The Literary Agent's Indie Ebook Roadmap

Literary Agents Will Write the Next Chapter of the Ebook Revolution

SEVEN MACRO TRENDS FACING PUBLISHING (and what they mean for agents, publishers, authors and books)

TREND 1 Brick and Mortar in Decline

Decline of Brick and Mortar
Book buying moving to online
Instant discovery, sampling and purchase
Satisfies three most important consumer drivers:
Unlimited selection
Convenience
Low price

TREND 2 Content Explosion

Content Explosion
Books face increased competition
Hundreds of thousands of books released each year
new traditionally published titles
zombie books – out of print books coming back to life as POD books and ebooks
explosion of self-published books
Alternative non-book Internet content, much of it FREE
blogs, wikipedia, social media, games, video

TREND 3 Reading Moving to Screens

Reading Moving to Screens
Screen-reading offers more pleasurable reading experience than paper
click-click-click discover-sample-buy-read
custom font sizes
reflowable text
hyperlinks
portability
(… and screen reading will get better, faster, cheaper each year)

TREND 4 Ebooks to Surpass Print Books

Ebooks to Surpass Print
Ebooks will surpass print faster than most realize
on revenue basis, ebooks will surpass print within four years
on unit consumption basis, will surpass within two years
for most indie authors, the crossover has already happened: ebook sales surpass print by a wide margin

TREND 5 Publishers Losing Primacy

Publishers Lose Primacy
Big Publishing no longer controls the printing press and access to distribution
The tools for publishing & distribution are now free and democratized
Authors earn 50-70% list vs. 5-17%
Indie ebook authors scaling best-seller charts, opening eyes of fellow authors to commercial viability and credibility of indie ebooks

The Problem with Big Publishing
Authors & agents face diminished opportunity with traditional publishers
Advances declining
Tougher to sell great books from great authors if publishers don’t perceive commercial potential
Rear view publishing: Publishers acquire today what was selling yesterday
Slo-Mo publishing: 12-18 months production cycle
Publishers forcing authors/agents to assume roles once the responsibility of publishers
Editing
Platform building
Post-pub marketing

Why Big Publishing is Broken
Good books forced out of print too early
High expense structures force publishers to over-price books
Publishers can’t reliably predict which books have commercial merit
readers , NOT publishers, decide this
Legacy business models based on print
Publishers lack long tail strategy
Can’t take risk on every author
Print in decline, exacerbated by decline of brick & mortar
Publishers milking the rise of ebooks with over-priced books

What’s Next for Big Publishing
Big Publishing ill-prepared to weather coming storm
Further consolidation likely
Rate of author defections to increase
Authors will assert greater demands for royalties, services, rights, results
Publishers that survive are those who do for authors what authors cannot do for themselves
The gulf between the capabilities of publishers and authrors is shrinking, thanks to technology

TREND 6 The Rise of Indie Ebooks

The Indie Ebook Game Changer
Indie ebooks can out-compete Big Publisher ebooks
Democratized access to distribution (Smashwords!)
Favorable economics
Low to near-zero production cost
50-80% royalty rates
Ability to price books lower to expand audience and sales volume, yet net higher per-unit royalties (virtuous flywheel)

TREND 7 Agents Writing the Next Chapter of the Ebook Revolution

Why Agents are Introducing Indie eBook Publishing Services
Agents realize their wagons are hitched to a sick horse (Big Publishing)
Agents, long the trusted commercial enablers of an author’s success, must find new opportunities to serve authors as Big Publishing gravy train fades
More difficult to sell high quality works
Advances declining
Legacy business practices built on scarcity (high prices, windowing, DRM, geographic rights restrictions) backfire in new world that demands abundance and instant availability
To survive and thrive, agents must wean themselves from the teat of publisher advances

Understanding the Indie Ebook Opportunity for Agents and their Clients

The Agent Opportunity
Agents have access to treasure trove of underutilized assets
trusted relationships with world’s most commercially viable authors and estates
reverted-rights works
unpublished works
previously rejected by publishers
shorts not suitable for print
Future stream of author production

Great Authors Need Great Agents
Agents can do for authors what authors cannot do for themselves
Agents help authors exploit full spectrum of commercial opportunity
Traditional publishing
Self-publishing (a.k.a “indie”)
Dramatic adaptation (film, TV, plays)
Translation
Merchandising/licensing
Agents can help authors get their books produced and distributed
Agents help authors focus on what they do best: WRITING!

Not All Authors Want to become Publishers
Smarter time management: Most authors would rather focus on writing and revision rather than publisher responsibilities of…
Final editing and proofing
Cover design
Production
Sales & marketing
Distribution
Accounts receivable
And more…

The Publishing Services Spectrum
There’s a vast middle ground of services opportunity between full service publishers and DIY
What can fill void?

