Hi, Kate, thanks so much always for your informative posts. I really enjoy them. Just a question, though. If I go through so much time and effort to put something on Amazon for a foreign market, why do I need to give my agent 15% of the proceeds? After all, I'm doing it because the agent wasn't able to sell it the traditional way. Thanks for your answer!
Good question! Because any rights the author would try to self-publish are part of an underlying contract the agent sold (i.e. the North American books rights), she would be entitled to commission, just like if the rights had sold any other way. The self-pub aspect may change this, and the author should talk to her agent about it. Plus, just because it would be self-pub'd doesn't mean the agent couldn't help. I think this would be a case by case situation between author and agent.
Hi, Kate, thanks so much always for your informative posts. I really enjoy them. Just a question, though. If I go through so much time and effort to put something on Amazon for a foreign market, why do I need to give my agent 15% of the proceeds? After all, I'm doing it because the agent wasn't able to sell it the traditional way. Thanks for your answer!
Good question! Because any rights the author would try to self-publish are part of an underlying contract the agent sold (i.e. the North American books rights), she would be entitled to commission, just like if the rights had sold any other way. The self-pub aspect may change this, and the author should talk to her agent about it. Plus, just because it would be self-pub'd doesn't mean the agent couldn't help. I think this would be a case by case situation between author and agent.