Author Topic: Can a writer pull a book from a publisher even after they’ve signed contracts?  (Read 1291 times)

Vidya


I’m working on a cozy mystery where a woman married to a famous guy who has a clean, family guy image, finds out he’s been cheating on her with prostitutes.

She’s so furious she pens a tell-all with the help of a ghostwriter. She knows it will ruin his image.

He finds out, begs her forgiveness, goes to therapy for sex addiction, and swears he’s turned over a new leaf.

She’s not sure she believes him, but she realizes she acted in anger and she doesn't want to embarrass their kids by exposing their dad.

She wants to cancel her book, but the publisher refuses.

Then the publisher is murdered.

Some questions:

1. if she’s signed the contracts, can the publisher go ahead and publish the book even if she now wants to withdraw it? I hope so, since that gives her and her husband motives and makes them suspects in his murder.

2. apart from the publisher, who else would know about the contents of the book? I assume the ghostwriter, the editor, a publicist, and who else? If it hasn’t reached cover designer stage, the artists would not know.

3. I’m thinking if he’s a big publisher, so many people in the company would know about the contents of the book, that killing him would even be meaningless. Any of them could anyway go to the tabloids and leak the info.

So I’m thinking of making him a small indie publisher. She gives him her book because she’s his sister and she figures she’ll help his company make millions with her book. She never expects her own brother will later refuse to help her. If he’s that small, he may not even have a publicist.

What do you think of it all?

Thanks for any feedback.
 
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TimothyEllis

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1. Contracts are contracts. Not a matter of can, but going to. Not delivering the manuscript would be a breach of contract as well.

2. The cleaner might have read parts of it.

3. The company would go on without him anyway, so book still gets published.

4. Brother secretly hates the husband, and refuses to not publish. It may also be seen as a potential best seller, and money then becomes the primary motivation for publishing.

There could be issues of buying back the contract, which she cannot afford to do, especially with husband not knowing she wrote it.

Personally, I'd have one of the prostitutes have killed him, as he sought them out after reading the first draft, and then it becomes personal, and nothing at all to do with the book.

The book gets published, but as a novel with all the names changed, and does become a best seller.
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VisitasKeat

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Your story as such is very interesting! This can become a bestseller just like the one in the story! Hahaha!

The brother can murder the sister as well as he's only interested in making money. And he can control the assets of his billionaire brother-in-law which as such goes to the children. The brother may plan to screw his innocent nephews in the future all the while maintaining a kind face. Would it be fine if the brother is single? Or, maybe his wife happens to be a real bitch and a co-conspirator? How the detective busts up the case would be very interesting!

Indie publishing would suit as you say cos leaking news is very easy in big publishing offices.

I think the ghostwriter hired by the brother holds the key to the case. And what if it happens to be the wife or sister or mother of the detective, assuming the detective lives alone? Or even his daughter who studies MFA and stays in hostel? Twisty endings galore!
 
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VisitasKeat

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Note: I meant the ghostwriter murders the brother-in-law and the sister.

What will the detective do when he discovers about his family member? Will he get murdered as well?
 

Vidya

Thanks, Tim and VisitasKeat. that’s good feedback. I like it because it gave me more ideas for suspects.

Maybe instead of the prostitutes, he’s been having one long term affair with a woman in the public eye, a politician of some sort. She too is married with kids and she too would lose everything if her affair was revealed. So she’s another suspect.

And if the writer of the tell-all has adult children, she could confess to them she penned the book and they would be old enough to kill the publisher, especially if he’s their uncle and they have easy access to him. So, more suspects.

I like that. I’ll also see what I can do with the ghostwriter, how best to work him/her in, and a more twisty ending.

Ok, I thought of something. How about if the ghost fell in love with the wife while he was writing the book?

He anyway got paid, so why care if the book is published or not. He wants to save the wife and her kids embarrassment. So he could be another suspect. He doesn't have to have killed the publisher, just needs to be another suspect.

The police feel he killed the publisher to stop the book being published. They suspect this when they see the wife and ghost are now lovers and she plans to leave her husband to be with the ghost.

What do you think?
 

TimothyEllis

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And if the writer of the tell-all has adult children, she could confess to them she penned the book and they would be old enough to kill the publisher, especially if he’s their uncle and they have easy access to him. So, more suspects.

Never overlook kids as suspects.

There are some pretty evil 8 year olds out there, you know.  grint
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Vidya

It did occur to me the kids could be real kids but I think I might have the daughter be in her twenties since she would make a suitable young heroine, the POV character.

Some of the cozies I’ve read don't even have this much of complication that I’ve given above. Many rely mainly on humor and some romance to carry the story. Many cozy plots are quite minimal, especially on the whodunit side.

But I want a strong mystery plot with a good number of suspects who actually have a good motive. Often in whodunits, the actual killer has some silly motive.
 

TimothyEllis

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Have you watched the tv series Vera?

They are very good for taking a double episode to weed through all the possible suspects.
Genres: Space Opera/Fantasy/Cyberpunk, with elements of LitRPG and GameLit, with a touch of the Supernatural. Also Spiritual and Games.



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Vidya

will watch it if they ever air it in India. I wish I had watched Castle more closely but early on I felt that while the characters were charming, the actual mysteries werent that clever.

Now Monk was genuinely funny even if the mysteries weren’t that intricate. I wish they would air it again because I would love to watch it all over again.
 

VisitasKeat

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Yes, your fresh ideas are interesting too. Now, how about the two sets of kids attempting to murder each other? Wouldn't that be a further twist in the tale?
BTW, if you watch Hostel movie you can see what kids are capable of! Watch the uncensored version if you don't mind gore and filth!
 

Al Stevens

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I signed a contract for a 6th edition of a best-seller and submitted a finished manuscript.
The publisher decided to change the format of the line of books to something I found unworkable, plus it would have involved more work on my part than I thought was necessary.
I told them to go with the original format, of which five editions had already been published and had sold well.

They took it upon themselves to change the format inhouse and published.

That's as far as I can go with your questions. But for the rest of the story:

The 6th edition was a disaster. The book was about C++ programming, and none of their inhouse formatters knew anything about the subject.

Consequently, I got a generous advance to write the 7th edition in the format of my choice.

The biggest problem is that Amazon and other distributors lump the reviews for the title into one set. Reviewers rarely mention the edition. That edition pulled down the average star rating for an otherwise successful title.
     
 
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Lorri Moulton

Cozies are getting more complex...at least on Hallmark. Their writers have added a lot more twists and turns to their recent mystery series.  The reason I mention it is that they're also publishing mystery books now.

Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 
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