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Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency

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Regarding MS length, I had the experience recently of submitting a 120,000 word MS. Agent thought there was a 100k novel in there and recommended a (kick ass) editor to work with before re-submitting.

Editor too my MS and cut the word count down to 68,000. When I first opened the doc, I was like, WOA, she cut it in half! She destroyed my baby! Then I went in to read it (with an open mind - her suggestion) and lo and behold, I got to the end and I was like, wow, it's all still there.

Everything essential she had kept. Everything superfluous she had nipped away. Then I had the space of 30,000 words to bring it back to 100,000, but only focusing on those areas that really needed beefing up.

Moral of the story: If you don't think it can be cut, it can. And it's hard to see where by yourself.
 

Krista G.

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I noticed on the EE site today that they are now offering "Agent Sponsored Publishing" to agency clients http://ethanellenberg.com/agent-sponsored-publishing/ Any thoughts on this new development?

I actually don't think this is all that terrible. Several agencies now offer self-publishing services to their clients (like NLA Digital at Nelson Literary Agency), which is precisely what this is (though Mr. Ellenberg has chosen not to call it self-publishing, per se).

I guess there might be some risk that Mr. Ellenberg wouldn't do his darnedest to submit his clients' manuscripts to traditional publishers, but established clients are going to be able to tell if his submission strategy changes (and I'm sure they won't be bashful about making it known if it does). Also, I think hybrid authors know which of their books are better suited for self-publishing and which are better suited for traditional publication, so I don't think this so-called agent-sponsored publishing is necessarily going to be a consolation prize. I could be wrong, but I imagine his clients will choose one publication method or the other. In other words, I don't think it's designed to be a fail-safe (or, if you're feeling more cynical, a client trap).

That said, I could be wrong. I guess time will tell. But in a rapidly shifting marketplace, I can't blame an agency for trying to innovate.
 

CaoPaux

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Adding imprints for search purposes: Butterfly Kisses Press (Romance), Crime Planet Press (Suspense/Mystery), War Planet Press (Military SF) & Worldbuilders Press (SF/F).
 

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"Agent Sponsored Publishing" - is it legit?

Hi all

I have come across an agent offering "Agent Sponsored Publishing" as a service for ebooks, along side but separate to the Literary Agent role. I don't want to name and shame, just in case it turns out this is actually legit - has anyone heard of this? It kind of strikes me as odd. I have done some research, and the phrase doesn't appear anywhere here. The agency in question isn't on a beware list and seems to be a credible otherwise. Can someone with more industry experience give words of wisdom or shed light on this practice?

Tl;dr Is this legit?
 

Kerosene

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I don't want to name and shame, just in case it turns out this is actually legit

That's exactly why you should name them. If they are legit, people can offer their experiences and thoughts. If they aren't legit it's important to warn caution to them as this is the "Beware" part of this sub, and shaming comes from them being shitheads not us being meanies.


Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency? <snipped>

That's the only result that comes up. They state, "this service is only available to clients of the agency, it is an agency service exclusively and cannot be purchased" which makes it sound like if they cannot sell your novel, they'll help publish it themselves. If they do not ask for money but instead a portion of sales, it could be good, but the thread has yet to be recently updated so we do not know of how this has worked out.

If it's anyone else and they do not say something like that or it's not in the fine print, it could be troublesome. Pretty much because the phrase can mean anything--another reason to give us a name so we can investigate.
 
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Rusted

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Yes, it is Ethan Ellenberg. I thought someone would probably figure it out, I just didn't name them because I didn't want to come across as belligerent. They seem legit in the research I've done. Their website: http://ethanellenberg.com/ Lists it as a "new service" for its clients.

I just wasn't sure, because from what I've read (and this is somewhat limited) authors can access E-publishing fairly easily on their own. Given that, isn't Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency trying include themselves as an intermediary seem somewhat superfluous? I guess I was searching for details, like any marketing they may include, or any advantages it has over an author personally E-publishing without the extra intermediary.

Another question - I have also heard people say that there is quite a lot of "dross" in the e-publishing realm, simply because it is so accessible. If so, is this practice funneling rejected authors to the E-pub world, in an effort to make money off the rejection pile? Is this a service that is offered to people who couldn't "make it" it the paper world, and does that imply a predatory tactic?

I read the thread you linked and couldn't really see an answer. I guess I was just looking for any other experiences or perspectives on this.
 
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Kerosene

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I don't have experience with them and wouldn't be able to tell you specific answers. Perhaps someone can come along and inform you or you can update the thread and wait for anyone to come up. Read the thread from the last page to the older posts to better tell you the current thoughts--agencies and publishers can change in a number of years.

What I can say is that many agents have prior experience in the publishing world or have extensive knowledge of publishing (as they should). So for them to offer editorial, cover, and marketing services towards a book they see worth investing their time into, it could be a good thing. Agents take on books and clients they see value in, so if they fail to find a publisher, offering direct services would be made in confidence.

There's a difference between e-publishing and self-publishing. There are e-publishers, who act just like trade publishers, by offering upfront services in the hope that the book's sales pay them back. But they only offer electronic books or very limited print runs. They typically offer little to no advance but greater royalties. Self-publishing is the iffy one; anyone can throw a book on Amazon, for example, in all its unedited, MS-paint cover glory. But that doesn't mean all self-published authors are the same, it's just the lower-end crowd that gives it a bad rap. There are many great authors on AW that self-publish.

