A New Digital Dialogue for Agent Representation

When having conversations with prospective clients the conversation has changed. It now revolves around asking plans for digital, ebooks, whether the author wants the agent involved editorially or contractually. These questions weren’t an issue 1 to 5 years ago, but are at the forefront of conversations agents are having with writers in 2012.

Questions emerge like:

• How long are you committed to a traditional publishing deal until you may want to self publish?
• If you do want to self publish projects do you want/expect an agent to help edit structurally, substantively, and copy edit?
• What communication style do you prefer? Email, phone, Twitter, text, Facebook?
• What are your feelings about agents venturing into self-publishing their own authors?
• Are you comfortable with submitting your projects to digital-only imprints?

When and How to Self-Publish: What To Expect, When To Do It, and How to Do It Right Live Webinar

Those of you who are interested in self-publishing an agent friend of mine, Meredith Barnes with Lowenstein Associates, is hosting a webinar tomorrow afternoon for Writer’s Digest.

Here is the information:

Session date: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Starting time: 1:00 pm Eastern
Duration: 90 minutes

Each registration comes with access to the archived version of the program and the materials for 1 year. You do not have to attend the live event to get a recording of the presentation or ask the presenter questions. In all WD webinars, no question goes unanswered. Attendees have the ability to chat with the instructor during the live event and ask questions. You will receive a copy of the webinar presentation in an e-mail that goes out one week after the live event. The answers to questions not covered in the live presentation will be included in this email as well.

ABOUT THE CRITIQUE
All registrants are invited to submit any ONE of these three options for a critique from agent instructor Meredith Barnes: 1) the first three double-spaced pages of their manuscript, 2) their catalogue copy, 3) or their query (300 words or fewer) as part of the event. All submitted materials are guaranteed a critique.

ABOUT THE WEBINAR
It’s no secret that the publishing industry is changing dramatically in light of digital publishing, but what that means — and how to best profit from the changes — is still confusing and opaque to many. New venues are opening up for authors to showcase their work, but pitfalls appear as well, and digital and legacy publishing have complicated relationships. Because the decision to self-publish is such a big one, and because that decision made without all the information can derail a career, this 90-minute session will cover the basics: all you need to know to get your book in the five major retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Apple, and Kobo.

Being An Agent in the Age of Digital Publishing: Social Media and Ebooks

Are you following me on Twitter? @carlywatters

Many agents and editors can tell you to start a blog, get a Twitter feed following, and to think about how to publicize yourself in case you don’t get much help from your publishing house. All of this on top of writing a novel, yes.

At P.S. Literary we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. I’ve had a Twitter account since early 2010, an agent blog that gets 1,000 hits a month and we’ve recently redone our website to reflect our dedication to consistent agency and author brands.

We’ve recently begun to explore the option of a freelance publicist, communications intern, and are always open to ideas from our authors on how to better support them in these changing times.

Our clients have done ebook first then print book arrangements as well as follow traditional publication models.

We aren’t going to open a digital publishing arm as there are digital publishers that already do this so well. We will continue to do what we do best: licence rights (whether print or digital), support our authors’ careers and offer guidance, negotiate contracts to best reflect the changing interest of publishers and authors, on behalf of our authors.

For my great tips on social media see this post from earlier in the year. Follow me on Twitter here.

Ebook Anonymity Leads to Increase in Romance Genre Sales

A digital bookshelf leaves room for customers to buy whatever they please, not just what they think they should be reading.

A study in the UK confirmed “their bookshelves may be packed full of classical literature, but readers with high-brow tastes prefer low-brow ebooks, it has been claimed. It would appear that many are taking advantage of the secrecy that ereaders such as the Kindle afford them. They can save embarrassment in public by disguising what they are reading, whether it be a pulp fiction bestseller, the latest chick-lit title or an erotic novel.”

This in turn has great opportunities for writers who write in the ‘guilty pleasures’ genres. Romance is doing very well in ebook form. Romance readers buy lots of books and continue to show signs that ebook consumption will overtake physical book consumption. Voracious romance readers read four to five books a week!

Genre-fiction like science fiction and romance account for more than 20 percent of all e-book purchases (via the ongoing study of consumer attitudes toward ebook reading by New York’s Book Industry Study Group).

IFOA International Visitors Meetings: What’s going on in foreign markets?

At the International Festival of Authors (IFOA) International Visitors (IV) programme in Toronto Monday I had meetings with 13 industry professionals (editors, agents, and scouts) from around the world. Following the meetings was a publishing panel discussing co-publishing and featured a keynote from Stephen Rubin from Holt. The International Festival of Authors brings together the best writers of contemporary world literature for 12 days of readings, interviews, lectures, round table discussions, and public book signings each October.

What’s going on in foreign markets?

Brazil: Books are now being sold in supermarkets which is a great for commercial publishing. Only big titles are being picked up by supermarkets, like here. Door-to-door catalogue book sales are big in Brazil because not everyone has a computer. A Brazil company has its own line of ereading devices, they do not use Kindle or Kobo at this time. Publishers are looking for YA and next year the Brazilian government is going to buy tablets for every student, so expect the ebook market to take off very soon!

China: They still have government restrictions on what they can publish. I heard conflicting reports about piracy in China. One report said it was a big issue and the other said it was becoming less of a problem. While it is in publishers best interest to report little piracy, it is still ongoing.

French Canada: They are looking for shorter works of fiction and nonfiction, not lengthy tomes.

U.K.: U.K. publishers have had great success with movie tie-ins like ‘One Day’ and ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’. The books that work in the U.K. that are big are often pop-culture or humour related and aren’t transferable to North American readership. U.K. publishers don’t ‘Anglicize’ American fiction and vice versa.

U.S.: Hardback sales are down 17%, trade paperback sales are down 17%, mass market paperback sales are down 15%, but ebook sales are up 153%. However, print still dominates 75% of the market. U.S. publishers are looking for authors that can repeat their success with multiple books on their list. They are looking to publish less authors and keep their lists lean, but to put more behind them. U.S. editors are still looking to foreign markets to publish in translation. They are still taking chances on debuts.

Discourse On Digital Publishing Transformations

When I entered publishing at the beginning of the digital revolution (pre-iPad) it was about discovering what social media was and how it can work within the existing publishing model, scanning contracts to have accessible digital files, going through old contracts and renegotiating outstanding digital rights, internally rejecting e-reading practices on principle because we were all voracious lovers of the print book.

What we know now: the digital revolution is a matter of adapting, knowing as much as your consumer knows digitally, and moving forward to improve the industry from a holistic business perspective.

All of that stuff is assumed now, but the ongoing truth remains. Here’s the secret: no one knows definitively what they’re doing.