I have no informed opinion on this

[james_davis_nicoll]

Andrew Wheeler discusses [the status of] Goodkind's upcoming books.

Comments

[andrewwheeler.livejournal.com]

Goodkind sells very very well for a fantasy writer -- not as well as Jordan, but no one else does. He's been Tor's #2 bestselling fantasy writer -- by a wide margin -- for many years now. He sells at least as well as Martin, and has been more consistent in turning in his books. I think it's fair to say that he floats a large portion of the Tor list, and not having a new Goodkind book will be a blow to Tor.

I don't know what the details of the new books are, but I have a very strong suspicion that they're not fantasy at all, which makes them a big gamble for any publisher.

And I probably would not characterize this as a "bidding war" -- Anonymous #2 didn't say what the form of the auction was, but if Tor was dropped after a too-low initial bid, it's probably some variety of "best-bid." (And, honestly, thinking about it now, the other bids might be not that much higher than Tor's -- I wouldn't be surprised if the agent and Goodkind had already decided not to take the Tor offer, unless it was really vastly the best offer, to make the break with fantasy more clear and obvious.)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

What should I use instead of bidding war?

[montoya.livejournal.com]

Huh, I didn't realize he sold that well. I thought he was down in that second tier of Tad Williams and Mercedes Lackey and whatever else. Although for all I know, I'm totally off on their sales figures, too.