Quote:
Originally Posted by mcl
I agree. But publishers like Macmillan give the agency model a bad name. Look at Baen. Look at their prices. Look at how they compensate their authors.
Now look at Macmillan.
Notice a difference? The issue here isn't the agency model. The issue here is Macmillan's abuse of the agency model.
"But authors can just change publishers!" I hear some cry. Well, I've made that argument in the past as well. But many correctly point out that many authors are locked into contracts. Contracts that many of them were apprently so desperate to sign that they jumped at the first one waved under their noses.
Where the industry really needs to go is a reality in which publishers no longer exist. With print-on-demand and ebooks, retailers could hire an editorial staff and deal directly with authors (Amazon already owns a print-on-demand service). The only thing lacking then is publicity, and that's one area where the electronic marketplace still struggles, across all media.
But it will eventually catch up.
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agreed. i'm more championing the agency model that macmillan is enforcing on amazon rather than macmillan themselves as a company. by enforcing an agency model and moving towards e-books becoming the primary media for reading, the agency model opens many doors and could very well likely see the end of the giant publishers. with ebooks and a standard agency model, what's stopping an author from self-publishing and cutting out the publisher altogether? you mentioned publicity and that's a good point. though with the internet, publicity and marketing have changed a lot over the years. i have a feeling that those things could take care of themselves.