March 23, 1959: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
Now to the piece de resistance, the Putnam contract for Starship Soldier:
First, my very warmest thanks to you for your unsparing efforts on this ms. I know that you thought it was weak (and so do I…and I intend to try to repair the weaknesses); nevertheless, you sold the serial rights to the leading specialty magazine and trade book right to a major trade house. My morale is greatly bucked up thereby.
I’ve been rather “shook up” over this ms…The book should be better than it is; I think I can improve it. I certainly will try to, working closely with an editor. Who will be my editor at Putnam?
September 19, 1960: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
…However, the Scribner’s angle is a special case. Yes, I do know that Miss Dalgliesh is no longer there. But my irk is not alone at her; it includes Mr. Scribner himself. I feel that I was treated in a very shabby fashion, and I regard him as in part responsible and do not wish to place any more stories with his firm. Scribner’s had published twelve of my books and every single one of them made a profit for them and each one is still making money for them. At one time Miss Dalgliesh told me that my books had kept her department out of the red.
So I offer a thirteenth book…and it is turned down with a brisk little note which might as well have been a , printed rejection slip, for it was just as cold and just as informative.
I then found it necessary to write to [George McC] to find out what the score was. He told me that it had been a joint action, in which several of the editors had read my ms-including Mr. Scribner-and that Scribner himself had joined in rejecting it.
Based on my royalty records I conjecture that my books have netted for Mr. Scribner something between $50,000 and $100,000 (and grossed a great deal more). They have been absolutely certain money-from-home for his firm…and still are. Yet after years and years of a highly profitable association, Mr. Scribner let me be “fired” with less ceremony than he would use in firing his office boy…not a word out of him, not even a hint that he gave a damn whether I stayed with them or not. I submit that this is rudeness, unpardonable in view of the long association.
Writers hear a lot of prattle about how speculative the trade book business is and how prestige houses (such as Scribner’s) will publish a book which might lose money because the author should be encouraged-and hope to make it up on the rest of their list. Well, I seem to be part of the “rest of their list,” the part that makes up their losses-for I certainly did not appear to be a writer they were willing to take even a little chance on, when it came to scratch. I was simply dumped.
Furthermore, the ms. couldn’t have been bad enough to justify dumping me in view of the fact that three other editors bought it…and then it went on to win the Hugo [Award] for [1959]. (Besides that, I notice that, despite — ‘s earlier worries, the trade book sold 5,000 copies in the first two and a half months…and now he tells us that sales are picking up.)
It seems to me that, if the pious crap they hand out about “taking a chance” on authors actually meant anything, Mr. Scribner himself would have said to his editorial board: “Maybe this isn’t the best book Mr. Heinlein has ever done-possibly it will even flop and we’ll lose a little money on him this time. But his books have been steady sellers in the past and we’ll have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps with a little revision it will be more acceptable; if you don’t want to write to him about revisions, let me look over the ms. again and I will write to him…but we can’t simply reject the book out of hand. Mr. Heinlein is part of the Scribner’s family and has been for years.”