From time to time, I am asked by clients to research certain elements of an industry which will go on to contribute to their business development and stratgic operational plans I write for their business. I am also asked to collate and collect an assortment of associated information on their behalf.
I find it extremely helpful and beneficial to plug into the wealth of information ‘out there’ and consequently like to open up some projects for comments, suggestions and submissions. I sincerely value the contributions other writers, researchers and business colleagues make in this regard.
The current question at hand relates to the realm of manuscript assessors and literary agents …
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You may or may not know, that every now and then, a manuscript assessor or literary agent will come across a piece of work they believe is not only well written, but holds potential commercial value as well. The print publishing industry is contracting and has been for some time. There are only ever a lucky few who manage to have their efforts rewarded by actually getting published by a reputable publishing company. What happens to this terrific piece of writing?
The question to be answered is:
Will manuscript assessors and literary agents pass on and/or contract to an electronic publisher as they currently do for a print publisher?
To open this question up further …
- will literary agents be eligible for their 10-12% fees for electronic sales?
- what happens to the digital publishing rights if these have already been assigned to the electronic publisher, will a print publisher still consider taking them on?
- what do authors want, what would they be happy with?
- given that some ePublishers provide up to 50% royalties, will an author be ‘bothered’ with 3-5% from print?
If you’re a manuscript assessor or literary agent, I’d love to hear what you think …
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