Michael J. Sullivan hosts a Q&A discussion

With Harper Voyager recently making their big announcement about opening up for direct submissions (albeit for a short window), do you think that this is a signal that there is something wrong with the current quality or quantity of projects being pitched to them by literary agents (for whatever reason)?

No I don't take it that way at all. I see this is a disturbing move that will be the state of things to come for the "mid-list" from major publishers. Basically how I see this is Harper Voyager said to themselves....

* Wow a lot of self-published authors are selling well
* I bet many of them would be willing to sign with a big-press
* We don't have to do print or offer advances (so we can have a much lower initial investment
* We make 52.5% and they make 17.5% WHAT A DEAL.

I think this doing this is the best way to "jack in" to already successful self-published authors (because they don't have agents). When I saw the announcement I thought wow, I feel like George Baily in It's a Wonderful Life who is trying to explain to people who are rushing to get their money from Potter that he's cashing in on their mob mentality.

Fact is...the traditional publishers have a HUGE advantage in print book distribution...this is what authors need them for. When it comes to digital the playing field is level and indies do very well (toe-to-toe infact) with the stuff they are putting out (50% of the epic fantasy list is indies and 50% traditonal). This is one of those situations where it is a GREAT deal for hte publisher but the author really isn't getting something that they couldn't get on their own.

As for it being "unagented" - well I think that is because few agents would recommend a "digital only" deal for their authors.

If you look at the authors in the Amazon imprints (Thomas & Mercer, 47 North, Montlake, Encore) A LOT of them are high earning self-published authors. I see this as Harper-Voyagers way of scooping up these people just as Amazon has done. I would suspect that quite a few who are "offered" a contract will be self-published...I also think, if they are smart...they will turn it down. But at least they will have the validation that a big publisher thought they were "good enough."

From my point of view, I would think that if the process of using agents as a feeder system was working well, Harper Voyager would have no need to go around them. Perhaps they are just looking to cut out the middlemen as well and save some money by not having to pay the commissions? Which would be a shrewd business move.

The "cost" to HV is the same with or without an agent. so they don't save any commission - that comes out of the author's share. But in general agents don't like "no advance" deals. So most wouldn't be interested even if they were included.

The only advantage I can see to going with Harper Voyager is that they may bring in more 'clout' because of the algorithms Amazon are using. There has been a lot of talk that they were changed earlier this year to lean heavily towards the big publishing houses. An indie can climb through the ranks quickly using the KDP free days, but then sales drop off real quick as you disappear down the lists in the following days, much faster than before.

The only thing an indie could possibly want from a publisher is, as Michael says, the paperback sales and also any promotion and leverage they can bring to bear.

I appreciate you comments. However one of them seems a little off. Mostly because it seems to imply that contract negotiations in publishing are different than other fields where contracts are negotiated with the help of an agent.

"The 'cost' to HV is the same with or without an agent."

That would be true, I would think, only if an author has the same negotiating tallents as an agent though wouldn't it? Basic econ 101, contracts, etc.

I mean, basically, author wants X. Agent wants Y commission. Total amount requested is X+Y. Total amount gotten is usually some percentage of X+Y.

Whereas without agent, total amount is X, and probably less. And almost always less than achieved in previous example (or why use agents?).

No contract, no matter how in stone it is written when first presented, is really written in stone. I've seen my share of "standard", "unalterable", contracts get more than a few tweaks before deals go down. An agent could easily alter the terms and cost HV money up front. Yes, techically that comes from the "author's share", but that share is bigger usually when an agent gets involved. At least, if publishing is like any other field of contract negotiation that I have been involved in.

Whereas I would think most authors, especially green ones, would have less tallent in that area and thus negotiate lower contract prices as a whole. Especially if HV decides the ebook is selling well and then they want to move into an traditional print version as they said they might do.

I don't know if what I said makes any sense to anyone else. But it makes sense to me as someone knee deep in contracts on a daily basis.

@Mathias - well a few things. First Harper Voyager isn't offering any advance and while they've not made it public I'm pretty sure they'll pay industry standard so no having an agent won't get you any additional money. Now I will say in general, for a "full contract" they will get a larger advance than the author will be offered on their own...but the royalty rates will be pretty standard so if you earn out the royalty amount becomes moot. But most won't earn out so in that case it is worth it.

You can get some tweaks to a contract but you're not going to get them to change the "standard royalty" on ebooks (as they have auto-escalation clauses that would kick in). Non-competes are VERY hard to get altered. It took me 6 months and a very real threat to walk to get mine altered...but getting it removed (which is what I wanted was totally out of the question).

The thing with any contract is how much leverage do you have? In most cases...a debut author has little to none. The supply demand equation is very much weighted toward the publisher. If author X isn't taking what is offered there are 10 or even 100 other authors just waiting to fill that vacated spot.

I know an IP attorney who has done 700+ big-six contracts and they are remarkably similar. The industry holds to a party line so that they keep the power. It's not too unlike the way ball team owners dealt with free agency when it first came into effect in baseball. Sure a player could become a free agent but when none of the owners made an offer...well it really didn't help to be a free agent.

Michael,

Thanks for replying again.

"First Harper Voyager isn't offering any advance and while they've not made it public I'm pretty sure they'll pay industry standard so no having an agent won't get you any additional money."

I think you really hit on the crux of what I was saying, which was that, by doing what Harper Voyager is doing, going direct to the authors, offering up a "standard contract", looking for green (possibly desperate) authors without much leverage, and making it unappealing for agents to get involved, that they are essentially saving themselves money.

It just seems strange to me that they wouldn't have a ton of qualified submissions from agents to publish. So why do this if it wasn't about saving cash by not paying advances and having to give up money in negotiations. Can't fault them for it. It's good business.

You are right that, with as many submissions that they are bound to have right now that there is little leverage for the authors who don't take the deal they present. It would have to be an A-1, top notch manuscript that they would possitively fear loosing to a competitor for them to move greatly, or a proven self-pub success to give the author leverage. And then the question becomes really does the author know enough about the leverage they might have to even negotiate successfully if they are in such a possition.

Talent is always an issue. The more talent, the more leverage.

I think they received over 4,000 submissions. I'm not sure how many "gems" they'll find in all of those. It will be interesting to see and I'm sure that many people will be watching.