Wiley to Publish Bailout Nation

The deal is now official, so I can make the announcement: Wiley is the new publisher of Bailout Nation. They wee one of more than a dozen publishers that approached me about the book.

The  denial from the PR weenies at McGraw Hill was classic. Here is my favorite part:

The book didn’t meet our editorial standards,” Mary Skafidas, a McGraw-Hill spokeswoman in New York, said in an e- mailed statement. “When we could not come up with a unified approach, we released him from his contract.”

Mary, we both know that is not true.

First, you said you couldn’t verify the sources. But then I showed all of the footnotes, 90% of which had URLS to the original article. Then you said your fact checking department had a problem —  but it turns out that according to GalleyCat, you guys don’t even do fact checking anymore. Now we hear it didn’t meet your editorial standards.

Tsk tsk, Mary. Because of your transgressions against the Truth, I have a very special present planned for you and McGraw Hill. But, you are going to have to wait for when the book comes out to see it. I am very excited about it.

Meanwhile, here are some words from people who don’t lie for a living:

Bloomberg:

A book critical of Standard & Poor’s credit-rating service will be published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. after the author took back his manuscript from S&P-owner McGraw- Hill Cos.

John Wiley said on its Web site the 320-page book, “Bailout Nation: How Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy,” will be available in May. The author, Barry Ritholtz, said today he couldn’t discuss some specifics until he has received a final contract.

“We have a deal in place,” said Ritholtz, chief executive officer of equity-research firm FusionIQ. “I probably should have sought out a publisher in the first place that didn’t own divisions where there might have been a conflict of interest.”

Ritholtz said last month he withdrew the manuscript from McGraw-Hill after the New York-based publisher edited a section in which he wrote that its S&P unit, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service inflated their opinions in exchange for fees. McGraw-Hill said at the time the book had facts that needed verification before it could be printed.

Publishers Weekly:

Last month, McGraw-Hill cancelled the publication of Bailout Nation: How Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy, a book critical of Standard & Poor’s, which is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, and yesterday, author Barry Ritholtz, inked a deal with Wiley to publish the book. McGraw-Hill had maintained it canceled publication because of problems with corroboration;  no one from Wiley was immediately available to discuss if they will change the book at all.

Ritholtz’s attorney-agent, Lloyd J. Jassin, brokered the deal with Kevin Commins, executive editor at Wiley. Jassin said that the original story about McGraw-Hill cancelling the book, which broke in Portfolio, then PW and then was picked up by Newsweek last week, “set off a deluge of offers from publishers.” He said, “We feel very comfortable with Wiley.” The book will be released in early April with a May pub date.

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Sources:
Wiley to Publish Book Critical of McGraw-Hill’s S&P
Greg Bensinger
Bloomberg, March 3 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aAZH6Em6zWyM&

Wiley to Publish Book Canceled by McGraw-Hill
Lynn Andriani
Publishers Weekly, 3/3/2009 2:50:00 PM
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6641478.html