Comments on: Mary Mackey Talks About E-book Publishing

By: andyrossagency

andyrossagency — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 04:40:52 +0000

Thanks Ali. Everybody sure is talking about self publishing ebooks and I’m helping some of my clients put their op books back into print. But there are some challenges as well. Most books are still sold in physical bookstores. Most reviewers only review books from traditional publishers. And you are right. The publishing and promotion burden is all on the writer.

By: Ali M. Hollis

Ali M. Hollis — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 04:13:57 +0000

I definitely believe e-books are sweeping the publishing market! As a Fantasy writer myself, I wonder if e-publishing is the way to go? All I do know is the millions of coffee I’m soon to drink to promote! promote! promote! No matter which publishing route I take! Looking forward to the long, bumby road Thanks for this interview Andy.

By: renatestendhal

renatestendhal — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 04:44:13 +0000

Yes, that’s what you ought to say. Now, if I did we’d have the beginning of a promising novel

By: andyrossagency

andyrossagency — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 02:26:49 +0000

Renate, all I can say is that all the girls in 11th grade had that picture propped up on their vanity mirror, so you can too

By: renatestendhal

renatestendhal — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 16:01:39 +0000

Well, oddly not. Just googled you and it wasn’t there. Do I have the lone privilege? There’s a real Google mystery!

By: andyrossagency

andyrossagency — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 05:25:16 +0000

Renate, that’s pretty funny. So when ever anybody googles me, they get my high school yearbook photo?

By: Renate Stendhal

Renate Stendhal — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 02:58:55 +0000

Thanks, Andy. That’s the perfect strategy — and an excellent lesson for anyone’s next contract.
As an ex-dancer and dance critic, I enjoyed instantly reading Mary’s “Grand Passion” as an e-book. It’s always touching to see the beginnings of a good writer.
This little dialogue, by the way, has already made its way into the Google algorithm, placing your youth photo (with the charming dark-rimmed glasses) on my Images page. Interesting discovery what Google picks to compose an author’s “portrait.”

By: andyrossagency

andyrossagency — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:30:49 +0000

Mary, I try to negotiate language into a contract that will allow an author to revert rights when sales go below a minimum amount even if it is technically in print in a digital or print on demand edition.

By: renatestendhal

renatestendhal — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 08:45:45 +0000

Thanks, Andy. My apologies for the misnomer slip of keys! Are you saying that with the contracts written now, rights will never revert to the author any longer, given that books don’t go out of print any more? As an agent, does that mean that you are trying to guard e-rights for your authors, as Mary’s agennt did? It would be interesting to know how this could be negotiated…

By: andyrossagency

andyrossagency — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:47:07 +0000

Renate, in most contracts that are being written now, electronic rights are being granted to the publisher. The thing that you need to watch out for is how those rights will revert to the author when the book stops selling. It used to be that when a book goes out of print, the publisher stops selling it and sells off the overstock in the warehouse. With ebooks though, a book need never go out of print as long as the publisher has a digital file.