For a long time, literary agents felt that it was a conflict of interest for them to act as publishers.
The times they are a-changing.
President of Nielsen Book, Jonathan Nowell, sees the growth of e-books as a factor in the decline of hardcopy sales. While people are still reading fiction, they are increasingly turning to the digital edition.
As you would expect, there's less money to be made in the highly price-competitive e-book, which leaves less for the literary agent. A wise publisher would offer much lower advances as well, knowing that the company will not sell hardcopies in the numbers they once did.
The problem for authors lies in the loss of display space. Without a Borders on every corner, the reading public will have a much more difficult time in discovering a writer, who will be fighting for attention through increased marketing and there go more profits turning into expenses.
Literary agent Sonia Land of Shiel Land took a bold step in an unknown direction when she acted as the publisher for Catherine Cookson's backlist. She created a publishing house and the books were released as digital editions of her late client's original works.
Ms. Land may be a step ahead of the game. Amazon.com is charging ahead with its publishing plans. Powerhouse agency WME has inked a contract directly with Amazon for one of their authors, a move that some might see as a conflict of interest for a literary agent. With authors showing a growing interest in taking their work direct to digital, it may not be such a conflict after all.
How many books has any given literary agent fallen in love with, only to be turned down by a big house publisher? If an avenue exists for that work to see the light of day, is it a conflict for the agent to do what he or she can for their client, even if it means acting as a publisher?
Batten down the hatches. It's not smooth sailing ahead.
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