A very popular publisher of tech books contacted me to work on a book about a DB. At the time I was working as a freelance writer for that DB company. They off

A very popular publisher of tech books contacted me to work on a book about a DB. At the time I was working as a freelance writer for that DB company. They offered me less than half a month's pay in advance. Then they told me if I wanted more money I could try to convince the DB company to sponsor the book... I mean of course a book about some tech product is good for the company selling the product. But the publisher basically wanted to get a writer for peanuts then get most of the profits from the book.