A NYC literary agent and ebook pioneer publiishing maverick explains it all from the POV of a seasoned book agent.
http://www.ereads.com/richard_curtis...ay-amazon.html
Last week Amazon flew a dozen top New York book agents to Seattle. The purpose was to debrief their attitudes towards e-books in general and Kindle in particular. ....
I could have saved Amazon all that money. I've known for 10 years what's been holding agents back from plunging into e-book pool, and in fact I can tell it to you in one word: ...........advances.
The agents have been waiting for something they can identify with the traditional business model. And advances are as traditional as Thanksgiving turkeys.
Who can blame the agents for being standoffish? Picture a agent like Lynn Nesbit or Bob Gottlieb calling an author to say "I have great news for you! I've made a deal for e-book rights to your new book plus half a dozen of your old ones!" And you say "Great! What are they paying?" And they say "Um, nothing, actually." Oh, that's really going to bind them to their clients!
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