Janet Evanovich May Be Leaving Long-Time Publisher St. Martin's Press

It isn't often that an author changing publishers makes news. But when the author is Janet Evanovich and the publisher is the St. Martin's Press imprint of Macmillan and the reported amount involved is $50 million for her next four books, that's news.

Deadline.com is reporting that Evanovich is considering leaving her long-time publisher. The article says she is the publisher's biggest fiction author.

St. Martin's Press has published Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries, without question her most successful series, since 1998, beginning with the fourth in the series. (Scribner published the first three books.) HarperCollins published the two books in a separate mystery series featuring Metro Girl Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby.

The most recent Stephanie Plum mystery, Sizzling Sixteen, has been near the top of the bestseller lists since its publication in mid-June. In addition to the "numbered" books in the series, Evanovich has also written four "between-the-numbers" books featuring the New Jersey bounty hunter.