Thank you for taking the time to provide this detailed response. This makes sense to me. I hope this works out as you envision it. And all those new writers on the Nelson list will be looking for agents! ;-)

Wait a minute. When I specifically asked TN editors about this very thing, I was told that Westbow was at arms length and they were not looking at anything from that division and had no intention of doing so! Would you mind clearly stating for the record that your FICTION editors are reviewing the manuscripts sent into Westbow with a view to acquiring them? {after previously rejecting them of course} We have this 'bait and switch' view because what Chip has expressed is exactly the information we have been given. No one is concerned about self-publishing if in fact the writer does receive books to sell at a reasonable price and can build a following. There is objection to the production of a "keepsake" your word and calling that the launch of a writing career that can lead to publication on the TN list.

If only that were true, the endeavor would indeed be wonderful.

Thank you Wendy for writing these comments. It is true that most unpublished writers have a vague idea of what agents do and really think it is just about getting that first sale. I have clients who have been with my agency for 15-20 years and they are obviously getting a great deal more than that! Many writers want to focus on writing and know they have support, counsel and action for everything else like:
whether to write in different genres, or with a pseudonym, or for different publishers, or other avenues of publication, quit the day job, retain certain rights, ask for rights reversions, learn to read a royalty statement, collect funds that have not been paid, look for new opportunities, and dozens of other decisions that must be made and then pursued. There is no reason at all this should be an adverarial process rather than a win-win team process for writer, agent and publisher. And frankly, I have always appreciated the fact that Nelson is a great team player when it comes to including me on everything and my client being thrilled with the result.

And further those who are good at pitching invariably turn out to have training as actresses or sales people or presenters which has zero correlation to writing ability. We attend conferences for many reasons-- to see our clients, to meet prospective clients whose work we have already read; to meet with editors and other agents and professionals; to cheer on clients winning awards; to present workshops that can inform and genuinely support new writers . . . a longer list here. Bottom line: if you have a ms. and want to connect to agents go to websites. Guess what? We read all submissions for FREE! And often provide feedback if we are genuinely interested. I signed a writer at the last conference I attended I had been exchanging emails with for nine months. That happens.

The moral here is don't pitch at conferences!! Do you really think we go to conferences trolling for clients? To sit in a windowless room all day hearing a new pitch every ten minutes when just at my agency we get 10,000 submissions each year! I've long lobbied for group appointments so writers can actually get to know us. Have pointed out that we respond to WRITTEN material not pitches and thus email queries are FAR more effective.

I should mention this is not just theory on my part. A few years ago to understand this option better I "published" a half dozen books via Lightning source to truly get the process. I still contend it won't work for fiction.

I have no trouble believing that at all. Books have been sold direct to consumers for decades with success. Some e-publishers are doing very well and I have a few clients who have written for them and made a nice living. Harlequin's new Carina will presumably be such an endeavor. The traditional model absolutely isn't for everyone a new modes are emerging. But I know of NO ONE who has had this success with POD in the ASI model-- in fact they state clearly that selling 500 books is considered a "best seller"

I agree Mike. See my later comments. I have encouraged some writers including clients to self-publish. I think it is important for writers to understand that a keepsake is what they are buying from ASI and not an avenue to a career as a writer. I have no problem with self-publishing or even TN making a profit from that. I have no problem with downloaded books from websites--I've even purchased a few. I've encouraged some clients to publish their out of print titles or even NEW works on Kindle. I just want it to be clearly stated to the writer exactly what they will receive for their money and what exactly TN is doing for them.

POD books are not being sold through any of these alternative avenues either! Are you saying church bookstores are going to be ordering from the ASI catalog? Sure back of the room sales are a staple of income for speakers and they'be been doing this for decades before POD was invented and the cost for the POD books is higher than for a regular printed book.