I&#x27;m curious why the author&#x27;s agent didn&#x27;t just approach other mainstream publishers with it. After all, if he&#x27;s a critical and commercial success with HarperCollins then it&#x27;s very likely that someone, somewhere will take a serious interest. Now I know that the publishing world has conglomerated a lot in the last 20 years...but still there are other players.<p>edit: and editors at other imprints owned by the same group will often take a different view.