Publisher's Lunch had a story about Ken Caillet, who produced the hit Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours, suing his (non) publisher, HarperCollins' It Books. He got a $555,000 advance (yes, you read that right), for "Starting Rumours," an oral history of the making of that album. Or rather he got one quarter of it after the contract was signed.
Now they want the money back. They rejected his manuscript without reading it because it didn't include new interviews with members of the band.
Caillet says his contract doesn't require new interviews but it does say that the publisher is obligated to request specific revisions if they find the manuscript unacceptable, and he never got those requests.
In today's tough climate for books, some publishers are looking for ways to get out of expensive contracts signed when conditions were better--I don't know whether that applies in this case or not. The thing that surprised me about this story is the sum involved. I know that "Rumours" is one of the best-selling rock albums of all time, but is there really a big enough market for a book like this to justify that huge advance? Or did a rock fan at HarperCollins get carried away when the rights to this book were auctioned? The book's original editor is no longer working for HarperCollins.
Caillet wants the rest of his advance and another half million in punitive damages. These kinds of author vs. publisher cases are relatively rare and always interesting--watch this space!
