems that come from being handed too much money.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

That's what God created accountants for?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you still need to know what's going on, so you can worry.

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

Wow. Nate has come a long way from being a baseball stathead. I've been a fan of his Baseball Prospectus work for years. This has been a very good year for him. Along with calling the election, he also predicted the Rays in the playoffs.

I don't understand the up-to-the-minute nonfiction market. It seems so arbitrary.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I don't understand the up-to-the-minute nonfiction market. It seems so arbitrary.

I think that in his case, it boils down to 1) his side won, and 2) his guessimates were pretty much spot-on. Timeliness, topicality, issues of world-altering scope=$700K advance for two books.

[lmarley.livejournal.com]

Yup. That hurts. If they only knew.

[janni.livejournal.com]

It's not an undeserved advance, but to call it merely "a healthy sum" rather to acknowledge it's a well-earned very high advance is irritating. And it's not like this is the only time this sort of reportage has happened regarding book deals, either.