What will a good agent look like tomorrow?

Interesting blog at Digital Book World about the next agent model. My comment:

Writers care more about this than about "the future of the publishing industry" because most of us aren't counting on the industry being there when we need it. Most of us really aren't that invested in propping up old models because we either didn't sell well enough, never got accepted in the first place, or got dumped or neglected the minute a shinier writer came along and the bigger commission loomed.

Now, I am poised to make more on my own this year than I did in any year in which I had a NY deal. This will be the case for many writers in the next few years. What would I want in an agent at this point? (I do have an agent looking at some stuff that I think will work in the current NY environment because I think NY does have distinct advantages still).

I would consider an agent to help with editing, branding, marketing, management, vision, and the rights that will still be difficult for a writer to achieve alone. Foreign rights? I don't need you to sell my book to overseas publishers. I need you to help me find translators so I can reach the worldwide digital market. I've found five on my own. Bring me 20 or 50 or 100. We'll all make a little bit on royalties.

Help me identify my audiences. If you know books and readers (you would have to convince me this is the case, or every agent would sell bestsellers and every editor would be hailed as a genius and publishing would be highly profitable), then you understand how I can reach my readers. That's "my readers," not one editor, or a generic stranger browsing a bookstore.

Be a conduit, not a roadblock. Look for avenues instead of fighting the upstream current. Encourage my diversity and sell my screenplays, children's books, comic books, and audio books. Better yet, find us more partners--filmmakers, actors, illustrators, web designers, other writers).

Be my partner. Believe in my vision instead of changing it to fit trend or perceived market. Stick with me. Have goals and follow them relentlessly. Have dreams and follow them blindly.

Then I will be yours.

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Tuesday round-up

We've got all the files together for the Grave Conditions trade paperback edition. Stephen James Price is working on the layout right now, and we hope to get it out by June 24. Preorders still available at http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/comics.htm. Visit Stephen's web page to learn more about Pages of Promises.

Skull Ring review up at Melissa's Book Shelf. Drummer Boy review at Kindle Obsessed. Reviews of comics Dirt #1 and 2 at Bookgasm.

Next book Speed Dating with the Dead currently going through beta reading and editing, should be out in July. Also, our ebook novels will be going to $2.99 on June 30, so grab them while you can. The novellas and short story collections will remain at 99 cents.

Shout out to {indie}pendent Books, an online bookstore focusing on indie titles.

Thursday updates

Blog post: Publishers aren't as dumb as people think

Cajun Lady review of Drummer Boy

Grave Conditions PDFs at 99 cents, edited by Scott Nicholson and Stephen James Price

New blog Indie Books Blog to feature independent publishers, looking for followers, leaders, and indie authors!

Pages of Promises by Stephen James Price

Now available as an ebook, a collection of tales from a sharp new voice in suspense and horror, Stephen James Price. From a man who rubs grave markers to the child of a serial killer, Price's brand of dark fiction is sure to please. We're keeping it at 99 cents while we work on the print edition. Up for Kindle at Amazon and in multiple formats at Smashwords.