George R.R. Martin’s ASOIAF books once caused a Game of Bidding Wars among UK publishers

Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin is one of the most accomplished novelists today, with some of the best-selling books under his belt. The veteran author is already associated with a bunch of new shows, including Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon. The tale of his Game of Thrones novels, A Song of Ice and Fire series, is really interesting, and caused a riot among the UK book publishers for its rights.

A story collected by Winter Is Coming and narrated by longtime fantasy and sci-fi publisher John Jarrold, who also was a part of the bidding war, describes the turmoil Martin’s novels caused at the time of their inception into the market.

I was involved in the auction for the original GRRM SONG OF ICE AND FIRE trilogy in the 1990s, on behalf of Random House. It went on for several days!

— John Jarrold (@johnjarrold) July 24, 2021

Jarrold, who was there on behalf of the Random House back in the ’90s, recalled that the bidding went on for several days, calling it the biggest bidding war he had ever seen in his life.

Even back then, before the popularity explosion of the Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin was a pretty big name in the sci-fi industry, and the series back then was only limited to a trilogy. Jarrold lost the bid to Malcolm Edwards from HarperCollins, even though he had made the highest final offer during his time as a publisher.

By contrast, the situation was much more tame in the US, as reported by Los Siete Reinos, the rights went quite easily to Bantam Random House.

What do you think of the bidding war story? Tell us in thr comments below!

Read Next: George R.R. Martin will write Fire & Blood vol. 2 only after finishing Winds of Winter