Yesterday I read Jason Allen Ashlock’s “An Argument Against Agent-Publishers” where he argues that agents who serve double-duty as publishers cannot do so while “effectively represent[ing] an Author’s best interests.” According to Ashlock, this is a business model that begets not only a crisis of ethics but one of expertise. I have to say that I agree with Mr. Ashlock (also, I must admit that I personally like the guy after meeting him at Grub Street this past Spring), but I wonder if authors care? And is this good or bad?
To an unpublished author there are two seemingly insurmountable walls to publication: first, the agent; second, the publisher. Back in the day, it was editors who received unsolicited manuscripts; now it’s agents who receive tens of thousands of queries a year. It’s incredibly difficult to obtain representation. And once an agent has decided to take on your book, he/she then has to shop it around to publishers who may or may not be interested. So why wouldn’t an author be relieved to work with an agent-publisher who has miraculously dissolved that second wall?
Unpublished authors are desperate. I imagine some published authors are equally desperate, worrying that their backlist, which used to be a tiny pension, is now worthless and inaccessible to readers. Published midlist authors may feel as though their publishers have not been looking out for their best interests over the years, so why should they give up even more of the paltry sum they might earn through digital publication? Unpublished authors may come out of the gate wondering what a traditional publisher can do for them when all they read in blog posts in how they won’t be sent on book tours and no advertising or publicity dollars will be spent on them.
Authors are desperate for readers. Most don’t care how it happens.
So, no, I don’t think they care whether agent-publishers can fairly represent them. I don’t think most authors consider the publishing business fair to them in any way.
But they should.
And the agent should be their advocate. This is especially important for those authors most vulnerable to desperation — the unpublished and the medium-to-small sellers. It is the agent’s job to provide the best opportunities possible to the author. It is the job of the publisher (trad or not) to produce that work in the best possible format(s) with the best possible access to readers.
I have to admit that as an unpublished author, I would be relieved to work with an agent-publisher and avoid having to scale that second wall. Because sometimes I feel like I’m standing in a hole up to my waist, flailing my arms at the whole process. But I do deserve fair representation — we all do. And it’s hard to see how an agent-publisher could provide that.
