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Your Agent Should Not Be Your Publisher

First Posted: 06/09/11 11:28 AM ET Updated: 08/09/11 06:12 AM ET

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redhammer.info:

In recent weeks, there have been a spate of agents who have cut deals on behalf of their clients with... themselves.  One such involved the agent to the estate of the late author Catherine Cookson. 

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In recent weeks, there have been a spate of agents who have cut deals on behalf of their clients with... themselves.  One such involved the agent to the estate of the late author Catherine Cookson. ...
In recent weeks, there have been a spate of agents who have cut deals on behalf of their clients with... themselves.  One such involved the agent to the estate of the late author Catherine Cookson. ...
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Mark Diederichsen
44 Fans
09:57 PM on 06/10/2011
If the agent is paid as the publisher, they are no longer the agent for the writer. Basic agency law. They are then a principal in the transaction and not representing the client.
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TheWanderer
Above us only sky
333 Fans
01:35 PM on 06/09/2011
Main page headline: "If Agent's Become Publishers, Who Protects Authors?"

Who protects authors and readers from semi-literate copy editors (or should I say "editor's?") lacking basic grammar skills? Welcome to post-literate America.....
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Happyexpat
My Latin micro-bio didn't meet guidelines. ?!?
331 Fans
02:20 PM on 06/09/2011
Who protects authors and readers from semi-liter ate copy editors (or should I say "editor's? ") lacking basic grammar skills?

Bravo!! As an assistant to my best friend who is a literary agent I can honestly we have done more to edit manuscripts than any editor I presently know of.

With regard to this article about agents "self-dealing" I'm not sure I understand the furor. My friend published a short story of one of her clients. It has sold 3,000 copies so far and will sell many more when the client's TV series based on several of his books come out. NO ONE else was interested in publishing this client's story. My friend is taking only her usual percentage; all the rest goes to the client. So where is the harm in that transaction?

I've no doubt whatsoever that there are unscrupulous agents, but most agents I know slave away for their clients and earn back far less than what they put out. If you think you're agent is ripping you off, find another, but as a fellow writer I would say don't cut off your nose.....

Oh, BTW-----Fanned and faved
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Geauterre
Writer, Author, Commentator and Humorist.
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01:29 PM on 06/09/2011
The print publishing houses have only themselves to blame for what may come. They wanted middlemen to filter an author's work, well guess what. Authors got pissed, and enterprising agents found an opportunity too sweet to overlook. If publishing houses don't want to do their own homework, well, surprise, surprise.
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hairydodger
141 Fans
11:36 AM on 06/09/2011
New authors can publish directly to the net. I have published though Apple as I have an enhanced ebook that can't be published in treeware. The next thing will be ebooks where the reader will actively participate in the story instead of being led through the story. I realize that telling a good story is good for ones ego but having your reader participate with you in telling your story is just as satisfying. Oh ya, in ebooks the author gets a 70% royalty. Several authors are now million ebook sellers. My guess is they got paid about a hundred times what they would have been paid if the book were in treeware.
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