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?

10 Reasons Agents Are Not Gatekeepers

I read Publishing Perspectives‘s recent article “What is the ‘New’ Publisher?” which got me thinking about the ways that agents breakdown the gatekeeper stereotype and how the role of the ‘gatekeeper’ is changing in the face of digital publishing. (If you haven’t read the article I highly recommend it. It follows the recent Futurebook conference in London.)

If you think agents are gatekeepers you are holding yourself back from a world of possibilities and not bucking the traditional model, but making yourself jaded and adverse to the opportunities that are unfolding every day.

Agents are not gatekeepers.

1. Agents’ skill set is not to close doors (which many querying authors think we do), but to open them. When we find a talent we are passionate advocates of we will knock on every door, throw rocks at every window, sift through every contact page, and not rest until our clients are happy with the work we’ve done for them. We don’t land every book, but we build our reputation on the ones we do so we keep working hard.
2. Agents project manage. We are not keeping good writing from reaching the marketplace. We are project managing on the editorial, marketing, sales and publicity side of books to make our authors successful.
3. Agents are contract experts. If you are published traditionally, indie, or self-publishing successfully you want an agent looking at contracts for clauses that can trip you up. Agents help you to know what you are signing.
4. Agents negotiate. Again, no matter what avenue you are taking to make your work public agents are needed to negotiate terms. Territories, length of term, royalties, subsidiary rights, warranties and indemnities–these all need to be combed carefully.
5. Agents can be publishers. While agents are steering away from calling themselves publishers they are facilitating ebook arrangements with companies like Smashwords to get their client’s work to market in ebook form. Agents are one of the most flexible people on your team: we can reach out to companies that do short ebook work like Byliner and Amazon singles; we can set you up with ebook only publishers like Carina Press and Entangled; we can find you a freelance publicist; and the list goes on.
6. Agents can be third party facilitators. Agents can work with companies like Open Road to develop brand properties. We work with film agents and talent agents.

The Environmental Impact of Book Publishing

While most people prefer the look, smell, and feel of print books how often do we consider the environmental impact of them and how much better ebooks and books printed on recycled paper are for the environment?

In an article by MarketWatch today they outline a new company called FutureMark Paper Company that is doing their part to convert publishers to using recycled paper. They have introduced “the first high-recycled premium coated paper produced in North America especially for textbooks, cookbooks, children’s books and other picture books requiring premium print fidelity.”

From the article:

100 tons of Future Book 90+ percent recycled paper delivers the following conservation benefits when used in lieu of 100 tons of conventional, non-recycled book paper:

• Saves more than 800 million BTUs of energy, which is enough to power nine average American homes for one year
• Saves more than 570,000 gallons of water
• Eliminates more than 84,000 pounds of greenhouse gases
• Saves approximately 1,450 trees

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.

Writers: How well do you know your digital rights?

How well do you know your digital rights?

I was going to rely on retweeting a couple of articles, but there are a lot of facts and points of contention to share. Writer’s unions are a great source of information about all the rights of authors, but digital rights are still a point of confusion. If you are a writer looking to get published you must get informed about your rights so you can ask the proper questions and be knowledgeable about the pertinent deal points!

Yes, it is an agent’s job to know this information on your behalf, but many writers are pursuing publication alone and there is no excuse to be misinformed when there is a wealth of information out there and lobbyists available to answer questions.

Copyright:

Do you know the difference between assigning and licensing rights? Assignment: the outright transfer of intellectual property from one party to another. Licence: the terms given to the permission, which the owner of an intellectual property right may give to any other person or parties to use that intellectual property.

You can assign rights, but agents always prefer to licence the work for reasons like foreign rights potential and being able to control the intellectual property.

Do you know how long copyright lasts? 70 years after the death of the author in the U.S., 50 years after the death of the author in Canada.

Copyright, at its core, protects the author to reproduce, revise, distribute, and display their own intellectual property.

Digital rights:

As book sales eagerly migrate from print to digital ebooks are no longer a subsidiary right, but a primary right that is a very important part of contract negotiations. Publishers have been firm on 25% ebook royalties (net receipts) but in the UK agents have been negotiating for 30-35% and getting it. Below, the Writer’s Union of Canada argues why ebook royalties should be 50%.

From this National Post article last week:

Author Greg Hollingshead, chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada, answered some questions from the National Post about the bill of rights.

Q: Many writers seem content to leave matters of digital rights to their agents. Why is it important they’re educated?

First Half of 2011 Publishing Round-Up

We are halfway through 2011 and the numbers and lists have been released:

Best Books of 2011 so far (from Amazon).

Best Kindle Books of 2011 so far (from Amazon).

Best Books of 2011 so far, by category (from Amazon).

The Bookseller reports on 2011 so far: publisher performance, half-year overview, and stats so far.

The Guardian reports on the best books of 2011.

Publishers Weekly released a report on 2011 so far: print falls 10%.

The Young Adult Library Association 2011 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults list.

The Chapters Indigo Blog best of the year, so far.

eBook sales up 160% for the first 6 months of 2011.

Finally, The Millions leaves us with the best upcoming releases in 2011.

My 2011 round-up?

Best published non-fiction: Doug Sanders Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World

Best published fiction: Paula McLain The Paris Wife

Best upcoming fiction: tie Diana Abu-Jaber Birds of Paradise and Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus both coming out in September 2011.

Q: What do you think are the best books of 2011 so far? What are you looking forward to reading when it comes out later this year?