Lord Archer may have suffered a spectacular fall from grace, but within minutes of the verdict, publishers and booksellers were speculating that even this would prove to be good publicity for the novelist.
Last night, Archer's publisher, HarperCollins, said that the four-year jail term would not affect the three-book contract it signed with the disgraced peer last year.
A spokeswoman for the publisher, which claims to have sold more than 100m books worldwide, said: "Jeffrey Archer is still a very big author, whose books are bestsellers all over the world. His sales have not suffered at all by all this."
The industry is awash with rumours that Archer will turn his prison time into material for another best-selling novel, or even a memoir. His publisher dismissed the claims as speculation, but Joel Rickett, publishing reporter on The Bookseller, said: "I am sure he will use it as the basis of his next novel. Certainly he has been taking frantic notes on his own trial in a very bizarre way."
Archer's recent efforts have failed to match the success of his novels in the 1980s. His last novel, The Eleventh Commandment, published three years ago, performed poorly.
There have already been signs that his most recent bout of notoriety has provided a much-needed sales boost. A book of short stories, To Cut a Long Story Short, published last year in the run-up to the trial, was a major success.
The libel trial in 1987 also seemed to have helped the author. The novel released at that time, A Matter of Honour, became his fastest-selling book, clocking up 1.3m sales. His other novels sold 1.25m copies in the same year.
The real test, however, will come in April, when the first book under the HarperCollins deal, Serendipity, is scheduled for release. "He is famous in the business for relentlessly promoting his books," Mr Rickett said. "He goes into shops and kicks up a fuss if his novels aren't given a good enough display and he does marathon signing sessions all over the world. It is amazing the effect that can have on sales, and he won't be able to do that."
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Picture gallery
Lord Archer - a life in pictures
Trial reports
Read how the trial unfolded
Background
Timeline: the life and times of Jeffrey Archer
Key quotes from the trial
Profile: Archer's year of living dangerously
Full text - the charges
Audio
19.06.2001: Archer 'spurned mistress for political career' (3mins 17)
