One after another, the literary agencies fall.
Latest to the e-book party is mega-agency Trident Media Group, in spite of Robert Gottlieb's earlier lack of enthusiasm for the concept of literary agents acting as publishers.
How does one square this change of position? Mr. Gottlieb says that Trident Media isn't a publisher. They're only helping their authors publish electronically. Trident E-Book Operations is going to be a separate entity within the agency, charged with aiding clients in managing their electronic versions.
One way they might manage e-books is by threatening the traditional publisher with keeping the digital rights unless the author gets a sizeable royalty in exchange. Pay up, or the author walks, and walks right into the E-Book Operations office where Trident Media employees can handle formatting, cover art, and distribution.
You want distribution? Anyone can use Smashwords, Kindle Direct or Barnes & Noble's PubIt, and cover all the formatting options without breaking a sweat. Trident's clients don't really need the traditional publisher for the digital edition, and the traditional publishers know it.
According to Mr. Gottlieb, Trident's version of the literary agency as publisher is different because they have an entire department dedicated to e-book production. It's not just the agent doing the work. It's a unit of this very large agency.
Nice image, but in the end, it's another case of a literary agency joining a growing trend, and joining in a hurry in case the trend becomes the norm and they don't want to be left behind.
What can the major publishers do?
Either pay more for digital rights, or watch the agents see to it that their clients reap the greater financial rewards that mean a bigger profit margin line for the agency.
After all, 15% of $10,000 is greater than 15% of $100, and you don't have to be a maths genius to realize that.
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