Mediabistro Editor Departs to Complete Novel

I’ve often referred to news items posted on mediabistro, a website dedicated to providing industry news to journalists, writers, editors, freelancers, photographers, and basically everyone who works with the written word. Elizabeth Spiers, the editor-in-chief of the great site, recently resigned her position in order to complete a novel and do some freelance work. In a memo to staffers that was published by Gawker, Spiers states “I sold a novel on a partial manuscript last week to a major publisher… and have decided not to renew my contract, which expires November 1. I need to focus on finishing the book and would like to do some freelance writing, which I haven’t had time to do during my time here.”

Publishers Marketplace reports that the novel is called And They All Die in the End and was sold to Geoffrey Kloske at Simon & Schuster. Kate Lee at ICM represented the deal for the novel, said to be a satire of both Wall Street and the media.

Congratulations to Elizabeth although her work on the ‘bistro will be missed. But what I want to know is where are all these partial-manuscript, first-novel deals coming from these days? Dana Vachon sold a novel based on a proposal, Spiers sold this partial, and there have been several other partial novel deals that I just can’t remember the details about right this moment. The one golden rule for aspiring fiction authors has always been that you must finish the book before trying to sell it. But I keep seeing more and more of these partials.

I gotta do some research… more on this topic later.