E-Book Reckoning Is At Hand

The publishing industry is in turmoil because no one knows exactly how to handle e-books and digital rights.

Literary agents attending the Publishers Launch conference in Frankfort, Germany, have let it be known that publishers had best get their act together, for the day of reckoning is at hand.

They're at risk of becoming dinosaurs, those traditional publishers, because they don't know which way the digital world will evolve and they're too slow to move. For that reason, some literary agents have taken over the task of publishing their clients' e-books.

The industry waits for no one. Standing still won't get it done these days.

Like so many other problems, the issue is one of money.

Agents have a vested interest in getting the highest rate of return for their authors, since the agents' commission is larger when the author's royalties are greater.

Traditional publishers want to keep slogging along in their accustomed rut, but everyone knows that e-books are cheaper to produce and distribute. The authors want a bigger piece than has been offered in the past, knowing that the publisher is getting a much bigger piece and who did the actual work to create the book in the first place?

There are those in the old-fashioned print world who see the digital book as a threat and so they shun it. Authors and literary agents see the digital book as a cheap alternative to the hard copy, just as the paperback was the alternative to hardbound books. More people could afford to read when the cost of the book went down, and more books were sold.

Computers are everywhere. Smart phones abound. All have applications for downloading e-books, which means e-books could be distributed everywhere and maybe, just maybe, more people would be tempted to read a book when it's a relatively cheap entertainment.

Until publishers accept such a potential, the literary agents will keep looking out for their authors and handle the e-book rights in a way that yields a maximum payout.

Publishing is changing. If publishers don't take a hard look at their business model and find a way to reimburse authors at mutually acceptable rates, they may lose out to an author whose agent assists in the creation and publication of an e-book where all sales income goes back to the author.

Sooner, rather than later, the publishing houses will have to understand that something would be better than nothing, especially when a printing press and book bindery aren't needed in a paper-free world.