Agents as Publishers
There’s been a fair amount of discussion in writing circles about agents taking on the role of publisher, stepping in to help clients self-publish their work. When I published Goblin Tales [Amazon | B&N | Lulu], I did the majority of the work on my own, but my agent posted it for sale at Kobo and iBooks (taking their usual 15% commission on sales through those outlets).
Joshua and Eddie at JABberwocky have a post about the issue here, wherein Eddie says, “I think the decision to help an author self-publish a book, after failing to place it with a real publisher, is rooted in hubris.”
Keep in mind that JABberwocky has e-published several books already. The difference being that JABberwocky is publishing out-of-print backlist titles as opposed to releasing original work. Is that a significant difference? I think so. Does it eliminate any ethical conflicts or problems? That’s a better question.
Joshua asks about the agent’s role in the ever-evolving world of publishing. Personally, I want my agent to do several things for me:
- Negotiate with publishers on my behalf for the best possible deal.
- Work on those lovely foreign sales of my work.
- Help me build a long-term and successful career.
That first point is huge, especially when agents go into self-publishing. If an agent e-publishes a client’s original work, is that really the best possible deal? Personally, if I have a book that doesn’t sell, I’d be tempted to wait a few years and come back to it. For the most part, I’m skeptical that self-publishing an original book through your agent is the best possible deal for the author.
Some of the questions I’m asking as I try to sort out the ethics and potential conflicts of interest for myself…
- Is the agent charging an up-front fee for self-publishing, or are they working on commission?
- Is this service limited to clients, or are they offering to self-publish the work of non-clients as well? (The latter suggests they’re moving much more into being a publisher, and I want my agent’s primary focus to be representing clients.)
- Does the agent threaten former clients with legal action for describing the agency’s “assisted self-publishing initiative” as digital publishing? (Read this one and draw your own conclusions.)
- Is the agent pressuring clients to use their self-publishing service? (This would push me toward “Run away” mode.)
People have asked, “Why give your agent a cut for something you could do yourself?” But that holds true for agents in general. If you’re savvy enough, you can represent yourself, negotiate your own deals, sell your own work overseas … all it takes is time and expertise.
Some of us don’t have the time. Others lack the expertise. While I enjoyed putting together Goblin Tales and Kitemaster, I want to spend most of my time writing, not publishing. That means hiring someone else to do the work.
There are services out there that will do it for you. Is it better to keep those services entirely separate from agents? Maybe … here are a few things to consider in any case.
- If the agency is acting as publisher, is there a contract? Who’s negotiating that contract and checking to make sure your interests are protected?
- What happens if you and your agent part ways?
- Has the agent demonstrated that they can do this job well? (Being an author doesn’t mean you can typeset or do cover layout or the rest. Neither does being an agent.)
I think it’s an important conversation, and as always, I’d love to hear thoughts and discussion from other folks.
jonathanmoeller
August 2, 2011 @ 10:01 am
Not judging, just curious – why didn’t you do Goblin Tales through Smashwords for Kobo and iBooks? If you get a book in their premium catalog, it gets pushed out to Kobo, iBooks, and Sony, and I was actually quite surprised to see how many copies of my Ubuntu book I sold via iBooks in May/June.
(You’d think iPad users wouldn’t have a great interest in Linux, but there it is).
Jim C. Hines
August 2, 2011 @ 10:03 am
Mostly because Smashwords requires you to use their meatgrinder, which doesn’t do as good a job as I can do by hand-creating and checking the .epub file.
Stephen A. Watkins
August 2, 2011 @ 10:41 am
This is something I’ve been following fairly closely, myself. I’ve reserved judgment, as yet. But there does seem to be an inherent conflict of interest when an Agent – who is supposed to represent the author – becomes a publisher. Already, with Agents serving, effectively, as slush-readers for major publishing houses, there’s already a bit of a tighter coupling between agents and publishers than is probably strictly in an author’s true best interests. When agents become the publishers… well… as you say, who represents the authors in those deals?
Still… I can see how for some authors maybe this seems like the best option. I don’t know. Myself… as an author whose career hasn’t exactly “launched” yet… I’d be reluctant to sign with an agent who had a digital publishing arm. It just doesn’t quite pass my personal smell test.
Right now, as someone who’s not yet part of the publishing industry, I have the luxury of saying so. But I’m uncertain about what the future holds for publishing – and as such, I do worry about how what I’m saying about what I think of this whole situation now might potentially impact (possibly for the negative?) my prospects for starting a writing career later… There’s so much uncertainty, it’s hard to be, well, certain about anything in publishing.
