A co-worker of mine started watching House of the Dragon and asked me to borrow the Song of Ice and Fire books. I gave her the usual disclaimer about the fact that the series may never be finished and let her borrow them.
I am curious as to why GRRM's publisher doesn't cut ties with him or how he can get away with not doing anything with his main series. Is it because he has enough money that it wouldn't matter or that he publishes side books like Fire and Blood to make the publisher happy? Had he released Winds of Winter before season 6 it would've been massive. Granted, I'll still buy it when it comes out ( I am thinking Winds of Winter will come out eventually but I don't think book 7 will).
I honestly think what will happen is that the publisher will wait until he dies and then gather all his writing and hire someone to complete the books with it. I find it highly interesting that now GRRM is claiming the books will be different and attacking GOT. Although HBO is a fool to keep working with him because had he finished the series, GOT would've been much better at the end.
GRRM is a god in the writing community and can command huge bucks from streaming services. That's why he stopped writing GoT. He knew that nothing he could write would exceed expectations and he just gives 0 fucks since he can't keep topping himself.
His publisher has 0 leverage and he could fire his publisher and have the whole industry beg for him.
His HBO deals isn't like his books. HBO has a contract and they're going to squeeze him to get everything they paid for.
With the GoT series, nobody has any leverage to squeeze him with. The fans? He doesn't give a fuck about them.