Agents to Fill Publishing Services Void
Agents expand client service capability with new e-publishing options
Help authors release indie ebooks
Manage service provider relationships for …
Professional editing
Cover design
Ebook formatting
Ebook distribution
Marketing and publicity
Manage back office
A/P, A/R, payments

Do Agents Earn their 15%?
Yes!
No author has ever failed because an agent took 15%
Many authors have failed because they didn’t have an agent
Graham/Coker* equity equation
1/(1-n) where n = .15
agent earns their keep when they increase author’s commercial outcome by 17.5% or more
*Adapted from Paul Graham’s equity equation .

Can Traditional Publishing and Indie Publishing Co-exist?
YES
One option does not preclude the other
Mutually complementary
Indie ebooks as farm league for traditional crossover
Authors can play in both worlds
Traditional authors can continue building platform by self-pubbing shorts and other indie works between Big Publishing releases
Often, the indie opportunity is more lucrative than the traditional opportunity
Agents can help clients make best decision

Conflict of Interest for Agents to Facilitate Publishing Services?
NO
Agent’s job is to maximize commercial opportunity for author clients
To ignore indie publishing option would constitute conflict of interest
Agent’s interests fully aligned with author’s interest
Earns 15%, regardless of publishing channel: what’s most profitable for client is most profitable for agent
Agent takes greater risk by passing up the bird-in-hand of publisher advances
The indie option gives agent more negotiating leverage with publishers and rights acquirers

Strength in Numbers: How Agents Can Leverage their List to Drive Unique Value for all Clients
Special agency-wide promotions – Leverage strength in numbers to execute coordinated promotional campaigns with marketing participation and backing by all your authors.
List building – Build opt-in email lists for client fans by author and genre. Offer Smashwords coupons as exclusive enticement and benefit for mailing list subscription. Advertise agency email lists and author-specific lists at end of each client’s ebook.
Build the net – A single ebook is a fish hook in the ocean. Multiple ebooks, connected by cross-promoting hyperlinks, becomes a net. Use the last page of every ebook to promote other books by this author, other books by similar client authors
Sampling – Each ebook should contain sample chapters of other books by the same author, or similar agency authors
More marketing ideas – Download the free Smashwords Book Marketing Guide

Smashwords + Agents Let’s Work Together! [many agents have already partnered with Smashwords]

Smashwords Makes it Fast , Free , and Easy to Publish and Distribute Ebooks

Smashwords Facts
The leading ebook publishing and distribution platform for indie authors
65,000 ebooks published at Smashwords by 25,000+ authors, publishers and agents
6,800+ titles released in last 30 days (8/5/11)
Worldwide, supportive community of fellow Smashwords authors/publishers/agents
International distribution
Profitable and growing
Technology leader with focus on continuous technology improvement

Indie ebooks published at Smashwords 140 6,000 28,500 90,000 (est)

Smashwords Service Offering
The leading ebook publishing and distribution platform for indie authors
Free ebook conversion to nine formats
Aggregated payments and reporting
Centralized metadata management
85% net back to agent
Exclusive marketing tools
Coupons
Co-branded ebook store
Social media enabled
Distribution to major retailers

Smashwords Distribution to Major Retailers, Mobile App Platforms

How to Get Started on Smashwords
Sign up for a free account at www.smashwords.com
Format your books to the Smashwords Style Guide
DIY, or email [email_address] for “Mark’s List” of low-cost freelance formatters and cover designers
Upload and start selling in minutes

Smashwords Ebook Publishing Resources
Resources
How to Publish and Distribute with Smashwords
Smashwords FAQ and glossary of ebook publishing terms
Smashwords Style Guide (how to format an ebook, over 100,000 copies downloaded)
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book)
The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (best practices of most successful indie authors)

Other Smashwords Presentations on Slideshare
Recent Smashwords Slideshare Presentations
The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (BAIPA presentation May 14, 2011)
Crash Course in Indie Ebook Publishing (Bay Area Travel Writers Assoc., May 21, 2011)]
The Indie Ebook Revolution – How Authors Can Save Books from Irrelevance (Writing for Change, Nov. 13, 2010)
The Free Speech Movement Meets Big Publishing (American Society of Journalists and Authors, Berkeley, CA May 15, 2011)
The Uprising in Book Publishing (March 2, 2011)
View complete Smashwords collection here .

Let’s work together Connect with Mark Coker: Web: www.smashwords.com Blog: blog.smashwords.com HuffPo: huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker Facebook: facebook.com/markcoker Twitter: @markcoker Email: first initial second initial @ smashwords.com

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The Literary Agent's Indie Ebook Roadmap

by Smashwords, Inc. on Aug 05, 2011

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The Literary Agent’s Indie Ebook Roadmap — Presentation Transcript