Steve Buchheit
August 2, 2011 @ 1:16 pm
Wow, that is a whole can o’ worms.
MaxineMF
August 2, 2011 @ 3:59 pm
I don’t have the first clue about publishing. I’m almost finished with my first book to the point I’m asking myself “should I go through an agent and who should I hire?”
But I do know one thing: If I wanted to self-publish, I could do that easily on my own and twice over. Part of the thrill for me is wanting to send it in to publishers, possibly big names, and see if I get any takers. Obviously I know I will get a bunch of rejection slips, but that’s part of the game. If I get my book to be published by someone (hopefully big name) that means it’s actually a book that they are willing to take a chance on. Meaning that I’m actually a WRITER to some degree and not just some deluded 27 year old who has been writing since she was a kid and thinks she MIGHT have talent.
I’m looking forward to the honor of having some publisher’s name on my book. *sigh* If I ever get to that point. Getting a book “self-published” to me just seems like some quick, delusional way to get your book in print – I want to be READ.
Jim C. Hines
August 2, 2011 @ 4:02 pm
Um … should I point out, that I’ve self-published two titles, and am working on a third?
MaxineMF
August 2, 2011 @ 6:35 pm
Should I point out that I also mentioned I’m the idiot that don’t have the first clue about publishing. I’m only making assumptions from my lack of knowledge and what I’ve seen. Any clarification would be awesome. I just know that I’ve seen authors who got their books published themselves. People who were satisfied with just seeing it in print, or even the story I read about Paolini. I even had one such person, a local playwright of the area I lived in at the time, tell me after I mention I wanted to be published that she would help me to get my stuff self-published.
I meant no disrespect towards it and I hope you didn’t view it that way. I just didn’t think such books can find their way onto the bookshelves of the local B&N? Though, honestly, I’ve never seen even Goblin Hero there – I found that on my nook.
^_^ I’d be only too pleased to be educated on this subject of publishing you know *nudge, nudge*
*sigh* Sorry, I deserved the anger from that comment. That was a little wrong for me to put it that way when I’m as clueless as I am. My assumptions are probably all laughably wrong.
Jim C. Hines
August 2, 2011 @ 6:55 pm
Heh. That wasn’t angry. That was probably somewhere around mildly irked.
It’s not that your assumptions are wrong, per se, but I think they’re too broad. There are definitely a good number of authors who self-publish because it’s quick and easy, and end up selling only a handful of copies. A decade ago, the “common wisdom” suggested that most self-published titles sold fewer than 75 books, and from what I saw, that seemed to be correct.
E-books have changed things somewhat. A lot of people still e-publish and sell only a handful of copies, but more authors are using e-books both for original work and for backlist, and I think there are more successful self-published authors than there used to be, thanks to the growth of e-books. (I don’t know that there are a *lot* of successful self-published authors, and it depends on your definition or success, but definitely more than there used to be.)
In my case, I’m working on self-pubbing a few collections of short fiction. Because they’re e-books, they’ll never be in a bookstore. On the other hand, I’ve sold over 400 electronic copies of Goblin Tales. That’s nothing compared to my sales through my publisher, but it translates to about $800 in 4-5 months, for reprints of stories that were just sitting on my hard drive. Not to mention 400 potential fans 🙂
It’s a pretty big and messy conversation right now, and it would be easy to get overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of the opinions and arguments over self-publishing and e-books and the best route for authors. I can’t say what’s right for anyone else, but for me, if I had to start all over again, I’d still be working on getting a deal with a commercial publisher. I think the results of a “traditional” deal are going to be much better, in most cases, than trying to self-publish as an unknown.
Hope that wasn’t too long-winded!
MaxineMF
August 2, 2011 @ 9:15 pm
It wasn’t too long winded at all. I’m actually pretty long winded myself anyways. But, no, it was very informative.
I think “That’s nothing compared to my sales through my publisher” is the tell-all and is really what I was trying to get at. Self-publishing (and, you are right, I am being too general and I should say that some individuals could make it work – I’ve just never heard of it in my limited knowledge) is just a quick way to get your novel in print, make a little money, but have the immediate satisfaction of having the book in print. Immediate gratification, so to speak.
I have no real line on what marks a book as successful. Personally I don’t want to be “Harry Potter successful” but I do want to walk into a bookshelf and find my books on the shelf :3 MAYBE it’s OWN little display, haha. I just know that I want to go through the difficulty of going through a publisher because I think that in itself is a mark of success (and surfing your site today I found you humorously posted “Rejections collected since 1995: 500+”). To submit it, tear my book apart and rebuild it and resubmit it again until it’s PERFECT and I’ve LEARNED what the publishers acknowledge as being “marketable” – this is part of the whole writing trade in my eyes. Blood, sweat, tears, rejection slips, and – hopefully at the end – a few grateful fans.
