Bloomberg:

A book critical of Standard & Poor’s credit-rating service will be published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. after the author took back his manuscript from S&P-owner McGraw- Hill Cos.

John Wiley said on its Web site the 320-page book, “Bailout Nation: How Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy,” will be available in May. The author, Barry Ritholtz, said today he couldn’t discuss some specifics until he has received a final contract.

“We have a deal in place,” said Ritholtz, chief executive officer of equity-research firm FusionIQ. “I probably should have sought out a publisher in the first place that didn’t own divisions where there might have been a conflict of interest.”

Ritholtz said last month he withdrew the manuscript from McGraw-Hill after the New York-based publisher edited a section in which he wrote that its S&P unit, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service inflated their opinions in exchange for fees. McGraw-Hill said at the time the book had facts that needed verification before it could be printed.

Comment:

Johns Wiley & Sons, of Hoboken, New Jersey, is – coincidentally – the publisher of  “Mobs, Messiahs and Markets” (2007, Bonner & Rajiva). This is a happy ending for Ritholz, but it would be great to have seen him go with self-publishing, like  marketing guru-of-gurus Seth Godin.  Feeding Godzilla is probably not the best way to fight Rodan. Here’s my previous post on the subject.