The 'facilitated' author still has to email the MS Word file to the agent/self-pub facilitator, who then sends it to a formatter or has one in-house. A one-time fee with a fast turnaround time. Ted Risk at Dellaster Design will do a very clean epub and mobi for $89. Okay, the agent can format your file, or have that service arranged. And you're paying for it, I assume, unless the facilitator is footing some risk and cost. You still have to describe the book, send suggestions, approve the cover file, and basically DO EVERYTHING you would have done on your own except make the first contact (find your own designer) and the last (upload the final file). Let's assume the facilitator knows cover artists. Presumably they aren't editing the manuscript (which is a different skill that an agent may or may not be qualified for), but it's certainly not a task the facilitator is handling. The market is already there, and it's the millions of readers owning electronic devices or ordering print-on-demand books. Right now they assess with one measure: can I sell this to one of the few dozen editors in New York? Self-publishing requires no assessment, unless the agent says, 'Whoa, this is crap, you can't publish this!' And who is going to lose their 15 percent to be that blunt? The agent's second role and experience is also rendered useless.

Their assessment skills have zero value in self-publishing. What is an agent's current job and experience? To assess a manuscript and find a market. I respect their experience (Barry is married to an agent, and he'd probably BE a good agent if he so chose), and Joe is probably the most educated self-pubber on the planet, but I just don't see why agents should be considered ideal candidates for this task.

Joe calls them 'estributors' but they are not distributing the book to readers, they are distributing them to distributors, which puts them more in a wholesale role, except of course they aren't selling anything.

The basic premise is the agent handles the cover, the formatting, and the uploading and derives a 15 percent commission (the same commission the agent would make selling a book to a U.S. Barry makes a rational argument at Joe's blog, and Joe himself is trying it with his existing agent. Konrath) are presenting the case that agents have a desirable role as facilitators for authors who choose to self-publish. Two prominent names in self-publishing (Barry Eisler and J.A.

The Farm by Scott Nicholson