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| Hearsay: |
Canadian Andrew Davidson has received two million dollars in advance for his first novel, The Gargoyle. Two MILLION dollars. That’s some serious scratch. While I congratulate the young author, and remind him that he’ll need a security detail of one judoka/poet to ensure his safety, I can’t help but wonder if this represents good business decision making on the part of the publishers involved.
In Canadian publishing lore, there is only one recorded case of an unpublished novelist scoring a seven-figure advance for a single book.
This was in 1985. Ottawa’s Anthony Hyde earned national headlines after he sold his debut effort, a thriller, The Red Fox, to Penguin U.S. for a reported $1 million.
Of course, a cool million in 1985 went further than $1.25 million today. But Davidson might still own bragging rights.
He has scored a separate advance from Random House Canada, which will release The Gargoyle here, also in August. He has a deal with Canongate Books in the U.K. and with its subsidiary for Australia. Foreign-language rights have already been sold in 18 jurisdictions.
Though Davidson isn’t saying, his total advances so far (and these exclude potential film sales) probably exceed $2 million.
(Thanks, Dani!)
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January 28th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
He’s also going to need an American flunky with literary aspirations and, wouldn’t you know it, I’m available.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Gee, I thought “Pegger” was a nickname for Margaret Atwood. Whoops.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
…I too was confused, Stuart. I thought pegger was someone who ‘pegs’
:)
January 29th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
As a former ‘Pegger myself, I both recognized and squealed a little at the nickname. Always good to hear good news about writers from Winterpeg. (that being the other nickname.)
January 30th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Whenever I see one of these stories, and before I read it, I always think,’What’s the great idea that I didn’t think of this time?’ and almost every time it is not that I didn’t think of it (which I didn’t but that’s not the point) it’s that I wouldn’t think it would be interesting. I fail to understand the interest in stories that are linked in the present and the past. Why, I have no idea. I read these books now and then and always think, ‘okay, our present is linked to our past. Good. And????’ Maybe this will be an excellent book and it’s great for the writer. Brings back the days when there were constant windfalls of 200,000+ advances.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:49 am
I scored a $300 advance on my most recent book, which I think is my tenth trade title. How come I don’t make the news? Huh?
Look who’s laughing all the way to the bank now.