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This has been a long-running saga, but it finally got to the stage where I thought it belonged on this site...
About a month ago I received a book proposal which I promptly rejected. To do this I sent a very polite letter saying the usual things: 'doesn't fit in with our publishing schedule, conflicting titles, hope you find a publisher' etc etc. Sometimes I mean this, especially if I get a proposal for a book that has merit but isn't our area, and I will often suggest another publisher better suited to the material. However, in this case I was just going through the motions. It was a bad subject and badly written. End of the matter, or so i think.
A week after sending the letter I got one back from Mental Man (MM). Having said (in my rejection letter) that part of the reason for rejecting it was that the subject was too close to another book we had already contracted for next year, MM had clearly decided this was the only reason we could possibly have not wanted his beloved book, and that if he cleared the matter up all would be well. He wrote that he didn't mind if we didn't print the book until 2013, in which case it wouldn't conflict with already contracted books. Sigh. He's missed the point. Fine. I'll bite. I reply and thank him for his interest in our company but that we would not be taking the matter any further.
A week later I get another letter. He lists 23 reasons why we should publish his book. His grammar gets worse towards the end. I think he needed his pills... I don't respond, because I've had enough.
Two days after that another letter. It has two testimonials from guys he co-wrote articles with in the 1990s. Ye gods.
Then the terrible really started to rain down. He decided to ring me up. Damn. Never sign your real name when rejecting books by crazies. The first call was quite straight forward; I said that the committee didn't feel that the book was right for us (a lie, I didn't waste their time on it, but I was desperate) and he asked for the names of other publishers he could try. I rattled off a few and hoped that was the end of it. But it wasn't.
MM rang up the next day. He said he had re-done the proposal and would I look it over again? I declined, saying that since the basic subject matter was still not what we wanted, there was no point.
A few days later he rang again. Was there someone more senior he could speak to? I said that I was responsible for commissioning military titles, so... no. Suck it up. I told him the matter was closed and to please not bring us the proposal again. I used my teacher voice.
He wrote to the CEO of our company asking him to consider the proposal. The CEO ordered a meeting. Scary stuff. It was over in 2 minutes once he realised what was going on. Apparently MM's letter had accused me of 'malpractise'. Good grief.
MM rang again. This time it was a one-sentence conversation:
'Hello, this is MM.'
'I'm afraid we have nothing to discuss. Goodbye'
The receptionist was told not to transfer any of his calls to me. Luckily he did not have my direct dial number. However, he is a sneaky SOB. He managed to get hold of another editor who can transfer calls from her phone. Cue several instances of him pleading with me for 10 seconds before I put the phone down.
Our HR head is now drafting a letter warning him we will contact the police if he keeps this up...
About a month ago I received a book proposal which I promptly rejected. To do this I sent a very polite letter saying the usual things: 'doesn't fit in with our publishing schedule, conflicting titles, hope you find a publisher' etc etc. Sometimes I mean this, especially if I get a proposal for a book that has merit but isn't our area, and I will often suggest another publisher better suited to the material. However, in this case I was just going through the motions. It was a bad subject and badly written. End of the matter, or so i think.
A week after sending the letter I got one back from Mental Man (MM). Having said (in my rejection letter) that part of the reason for rejecting it was that the subject was too close to another book we had already contracted for next year, MM had clearly decided this was the only reason we could possibly have not wanted his beloved book, and that if he cleared the matter up all would be well. He wrote that he didn't mind if we didn't print the book until 2013, in which case it wouldn't conflict with already contracted books. Sigh. He's missed the point. Fine. I'll bite. I reply and thank him for his interest in our company but that we would not be taking the matter any further.
A week later I get another letter. He lists 23 reasons why we should publish his book. His grammar gets worse towards the end. I think he needed his pills... I don't respond, because I've had enough.
Two days after that another letter. It has two testimonials from guys he co-wrote articles with in the 1990s. Ye gods.
Then the terrible really started to rain down. He decided to ring me up. Damn. Never sign your real name when rejecting books by crazies. The first call was quite straight forward; I said that the committee didn't feel that the book was right for us (a lie, I didn't waste their time on it, but I was desperate) and he asked for the names of other publishers he could try. I rattled off a few and hoped that was the end of it. But it wasn't.
MM rang up the next day. He said he had re-done the proposal and would I look it over again? I declined, saying that since the basic subject matter was still not what we wanted, there was no point.
A few days later he rang again. Was there someone more senior he could speak to? I said that I was responsible for commissioning military titles, so... no. Suck it up. I told him the matter was closed and to please not bring us the proposal again. I used my teacher voice.
He wrote to the CEO of our company asking him to consider the proposal. The CEO ordered a meeting. Scary stuff. It was over in 2 minutes once he realised what was going on. Apparently MM's letter had accused me of 'malpractise'. Good grief.
MM rang again. This time it was a one-sentence conversation:
'Hello, this is MM.'
'I'm afraid we have nothing to discuss. Goodbye'
The receptionist was told not to transfer any of his calls to me. Luckily he did not have my direct dial number. However, he is a sneaky SOB. He managed to get hold of another editor who can transfer calls from her phone. Cue several instances of him pleading with me for 10 seconds before I put the phone down.
Our HR head is now drafting a letter warning him we will contact the police if he keeps this up...
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