Hybrid Publishing aka self-pubbing with agent support

I've recently released my debut book with the help of my literary agency. I know this sounds strange, but I thought people may be interested in how it works and why we decided to do it. Please note, my agency did not PUBLISH me, they simple assisted in the process of self-publishing.

First a little background: My book was on sub for 18 months with a ton of editor interest, but due to various reasons, no sale. We didn't want to give up on it, so we thought outside the box. You can read more about it here.

You're probably wondering why I chose to have agency help when I could very well put books out on me own. The truth is, I like having a team support me. My agent helped find a cover designer and an editor, worked with me on marketing and pr, handled ARCs, manages the relationship with retailers, and is handling foreign rights. This frees me up to focus on writing more books - which is a good thing, IMO.

As for finances, I paid for everything myself directly to the vendors. I've been fortunate enough to have ghostwriting jobs that helped pay for this adventure.

One thing working with my agency taught me was to slow down. Despite my background in marketing and PR, I felt the need to rush and get my book out as soon as possible. I'm glad I had the voice of reason guiding me.

My agency wanted a marketing plan, so I came up one. After a lot of discussion, we decided on a December release date (we started working on this in August). During that time, I worked with the editor and book designer. I also oversaw the creation of a book trailer (these are popular in the YA world). Once ARCs were ready, we sent them out to select reviewers.

Here's the time frame: August - decided to self-publish, hire editor; Sept contact book designers, make hire at end of month; Oct hire book trailer team; Nov. send out ARCs; end of Nov. release trailer; Dec 1 start blog tour. Dec. 6 - release day.

The ebook released strong for a self-pub job getting into the low 3,000's on Amazon its first day. It's dropped a little (was in the 7,000's last I looked), but reviews are starting to pop up and I hope that will spark more interest.

The paperback will be out at the end of the month/beginning of January. That will be a whole other experience, I'm sure.

Williebee - this was a book no one wanted to give up on. They believed it would sell and we came close several times. My agent talks about it a little here. Our arrangement is just like if it had been traditionally sold, only without an advance. Plus, if we sell foreign rights, the structure will be like any other foreign rights deal. I like this arrangement because it makes both parties invested in the book doing well.

Pflnucan - the print version will be POD. I've splurged and am having my book designer do the interior layout with special design elements. It's important to me that it look as much like a Big 6 book as it can.

blrude said:

Positively beautiful cover.

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Thank you. If anyone is interested S@r@h M@rino did the cover. She does gorgeous work and her site is here.

shaldna said:

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

But I do have some questions that I hope you won't mind me asking.

Willibee already asked about what was in it for the agent, and you said that it would be the same as a traditional deal.

However, you've spent a lot of your own money on this, and I just wondered if the percentage was the same as it would have been for other deals or is it slightly less, given that the agent didn't actually get you a publisher.

Obviously the agent in question is confident that the book will do well enough to stay involved in it in this way, and I'm wondering if this will set a precedent for other similar hard to place, but good books.

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Hi Shaldna - yes, the percentages are the same. There's so much more to agenting than just placing a book with an editor. Agents put considerable time into drawing up sub lists, communication/chasing down editors, and - in my unique case - a lot of editorial work. I feel my agent has worked just as hard as me in finding a home for my book and I'm happy to pay her for it.

Ultimately, while we didn't place it with a publisher, my book is still published. My agent is continuing to work on it in the foreign markets as well as helping me with the day-to-day stuff.

areteus said:

Sounds like the agent is basically taking on many of the roles of a publisher here - editors, cover deigners etc as well as marketing. It does sound to me as if you have basically entered into partnership as a publishing concern with them.

This does sound like an interesting way to go about it and I would like to hear more about how this works out - how many sales you get and how that compares to more traditional routes and traditional self publishing.

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For me, the big difference is that every decision was ultimately mine. They gave me guidance & assisted with things, but at the end of the day, I had final say.

Plus, I'm doing the marketing. They're just helping where needed.

Here's an update: B&N still hasn't posted my book to their site - after 4 days. It was submitted via Pubit! I've had more than a few inquiries about a nook version and have been sending people the smashwords link. But this isn't ideal and I do wonder how many potential buyers I've lost because it couldn't be an instantaneous purchase.

On the upside, my agent called them today and it looks like there was a processing issue (which they didn't feel the need to notify us of) and it's been resolved. So hopefully it will be up on BN later today.

Lesson: Call sooner rather than later.

Hmmm...I don't see how an agent collecting money from distributors/retailers is different from them collecting money from publishers. The money has to be collected somewhere by someone. The only difference, to me, is that instead of going retailer-publisher-agent-me; it know goes retailer-agent-me. Plus, I get a larger percentage for this arrangement.

As for #2, if I'm reading what you're saying correctly, that would only be a problem if we wanted to sell this particular book to a domestic publisher. We don't. This decision has no impact on future books my agency may try to place with traditional publishers. It's no different than being published by 2 different houses, which happens all the time.

I don't think 15% is too much at all. 15% of 70% is nothing. I have a bigger issue with the 30% cut of the retailer, tbh. Plus, if the agency actually paid for the services, then we would definitely be in publisher territory.

I guess i don't see how my agency advising me and facilitating meetings with prospective vendors makes them a publisher. They have the contacts, I have a book I want to publish. Put me in touch with those people.

At the end of the day, everyone has to make the decision that feels right for them and their situation. If we've learned anything from the explosion of self-publishing, it's that there isn't just one way to do things anymore. That's what makes this such an exciting time in publishing.

Irysangel said:

Dawn, I'm going to be doing something very similar with my agent. We both worked very hard on a book to edit it into shape (I think my agent ended up doing seven passes of edits with me) only to have it not sell. I'm going to joint 'self publish' it with her and see how it works out. This will be the first project we're going into together, so it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out.

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Good luck! It's a ton of work, but if you're up for it, it's very rewarding.