Agents and epublishers

Although I don't have an agent, I'll tell you what I know of friends who do have agents. They have negotiated that all epub contracts go through the author and not the agent. One reason is that for a lot of agents, the pay out from an epub isn't high enough.

Additionally, the NY contract typically deals with a mess of rights the author shouldn't negotiate on their own while epubs typically want just digital rights (that varies, of course). Succinctly put, NY contracts are trickier waters to navigate than epub contracts.

I signed with my epub/POD publisher before I signed with my agent. For now, we're looking for a little larger home for my new urban fantasy series.

My agent gave my epub contract a look and suggested some changes, but if I want to write something for EC I'd sub it myself, yeah. (I can only write novellas for them now, because my agent has the right to sub my novel-length work, which is pretty standard in an agency contract. I'm sure if I wanted to write a novel for them that would be okay, but I'd need to talk to him first.)

Our agent really doesn't have much interest in dealing with the epubs or even the small print anthologies. We've learned enough about contracts now that it's not really worth her time, and for the small money, she feels a little uncomfortable in taking her 15%. There's really not much to negotiate in the small deals anyway. It's sort of a 'take it or leave it.' Often, it's a piece that wouldn't see print anyway, so it's no big deal when it's a flat fee, with no royalties, or a standard net contract. Something is better than sitting in a computer folder.

Little interest on my agent's part either, but she's been willing to look at the contracts and suggest e-pubs for the projects she cannot seem to place at larger houses. She initially said she would take no percentage, but I insisted. She vets my contracts and runs interference in traditional agent-fashion if there's a glitch at edit time.