Agent’s Manifesto (more than the usual bend over and take it?)
Agent's Manifesto - Jonny Geller - Curtis Brown
I applaud Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown for trying to up his game in the new world of publishing, here’s the original article. What follows are my own individual writer responses to Jonny’s manifesto in a Q&A format:
The Agent’s Manifesto
JG: It feels like a perfect storm is brewing; publishers battening down the hatches, retailers at war with one another, e-tailers deactivating “buy” buttons as if it’s a game of Call of Duty.
One person has been forgotten in this unholy maelstrom: the author. Remember, we don’t have a job without him or her. For those of us still working in the legacy business of publishing books, here’s a reminder of the primary mover in this chain—an Agent’s Manifesto, as it were, to All Those in the Business of Publishing Books on Behalf of the Author:
» The author is the expert. Why assume that the one person who has spent the past 12-18 months on the subject, the story and the world of their work, knows least about how they should be represented to the trade and to the reader?
FC: Good point. Some times however writers don’t know it all, or anything. But then sure as hell-fire neither do publishers. Expect respect all round or expect a bitch-slap.
JG: The author is not an object which a publisher has to step over in order to achieve a successful publication. If they have a problem with the cover, blurb, copy or format, then something isn’t right.
FC: No argument here. Add in copyediting and proofing too and I’m 100%.
JG: The author loves bookshops. Bookshops need to learn how to love authors again. We need to bring them back together.
FC: Book shops – or I imagine Jonny is referring to book chains – are like most large companies: slow to respond, filled with bureaucracy and the last in-line for new ideas. But it’s a good point that with the chains there is no dialogue between writer and end sales point. It’s more normally a sales relationship between publishing conglomerate and chain.
JG: We publishing professionals are the ones who bear the risk—agents with time; publishers with investment; retailers with space. Authors risk only their whole life, self-esteem and their babies.
FC: Absolutely! 9-to-5ers often simply do not get that writing is a business, if you don’t pay on time or fudge your accounts, you will force writers (your suppliers) out of business. We do take it personally when you rip us off, plagiarize our formats, or enforce the often fraudulent practice of reserves against returns, along with criminally lengthy ‘accounting’ periods, laughable royalty rates, unenforceable contracts, creeping all-rights clauses and similar petty practices.
JG: Publishers need to understand that “Author Care” is not a euphemism for “Care in the Community”. Authors who are valued, understood, appreciated, included, nurtured and spoken to like an adult will experience a phenomenon called Trust. Trust breeds loyalty; loyalty means longevity; longevity means sales.
FC: In a good business relationship – as in personal relationships. All sides should ideally feel their needs are met. A lot of authors might feel that the ‘Publisher care’ they’re expected to provide is simply the “bend over and spread ’em!” practices we’ve come to know and loathe. In my experience all this could be avoided by frank, honest, and above all accountable communication from the outset.
JG: Authors will endeavor to understand better what a publisher does—e-books are not created after two minutes of scanning and ticking a series of boxes on Amazon’s self-publishing program.
FC: Tragically we do try to understand what a publisher does, constantly, all the time. Sadly, what often becomes apparent is that some publishers don’t know what they are doing in the first place. And nobody takes responsibility for what they do. We will however continue to try to understand what publishers do as this is a part of our business.
In return publishers should ideally endeavor to understand what an author/writer does and to factor their (author’s) business costs into advances. A license to publish is effectively a venture capital agreement in purpose not subsidy publishing on the author’s part. Written words/manuscripts can be changed with out the usual dramas, e-books can be created within a short time frame, as little as 2-8 hours. E-books can be formatted to suit readers, not designers. Indie published authors are often way ahead of the game on this. For some indie ebooks, yes, there is poor formatting, granted, but equally from trad -publishing there is a severe amount of over-formatting and nearly all the same poor formatting errors indies make too.
When it comes to formatting never forget ebooks are reader-defined platforms. It’s their reading experience that counts. That applies to everyone.
JG goes on to say:
Authors need publishers; they need experts to guide and protect them.
FC: What writers need are respectful, professional, business partners. We don’t actually need publishers or agents to become writers, or to negotiate contracts, only to get in to the large book chains and find out which commissioning editors have any money left.
So, in summary, respect to Jonny for throwing down a gauntlet from the inside to say let’s buck up our ideas. Let’s see if anyone is actually listening to authors or to Jonny.
That’s my two ha’pennies. Thanks for listening.
Who is this bloke anyway? Frank Coles is one of those writer upstarts, who respectfully begs your leave to go back to his pit and flagellate himself at the typewriter for scraps of offal once again.
NOT!
by 
Writer, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Father.
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