Posted on 04/06/2002 11:51:05 AM PST by GeneD
Charles Frazier, author of the best-selling novel "Cold Mountain," agreed to sell the Random House Trade Group the rights to publish a new novel for an advance of more than $8 million, people close to the negotiations said Friday.
An advance that large is extraordinary for a literary author like Mr. Frazier, and it is even more unusual because he has written only one previous book and presented only a one-page outline of his next work.
In addition, the producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures, part of Viacom, have agreed to pay $3 million for the film rights to the planned book.
The deal was announced on Friday but the terms were not disclosed.
Mr. Frazier had presented prospective publishers with a one-page outline of his new novel, another Civil War story. He told publishers the novel would be based on the true story of a white man raised by Cherokee Indians who later represented the Cherokees in Washington and ended his life in an insane asylum in North Carolina. Publication is expected in 2005.
Beyond the money, what has made the competition for Mr. Frazier's next book particularly captivating to people in the publishing business is the story of his first, which surprised the industry when the small publisher Grove/Atlantic released it in 1997.
Mr. Frazier was unknown and unpublished when Elizabeth Schmitz, a young editor at Grove/Atlantic, persuaded the company's president, Morgan Entrekin, to take a chance on "Cold Mountain" with an advance of $100,000. A version of the Odyssey set in the 19th-century American South, the novel tells the story of a wounded Confederate deserter's journey home to his love. Mr. Entrekin wrote a personal letter about the book to Southern bookstore owners, and it became an unexpected success, selling more than 1.5 million copies in hardcover and 1.3 million copies in paperback. It is often cited as evidence that even a first novel or a work of literary fiction can become a commercial sensation.
When "Cold Mountain" was published, Mr. Frazier said he wanted Ms. Schmitz to edit his next book as well. Instead, he left his original agent, Leigh Feldman, for a new agent, Amanda Urban of International Creative Management, and through Ms. Urban he offered other publishers a chance to bid for his next book.
The auction was conducted in an unusual single-bid format, which limited the amount of information that came out as the price rose and low bidders dropped out.
People involved in the process said at least five publishers were involved.
One of those publishers said that an $8 million advance meant Mr. Frazier's next book would need to sell at least half as many copies as his previous one did for the publisher to avoid a loss, and even more to generate enough royalties to cover the advance. For a privately owned midsize publisher like Grove/Atlantic, committing to pay such a large sum up front would have been virtually impossible.
In a statement, Mr. Frazier said that the life of the man who inspired his new novel "corresponds well with the kinds of thematic interests I have."
Ann Godoff, president of the Random House Trade Group, said in a statement issued Friday, "Frazier has a uniquely American voice that spoke memorably to the readers of `Cold Mountain.' " She said she was confident that his new book would "take his readers back to the territory they long to return to."
Not exactly. A book is expected to earn out it's advance, but rarely if ever does a publisher come after an author whose book fails to earn the advance. At worst, deductions might be made from advance and/or royalties from author's NEXT book, but this is very rare. Big houses tend to absorb losses, but they also have efficient sales and marketing people who find ways to off unsold copies so company at least breaks even.
After an author earns out his advance, he begins to collect royalties on additional copies sold.
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