Got an anonymous letter earlier this week from “a literary agent who has been in the business for twenty years,” inspired, I’m sure, by the recent lawsuit against Eagle Publishing:
“In the last several years I have had a harder time collecting royalties for my clients. Publishers simply don’t want to pay on time and sometimes when they do pay they pay incorrectly. I have to constantly watch the reports that show sales verses what was paid. This is just a way to hold money and hope that agents and authors do not catch mistakes. I have to say that this is dishonest business and perhaps publishers are reacting to all of the books that did not sell. Major houses are sometimes delaying payments for 90 to 120 days and that is over the top.”
“I am sure others have had similar experiences,” this agent concluded. Well, have you had similar experiences? As always, your confidentiality is assured.