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Yesterday, Jesse Eisinger reported that McGraw Hill dropped Barry Ritholtz's book, Bailout Nation. Barry said that it’s due to his harsh treatment of the ratings agencies (Standard & Poor's is owned by McGraw Hill).

McGraw Hill says that it’s dropping the book due to editorial conflicts. This strikes me as an exceedingly lame excuse. Jesse quotes Barry, “All the conversations I had with them, they made apparent this was all about S&P's role as sister company.”

Felix says that the relationship probably fizzled due to chemistry as well, and I think he’s right. McGraw Hill certainly didn’t want the book to be dropped. I think they underestimated dealing with a blogger like Barry who’s not going to let himself get pushed around. They pushed too hard and he walked.

The bottom line is that McGraw Hill is making a big mistake. The book was going to be a hit and now it’s going to be an even bigger hit. My bet is that a publisher will pick it up by the end of the week.

Posted by edelfenbein at February 11, 2009 11:27 AM