Literary Agents Try New Role as Self-Publishing Consultants

This is an interesting turn of events. Do you think agents should overlap into this new role or stay within the parameters of being an agent alone? Can they wear both hats and do both jobs equally well?

With big publishing buying only the crème de la crème of books, and more authors turning to self-publishing, many literary agents are getting squeezed right out of the middle.

But some savvy agents are acting as literary consultants to help their authors self-publish, a role that offers up new opportunities and challenges for everybody in the industry.

I talked with three agents about their experiments to serve authors by widening their middle ground.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/06/literary-agents-try-new-role-...

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Permalink Reply by Larry A Cochran on July 1, 2011 at 9:46pm

I think if they do it carefully, they may be able to wear both hats. These three seem quite confident that they can.

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Permalink Reply by Robert L. Allen on July 3, 2011 at 4:38am

I've heard that Agents are just as hard to get as publishers. Perhaps, agents should look at new writers as well as the ones who are putting meat and potatoes on their plates. I am going to try and find an agent but if they are too busy to look at my work, I will go directly to the publishers.