With that said, EE LA seems to be saying they'd act as a e-publisher (probably only through Amazon and their print-on-demand), but again: They would probably only take on books that they have confidence in, and they are working on it with you as a publisher would (this is from what they've said). It's not so much a consolation prize.
 

Curlz

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Is this a service that is offered to people who couldn't "make it" it the paper world, and does that imply a predatory tactic?
You are right, e-pubbing is available to anyone, but in order to use it, a person needs to have a little knowledge about technology. And not everybody is comfortable with technology. If you view it as a purely IT/technological assistance, then any additional payment is fully justified. It's not the agent's job to actually sit in front of a computer and fiddle with some e-pub website in order to place your novel there. If it was a publisher requesting additional money to publish your work as an e-book, then you should be getting suspicious, because e-pubbing is fully within the services that a publisher should be doing for you anyway.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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I've talked to Ethan about the service, as an alternative if my MS doesn't get picked up. I've heard stats on AW to the effect that only 1/3 or so of subbed books actually get a publisher. YMMV.

In this case, if you take the agency-assisted publishing route, the agency pays for cover art and some other stuff, and provides expertise and advice. They don't charge anything to you, they just take 15% of sales, per the agency agreement. They also take care of administration, and do direct deposit.

If you think about it, if your MS doesn't get picked up, what are your options? Trunk it, which gets you nothing; cancel the agency agreement (over one book?) and self-pub yourself; or agency-assisted-pub, get some advice and support, and continue to write more books. It's a fall-back, but a reasonable one, IMO.

And in the best-case scenario, if the book takes off, and the publishing houses come sniffing around, you've got an agent waiting right there.
 

eqb

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My previous post was lost in the move, so am attempting to recover from memory...

Many of the clients who use agent assisted publishing are not newbies who got rejected. Most are established authors who want to 1) publish their backlist, or who 2) have novellas or novels that fit in between their trade-published books.

Some of these folks don't have the technical expertise, sure, but just as many don't want to spend the time and upfront money to turn their stories into e-books. (I've self-published two novelettes this past year, and while I'm delighted with the outcome, it takes a lot of time to do it right. I would really rather be writing.)
 
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OTurtle

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Has anyone queried Evan Gregory? If so, how did you go about it? I'm confused by the submission guidelines on the website: it says to send submissions to a generic agent email address and to send them "to the attention of Ethan Ellenberg." Does this mean that you can't address a query directly to one of the other agents at the agency?
 

EvanGregory

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Has anyone queried Evan Gregory? If so, how did you go about it? I'm confused by the submission guidelines on the website: it says to send submissions to a generic agent email address and to send them "to the attention of Ethan Ellenberg." Does this mean that you can't address a query directly to one of the other agents at the agency?

We share a submissions inbox just for convenience sake, and because sometimes projects submitted to Ethan strike my fancy or visa-versa. It's also just convenient to know what everyone is up to, and where our respective tastes lie. Ethan, Bibi Lewis, and I all check the same box. If you wanted to send something specifically for my attention, you can just address it to me.
 

EvanGregory

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Just to clarify about Agent Sponsored Publishing. It's a service we offer to clients only and usually after exhausting other options. Ideally we would be able to partner with a publisher for most projects, but slots are limited, and publishers are very selective. Several self-publishing platforms (Kindle, Nook, Kobo) offer white glove services specifically to agents in the hopes of attracting talent that may have been overlooked by the bigger publishers. We get technical support for conversion, building bookpages, inputting metadata for optimizing SEO, and are eligible for certain promotions, and marketing support on said platforms. We launched the program for two reasons. The first being we had a few clients with rights reverted to backlist titles that still have life in them, but not enough life for a publisher to consider offering a reprint deal. Second, we had many clients who wrote fantastic books that we just weren't able to sell to publishers, but which we nonetheless believed should be out there in the world. We're not looking to add clients to the roster just to assist them in self-publishing, and there are plenty of other services that people who are interested in indie or self-publishing can avail themselves of instead. We would be interested in new clients who already have solid careers, and a bunch of backlist titles that have been orphaned by a publisher. We could provide a lot of value for a client like that. We are always interested in new clients with unique projects, even if it means taking our lumps on submission, and assisting them with online only publication as an alternative.
 

Preacher'sWife

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Just to clarify about Agent Sponsored Publishing. It's a service we offer to clients only and usually after exhausting other options. Ideally we would be able to partner with a publisher for most projects, but slots are limited, and publishers are very selective. Several self-publishing platforms (Kindle, Nook, Kobo) offer white glove services specifically to agents in the hopes of attracting talent that may have been overlooked by the bigger publishers. We get technical support for conversion, building bookpages, inputting metadata for optimizing SEO, and are eligible for certain promotions, and marketing support on said platforms. We launched the program for two reasons. The first being we had a few clients with rights reverted to backlist titles that still have life in them, but not enough life for a publisher to consider offering a reprint deal. Second, we had many clients who wrote fantastic books that we just weren't able to sell to publishers, but which we nonetheless believed should be out there in the world. We're not looking to add clients to the roster just to assist them in self-publishing, and there are plenty of other services that people who are interested in indie or self-publishing can avail themselves of instead. We would be interested in new clients who already have solid careers, and a bunch of backlist titles that have been orphaned by a publisher. We could provide a lot of value for a client like that. We are always interested in new clients with unique projects, even if it means taking our lumps on submission, and assisting them with online only publication as an alternative.

I so wish this would have been in place in 2011 after the Denise Little debacle. It would have been a game-changer for myself and a few other authors I became friends with during that time. That said, I'm equally glad it's in place now for your present clients. Best of luck to them all!
 
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