Agent-Assisted Publishing An interview with IPSO Books

Agent-Assisted Publishing An interview with IPSO Books Agent-Assisted Publishing: Interviewing Robert Caskie from IPSO Books We started Reedsy around a year ago, thinking mostly about independent authors and hoping to give them, through our marketplace, access to a range of talent that has so far been exclusive to traditional publishing companies.Along the way, however, many different players have come to know about Reedsy, and agencies are one of them - and a very exciting one at that. While the role of the agent is often questioned in an increasingly disintermediated industry, we personally believe agents remain a key link in the publishing chain.Because agencies  are closest to the author, and have their best interests at heart, they are not afraid of the digital â€Å"disruption†. Some, like Peters Fraser Dunlop in London even see it as an opportunity to be seized. That is what agent-assisted publishing is all about.If you’re interested in digital publishing, this interview is a must-watch. It is, as of yet, one of the most innovative and thoroughly-developed propositions we have seen for a digital imprint. As usual, unconditional lovers of the written word will find the transcript of the key moments right below. Hi Robert, thank you so much for welcoming us in Peters Fraser Dunlop offices here in London, they’re really lovely! For our readers who don’t know about PFD, can you give us a bit of background on the agency?It’s lovely to have you, Ricardo. We’re one of the longest established and biggest agencies in London at the moment, and we represent a whole range of writers. We also have literary estates, which is one of the reasons we came towards digital publishing. We own and partially own mainly crime estates, and it’s through the interest of exploiting them further that we came to form IPSO.You’re a senior agent here at PFD and you’re also COO of the company, right?That’s correct, yes. I came to join PFD 8 years ago, and brought a list at that time a list of mainly journalists and fiction authors. Over the years I increased in seniority and four years ago I was made the COO, which basically means my role is to try to manage as effi ciently as possible the different roles of the company. I try to make sure everybody is happy, working hard, and generally try to create a positive work environment where everybody achieves the best they can.I try to do that too at Reedsy. But let me dive right into why we are here: PFD is about to launch their own digital publishing (or agent-assisted publishing) imprint: IPSO books. What was your thinking behind that?At the start of the year we were looking at these estates that we represent, like Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham and John Creasy, and we were seeing quite clear passion. There were traditional print publishers who, out of a collection of maybe 20 books, liked maybe 5, which they made into print, then they made 10 as ebooks, and then there’s a lot remaining which we believe is of equal quality. And still, I think, with print publishers, the ebook is the poor cousin of the print edition†¦So we thought we would take control of this, in a very agenting sort o f way, and we would be much more proactive. So we thought: why not, essentially, â€Å"assist† these estates in creating a higher profile for content that is not being exploited, but also so this can feed into the other print editions and other editions of the book. This is where I think we might be different from a digital publisher, because what we’ll be doing here (and we will be doing this for front-list authors as well), is we promote all books written in all editions.So we will have our digital publishing, or agent-assisted publishing arm called IPSO, and we will obviously promote IPSO books, but we will also promote other books by other publishers, even in print and in foreign language. We want to promote the brand of the author rather than just the books that we have.Obviously for the price promotions, we meet directly with Amazon, iBooks. We go in and talk about what we’ve got coming up. This week for example we’ve got Eric Ambler books as  "book of the week† both on Amazon and iBooks†¦ I think that because we have dealt with them previously through White Glove, which was the agent aspect of Amazon, we now have a good relationship with the retailers. That’s really important because I think iBooks, for example, are much more editorially-led so they like to choose books that they read and like.Alright, now to close this interview, I’d like to ask a more general question on the role of the agent moving forward. How do you see it, do you think it’s still going to be mostly about selling rights, or is there going to be more coaching, advising, or even publishing and marketing?I think for us the past few years have definitely redefined that author-agent relationship and made it much more symbiotic and much more equal. From what I see with IPSO we are actively and actually investing in an author before we make any money. I think that’s a very exciting prospect, and I am confident that th is will lead perhaps to much more interesting and much more varied content.Of course, we will continue to sell to publishing houses. Most publishers - all publishers - do certain things extremely well. But I think maybe the ebook is something that publishers have shied away from a little bit and don’t quite know what to do with, so I think that for agents, helping the author with that is a good opportunity. That will still potentially lead the author to a print publisher as well, and why not, we’d be very happy with that. So I think it’s just empowering the author at an earlier stage.I definitely think so, and that’s why I find this initiative so interesting. I think you’ve shown here at PFD a tremendous capacity to innovate and be creative about publishing, and I’m really happy to have been able to interview you for our blog, Robert.What are your thoughts about agent-assisted publishing initiatives? How does the IPSO  Books proposition sound? Let us know your thoughts, or any questions for Robert, in the comments below!