.
.
Recently I wrote about the possibility to earn more on books by simply selling them on a variety of retailer platforms – worldwide. To do this, authors can use the service of a British aggregator: ebookpartnership who distributes ebooks and books to thousands of online retailers, to bookstores and libraries.
I mentioned their service as, to my knowledge, they are the only company who does it for a yearly fee, without tapping into author’s book sales through a commission. So, no matter how many books you sell per year, it is the same small fee.
I also stated in this article another aggregator who takes no fee, but charges 10-15% commission. In the meantime I learned that this is just peanuts, compared with a whopping 30% that is deducted from the retail price by Argo Navis, even before a literary agent gets his 15%. Yes, they don’t work directly with authors – only with agents who signed up with them!
.
Literary Agents Using Argo Navis?
Since the advent of self-publishing not only trade publishers, but also agents got into hard times. Desperate, literary agencies suddenly started to ride on the self-publishing wagon. However without having a clue about the business of self-publishing (or publishing for that matter). For some of them the solution was to turn to Argo Navis, who call their services: Agent-Curated Self-Publishing. They don’t work with authors directly and accept only manuscripts that are submitted to them by contracted literary agents.
.
What’s in for Authors?
Authors who hope to fare better with this scheme, are duped, as the rankings of Argo Navis “serviced” titles is worse than if they would have really self-published – not to mention the loss of revenue. Apropos revenue: Checks for book sales from Argo Navis – after they deducted their 30% from the retail price! – go to the agent, who in turn deducts his 15% before the author gets anything. And if the author is lucky, he or she gets even a copy of the sales report from their agent. Literary agents seem to be happy with this system, Argo Navis came to their rescue, providing them with a way to stay in the publishing business.
.
Any “Benefit” Using Argo Navis?
Argo Navis is a distributor, also called aggregator, who distributes to a variety of retailers, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo. After the retailer takes their standard cut (30% for books over $2.99), Argo Navis take another 30% before passing on payments to the agent, who hands the rest to the author.
This “service” is totally overpriced, compared to distributors, such as eBookpartnership who takes only a small yearly fee and NO cut whatsoever into revenues, and even aggregators, such as Smashwords or Draft2Digital, who take 10% – 15% (depending from which book price), and especially so when you compare the cost of going directly to retailers like Amazon (where uploading a book is free).
.
Outsourced Services
Services like cover design, editing, formatting, scanning, and ebook conversion are not included in this hefty price tag – but are available for a premium. Who provides those services? Their website states “third party specialists.” Argo Navis outsources these publishing services – for a commission obviously. Their price list for these services is not publicly available – and only distributed to literary agents who won’t reveal it to journalists.
.
In One Sentence: Almost Worse than Vanity Publishing.
Agencies using Argo Navis are not helping the author. They are agents for Argo Navis, (and might even get a commission, who knows…?), forwarding the manuscript from the author to the distributor and taking their 15% cut: Simply passing the manuscripts from the author to the distributor, billing the author for any services they need and taking their 15% cut.
What have they done for this cut? Put an author in the hands of a questionable distributor who is taking 30% of their royalties (on top of the 30% the retailers take, and separate from the 15% that agents are getting).
.
David Gaughran lists in a great eye-opener article all these “reputable literary agencies” (some of them do not even exist anymore) who signed up initially with Argo Navis.
He also shows what self-publishing authors get for a US-Dollar 4.99 book: $3.49 per sale (70%) compared to using an agent who works with Argo Navis: $2.08 per sale (41.65%). What a difference!
.
Not a Good Deal for Authors
David Gaughran also explains: “There’s no upside to being funnelled into this program. Participating authors get lower royalties, no sales reports, slower payments, and lose the ability to make quick changes to things like pricing – which is essential for marketing.”
“Well, this is the highest ranked Argo Navis book I could find. It’s at #58,822 in the Kindle Store. That’s the best performing book! It’s selling 1 or 2 copies a day. Most Argo Navis books are selling 1 copy a month (or less!). Some haven’t sold a single copy ever – and one of those has been out for three months!”
.
So as always: Writer Beware! Ask a potential agent the names of publishers he / she is working for. Whenever you hear a name or get an offer: Google, google and google even more!
Here are some more articles on this topic:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.ca/2011/09/drink-kool-aid.html
http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/agents-and-publishing-a-roadmap-for-writers/
Resources and More Blogs About Literary Agents:
.
What Literary Agents Want to Know From You
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/what-literary-agents-want-to-know-from-you/
.
How Agents work and How to work with Agents
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/how-agents-work-how-to-work-with-agents/ .
.
Must-Read Blog to learn more about agents and how to approach them
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents
.
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents
How to Write a Query Letter
.
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/5-tips-for-successful-book-submissions/
.
100′s of Links to Publishers and Agents
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/100s-of-links-to-publishers-and-agents/
.
Which Literary Agent is Right for You?
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/which-literary-agent-is-right-for-you/
.
Association of Author’s Representatives (lists agents)
http://aaronline.org/
.
For more agent blogs go to the absolutewrite forum:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37784
.
When you check out the agent, you’ll want to contact “Writer Beware”
Visit often and get the latest alerts from WRITER BEWARE:
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/alerts/
.
.
<><><><><>
.
.