If it works for you – that’s great – and I really hope my ignorance isn’t offending anyone or anything like that. I do agree, e-publishing is changing the industry quite a bit, which is fantastic. And I hope in the future things continue to improve!
August 3, 2011 Links and Plugs : Hobbies and Rides
August 3, 2011 @ 3:48 am
[…] Jim C. Hines on Agents as Publishers. […]
Tempest in a Teacup: Author Agents & Self-epublishing « The Undiscovered Author
August 3, 2011 @ 8:02 am
[…] This change, specifically, concerns the roles that Author Agents will play in the Brave New World of Publishing, which Jim comments on here. […]
Laura Resnick
August 4, 2011 @ 12:34 am
My feeling exactly! I use ZappTek’s Legend Maker software to convert my wp files to ePub and Mobi formats. And because I do the formatting and conversions myself, I’m well aware of how many formatting-revisions and how much attention to detail it takes me to ensure that the interiors of my self-published ebooks look as professional as I want them to–which is as professional and my traditionally published books do.
Smashwords meatgrinder isn’t as a good a system. At least not for me. (Last time I looked, Smashwords also only offered a DRM-free option, which I also don’t like.)
Jim C. Hines
August 4, 2011 @ 7:40 am
Yep. I’m okay with DRM-free myself, for what I’m doing, but I want to know the file is as good as I can make it.
I’m told I can upload to iBooks myself … if I get a Mac. The software is Mac-only, which — as one commenter described it — is pretty much a dick move on Apple’s part. Trying to figure out if any of my local friends have one I could borrow.
holly
August 4, 2011 @ 9:14 pm
But Jim, you were already a conventionally published author when you did your e-books, yes? I think there is a huge difference between an established author self-publishing some short stories as e-books and an unpublished author doing the same. The latter is still vanity publishing, whether it is print or digital. And digital publishing does not equal self-publishing on a web site. There seems to be a growing conflation of the two terms, which should be corrected.
Yes, of course it is possible to self-publish; expose your work to the world, have it picked up by a publisher, and go on to bigger and better things. Ask Scalzi, Doctorow, Paolini. But I wouldn’t count on that happening.
Jim C. Hines
August 4, 2011 @ 9:19 pm
Yes, I had a half-dozen commercial novels out there when I self-published my e-books.
“I think there is a huge difference between an established author self-publishing some short stories as e-books and an unpublished author doing the same. The latter is still vanity publishing, whether it is print or digital.”
While I agree with you that there’s a difference, the latter is not vanity publishing, at least not as I use the term. Writer Beware did a nice write-up of the terminology at http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/vanity/
carolynjewel
August 5, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
This is what concerns me:
I have a HUGE problem with any author paying 15% for something that should have cost you maybe $100 bucks IF you were going to overpay. I’d still have a problem even if the agency did the formatting work and paid for a boffo cover for you.
I write for two of the big 6. I have self-pubbed some of my reverted backlist so I have some math to back up what I’m saying. In my case, I did ALL the work on my own. I can assure you that uploading the files was a piece of cake compared to the formatting work.
This past July, my eBook receipts were $9500 from all vendors. Assuming, for ease, that I maintain similar sales for 2 years, if I’d done what you have, my agency would, over the course of a two year agreement (did you at least limit your agreement as to time?) be entitled to just over $34,000. For uploading files? That’s insane. I’m sorry, but that is just financial nuts.
My fixed costs for the backlist titles is about $700 per book, assuming I paid a lot for the cover, which I did not for some. I don’t need an editor or copy editor for my backlist so the expenses are just a good cover and my time to create well-formatted html and assemble the ePub (which I am now pretty darn good at) and I’m counting file customization per vendor. Once the files are created, it takes 15 minutes tops to fill out the upload information at the various vendors, and since the information is substantially the same for all vendors it’s a cut and paste job.
Jim C. Hines
August 5, 2011 @ 2:48 pm
“I have a HUGE problem with any author paying 15% for something that should have cost you maybe $100 bucks IF you were going to overpay.”
Whereas I’ve paid somewhere between $5 and $10, and with the e-book sales on that title slowing down, I’d be amazed if it ever reached even $50, which is half of what you suggested.
xdpaul
August 5, 2011 @ 3:03 pm
Pish-posh. I’m pretty sure she was giving a real-life demonstration of “quick and delusional.”
Jim C. Hines
August 5, 2011 @ 3:04 pm
Please see below for the follow-up.