Publisher’s Weekly takes an in-depth look today at the implications of J.A. Konrath’s deal with AmazonEncore. The article, which features comments from a cross-section of established literary agents, doesn’t come to many conclusions, though it does shed some light on various perspectives in the field.
Perhaps the most optimistic point comes from Ted Weinstein. From the article: “While Weinstein doesn’t see corporate publishing going away, ever, he does think the business is at “an enormous transition point” and that the outsourcing major publishers have been doing for years–forcing agents to do more editing, going with outside PR, telling authors they need to take hold of their own marketing–will mean that more agencies, and others, will jump into the publishing fray.”
The money quote, however, is from ever-eloquent literary agent Ira Silverberg: “Certain authors will feel they’re doing well in schemes like this. They flip off the publishers who rejected them, claim new technology will support their career, and they get attention they never had before. Let’s see if we remember who those authors are in a few years.”
