Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed By Clive Cussler with Craig ...

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Oh, the shame of it all. Rejected by my own editor and publisher. It was me against the world, and the
world was winning. Peter sent the renounced manuscript to Putnam, but the editor there wanted a
massive rewrite, and I refused to do it. Out of the blue, Viking Press bought it, asked for very few
changes and paid me seventy-five hundred dollars.
Then strange forces went to work.
An editor from Macmillan in London was visiting an editor friend at Viking and heard about the story.
Since, as he put it, the Titanic was a British ship, he asked for a copy of the manuscript to read on the
plane back to England. He liked it and wanted to buy it. Luckily, Peter had soldIceberg to Nick Austin
at Sphere, a small publishing house in London, for, I believe, about four hundred dollars. Since Sphere
had the first option, they put in a bid forRaise the Titanic! that was promptly topped by Macmillan.
When the bidding war was over, Sphere owned the book, paying twenty-two thousand dollars, which
was rather a healthy sum for Britain in those days.
A week before, I had pulled off one of my craftier moves. Somehow I got the gut feeling that things
were falling my way. I called Peter and asked him if I might get the rights back toThe Mediterranean
Caper . He replied it shouldn't be a problem since it was out of print.
He was right. Pyramid signed over the rights without a protest. At that time, Jonathan Dodd at Dodd
Mead notified Peter thatPlayboy Publications had offered four thousand dollars for the paperback
rights toIceberg . Peter commented that since it was the only game in town, I might as well play. Again,
something tugged at my mind. I instructed Peter, "Tell Jonathan that I'll pay him five thousand dollars for
the exclusive rights toIceberg ." Peter thought I was crazy. "Authors do not buy back rights," he
admonished me. "It just isn't done in the publishing business. Besides, it's a dumb play. You split the four
thousand dollars with Dodd Mead, so it would be stupid to offer them three thousand dollars up and
above the offered price fromPlayboy ."
Following my instincts and with a mania to own what's mine, I commanded, "Offer Jonathan the five
thousand dollars."
Two hours later, Peter called back. "It's a mystery to me why, but Jonathan okayed the deal."
"How can he miss?" I replied. "He's making an extra three thousand dollars."