UPDATED: G.R.R. Martin denies rumor he already finished the books but made deal with showrunners not to publish until end of show

[Darashiva]

Wait, were people actually taking something like this seriously? Why on earth would either Martin or the show runners want the books to be delayed? Not only are they guaranteed to sell millions of copies upon release, but why would the show runners actively want to stop their actual source material to be published? Something like that benefits no-one.