Authors used to face the daunting question, “Should I try to find a literary agent or would it be better to self-publish?” But these days the line between self-publishing and finding an agent seems to have blurred and the new question on a writer’s mind is whether to self-publish traditionally or with the help of an agent.
When I first heard the term agent-assisted self-publishing I thought, “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” The term, self-publishing, denotes that the writer will be putting their book out themselves. Plus, if you have an agent who has publishing-contacts and believes in your work, then why would you or your agent want to publish outside of a publishing house? It sounded to me like the term was thought up by people who wanted to pass themselves off as agents (take 15% of your revenues) without doing the job of an agent, brokering the book.
With this in mind I did some research. To my surprise I found several known literary agents were offering self-publishing to their clients. Laurie McLean, of the Larsen Pomada Literary Agents, and Ted Weinstein, of the Ted Weinstein Literary Management, both recommend self-publishing to their clients for backlist titles, and Laura Rennert, of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, pushes for independent publishing when traditional publishing routes fail.
This led me to wonder what literary agents do when they assist a writer with self-publishing. The traditional role of an agent is to query publishers and once an interested publisher is found the agent works out a contract between the writer and the publisher. After the print rights have been sold to an English language publisher, the agent may sell off any additional rights that have not been sold such as Foreign Language Rights, Film Rights, Digital Printing Rights, etc. (For selling the rights to your book an agent traditionally takes 15% of all royalties.) However, since self-publishing doesn’t require the agent to query publishers or sell your book rights, they have started offering other services.
Agent-assisted self-publishing services differ from agent to agent, but they may include the following: editing and proofreading, cover design, jacket copy, formatting, digital conversion, setting up a publishing entity like Amazon, and in some cases marketing. For writers who already have an agent who has sold the rights to one of their books to a traditional publisher and wishes to stay with that agent while digitally self-publish backlist titles these can be some nice services. In a sense the agent becomes the publisher and takes care of the self-published work while also making sure you get your royalties from your traditional published work. However, if a writer is self-publishing their first book, a 15% commission for these services can be a steep price.
Imagine you digitally publish your manuscript online and sell each copy of your book for $2.99. A year goes by and your novel, Hot and Heavy Escape to Shanghai, sells 50,000 copies (the supposed magic number needed to be sold before traditional publishers take notice). Without taking into consider a percentage that might go to your online seller you would net $149,500. Of that amount your agent would take home $22,425 for editing your manuscript, hiring a designer to make a cover, and converting your novel to a digital file that can be read by a digital reader like Kindle.
If you self-publish Hot and Heavy Escape to Shanghai without the aid of an agent you would spend $500-$1,500 to have an editor proofread your manuscript, $100-$1000 for cover design, and $60-$300 for digital conversion. (These numbers are rough estimates based on various services available online and their current fee as of April, 2013.) So, if you self-publish by contracting out the work to various services you would probably spend $660-$2,800. The gamble of recouping that money would be entirely on you, but if you sold 220-936 copies of your book you’d be in the clear.
After looking at these numbers your probably thinking there’s no way I would self-publish Hot and Heavy with agent-assistance. Still, there’s one other details that an agent can currently bring to the table we haven’t discussed yet. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing “White Glove” Program is only available to agented authors. Through this new program books are promoted by Amazon for thirty days on their site which can lead to authors seeing a spike in sales. According to various authors who use it, WGP also offers support, personalized cover design, and free digital conversion. However, the program requires the author to sign a 6-12 month contract where the book can only be sold by Amazon. While the promotion has been said to make a difference in book sales, the exclusive contract makes it impossible for a book to be listed as a best-seller by the New York Times or USA Today because both newspapers require sales reporting from more than one venue. Author, Sarah Alderson, reported on her blog, “It’s like the VIP channel for Ryanair. It’s not like flying First class but it makes the journey more pleasant.”
With all the facts seeming to side with self-publishing yourself rather than agent-assisted we have to ask why writers are signing these contracts and why literary agents are offering them. In some cases the agent has exhausted every traditional publisher they have contact with and the only way the writer will get published is if they do it independently. Since the agent has been trying to sell the right to the manuscript for some time the writer feels compelled to give the agent the 15% commission. In other cases the authors have experimental works, non-traditional-length works, or backlist titles that they would like published in addition to their already traditionally published work and going through their agent is the best way to do it. In an article published by PBS, agent Laura Rennert said, “The answer is that authors are driving this trend in publishing and it is my job as a literary agent to represent my author’s interests… My role is to help them navigate the publishing landscape and maximize their potential.”
As someone who has worked in the publishing industry for agents I know that what she is saying is true. Most agents have one thing in common, they love literature. They start careers in the publishing industry because they enjoy reading books and they want to find that one amazing author and help them find the success they deserve. When an agent falls in love with a manuscript, they work and work (sometimes for years) until they find the right publisher for it. They take a huge gamble on these books and the 15% they receive in royalties usually doesn’t even begin to compensate for their time and effort.
Still, I don’t think book doctoring should be offered by an agent unless they change their title to something other than ‘literary agent.’ While there is nothing wrong with someone offering editing/ book design services, when it is an agent it seems a little like misrepresentation. A writer goes to an agent with the hopes they will sell the book rights but instead the rights end up going back to the author and the agent still gets a 15% commission. Sounds to me like the agent took a gamble on the manuscript and now wants to collect even though the bet didn’t payoff.