Maybe this story should be called "The Man Who Should Have Written a Will." As you may have read, Stieg Larsson died without a will and under Swedish law his money goes to his blood relatives, not Eva Gabrielsson, his partner of more than 30 years. Of course he had no idea that his trilogy, starting with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," would sell more than 40 millions copies (and counting) and earn hundreds of millions.
An article in the Independent says that the manuscript for the first book was submitted to a Swedish publisher back in 2003 and never read. Somebody has a red face right about now.
Later a different publisher bought all three books for an advance of €64,000 (£54,000/$86,000). That doesn't sound so bad as a lump sum, but when you think of it per book--€28,000/ £18,000 / $28,000--it doesn't presage the enormous success the books had.
Ms. Gabrielsson has now written a book (so far published in France and Sweden) recounting their life together, the background of the books, and her contributions to his writing and she's suing his relatives not, she says, so much for the money as to protect his legacy.
There are two morals to the story: one is you never know what might turn into a huge hit; the other is, be sure you have a will.
(for great advice on writing your novel or non-fiction book, get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey. For more free tips go to www.TimeToWrite.com.)
