I was in the midst of an online discussion with some author friends of mine today. One of them is an enthusiastic self-publisher (albeit relatively new to the process), who, in the course of our discussion, claimed that agents are looking to sign self-publishers in order to sell subsidiary rights; e.g. foreign and film rights. Here's what she said:
[/FONT]I'm sure there are isolated incidents where this has occurred, but I'm just finding it a bit hard to swallow. Maybe that's because my knowledge of present-day agenting is limited; maybe my thinking about the book trade in general is somewhat hidebound. In any case, I'd be interested to know if anyone here has personally encountered this kind of business arrangement, and how that's worked out for the parties involved. Do any of our self-publishing mavens believe this is, in fact, a shifting of the publishing tide?
[FONT="]They actually do it all the time now! There are lots of agents signing straight selfpubs for just that reason. There’s a whole thread about it just last week on one of my forums of self-pubs who have agents that tell them if they couldn’t get the big deal to self-pub and they’ll handle the other rights. Some strictly handle the other rights since those authors want nothing to do with publishers. Agents seem to realize the publishing tide has shifted and they are adapting to stay current and keep making money.
[/FONT]I'm sure there are isolated incidents where this has occurred, but I'm just finding it a bit hard to swallow. Maybe that's because my knowledge of present-day agenting is limited; maybe my thinking about the book trade in general is somewhat hidebound. In any case, I'd be interested to know if anyone here has personally encountered this kind of business arrangement, and how that's worked out for the parties involved. Do any of our self-publishing mavens believe this is, in fact, a shifting of the publishing tide?