Finally listening to the ever-interesting Erikson on the GT Podcast.
Wow. What a fucking lucky dude. After Gardens of the Moon was published and he was working on Deadhouse Gates, his publishers had first rights for refusal on book two. Another publisher tried to snag Erikson at a convention and his original publisher matched the competitor - on a nine year salary, four paychecks a year, supposing that Erikson would write a book a year.
"Basically, I had nothing to do but write."