Skyhorse picks up Mailer anthology, as Random House passes

Norman Mailer's long-term US publisher Random House has declined to publish an anthology of his writing, with indie Skyhorse Publishing picking up the book instead, though the late author's son stressed his father has not been "cancelled".

Andrew Wylie, founder of the Wylie Agency which represents the Mailer estate, said Skyhorse Publishing will release the book and Random House has waived any reprint fees for the title.

Wylie told the New York Times: “Random House is proud to publish Norman Mailer, and intends to promote his work significantly for the centennial, in tandem with the publication by Skyhorse of the anthology. The Mailer family and Random House are united in support of Norman’s work.”  

He told The Bookseller the book had not yet been submitted to UK publishers but would be once the text was ready, most likely in the summer. The majority of Mailer’s work in the UK is published by various divisions of Penguin Random House though some of his titles have also been released by Little, Brown and Taschen among others. 

Both Wylie and the late author's son John Buffalo Mailer rejected a claim from the online publication the Ankler by journalist and author Michael Wolff, which alleged Random House dropped the project in the US because of misgivings from a junior staffer about Mailer’s work, notably “The White Negro”. 

John Buffalo Mailer told the New York Times that Random House had declined to ever make an offer for the book. While he said that “we would have liked to have done this book with them” he believed Random House had declined “because this is the first commercial book of Norman’s that’s going to come out in the era we’re living in, and there’s going to be a lot of questions”. 

“They didn’t feel they were the right house to do this book right now,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t think they have any interest in trying to cancel Norman Mailer. You can’t cancel Norman Mailer.” According to the Times, though he was disappointed by Random House’s decision, the author’s son said he doesn’t blame the company for passing on a single title and noted that it continues to publish the bulk of his father’s work. 

Random House told the newspaper that it was “factually incorrect that Random House cancelled an upcoming book of essays by Norman Mailer” and that the book was never under contract. 

Skyhorse, which has headquarters in New York, has previously taken on works dropped by US publishers including Woody Allen’s memoir Apropos of Nothing, which had originally been planned for release by Hachette, and a Philip Roth biography written by Blake Bailey, which was pulled by W W Norton but remains in print in the UK through Jonathan Cape. 

The Bookseller has contacted Random House for comment.