David, thank you for saying such kind words about my blog and me. I'm very touched. In the last couple of hours the winner of the BWA has left this comment on my blog post:

"When I was informed I was a finalist I was shown a sample contract, as were all the other potential winners. I had it checked out by The Society of Authors (of which, by then I was a member) and was told it was fine. I then signed an agreement with the BWA to say that if I won, I would be happy with this contract. My book was already ‘in print’ with Chandler’s Book Design so the editing process had already been done."

I'd love to see what a good agent thought of that contract, and whether or not they considered a boiler-plate contract with a book packager to be "fine"; and having a self-published book "in print" with anyone doesn't guarantee it's been edited to anything like the necessary degree, as we very well know.

Ms Cooper is happy with her lot, and I'm very pleased for her. But that doesn't mean that this episode has been handled well, nor that it's a good solution for everyone--or anyone--else.