What Does A Literary Agent Do?

If you've written a book, you need a literary agent to open the door to the big publishing house.

Or you could skip the advance and the contract and all that, and do it yourself. After all e-books are making huge advances into the hard-cover market, accounting for an increasing percentage of book sales.

The downside to the DIY scenario is that you have to do your own marketing and promotions, which isn't an easy task if you've no experience in either.

What if your agent did the publishing for you? They're more familiar with the non-creative side of publishing.

Up to now, however, it was considered unethical for an agent to also be a publisher. Too much conflict of interest, and too much risk of shady dealings for the Association of Author Representatives.

Recently, UK agent Ed Victor announced that he was becoming a publisher for client backlist offerings. That, and he hinted at the ability this new venture would give him to put out works that he loved, but publishers didn't.

Why should a good bit of fiction go unread because a few select editors couldn't afford it or weren't sure it would sell through?

What's good for Ed Victor is good enough for Curtis Brown's UK division.

They're joining the agent as publisher parade. They'll re-publish works that are out of print but still serviceable.

Are they to be considered at war with major publishing houses? The major publishers could retaliate and refuse to do business with Victor or Brown clients, but if everyone starts doing it, who's left for the publisher to acquire properties from? With rejected authors e-publishing on their own, and independent publishers cropping up on the landscape, with agents acting as publishers, it's clear that change is in the air. 

Whether or not it's a permanent change or a blip on the radar remains to be seen.