I agree – I saw POD being demonstrated at least ten years ago at Frankfurt, and thought that it would take the publishing world by storm – why didn’t it? If it had, we might be in a very different situation now.

We try to strike a balance between chat and info, especially with E.S.C., which is very much centred around Eve and the things she’s discovered (and the things she’s experienced in the bookshop, which is surely pretty interesting to most authors). But we don’t always get it right. Also, we’re in the midst of our Summer Season, which is deliberately more lightweight (i.e. holiday listening) than our normal fare.

I know – isn’t that the strangest name for a church you’ve ever seen?

Thanks - sorry about earlier stutter, file is Ok now.

That’s very interesting! Getting access to the Well in those days involved Compuserve, if I remember rightly, and the speed was so slow it looked as if someone was typing on your screen... very s-l-o-w-l-y-... almost made it feel more exciting, more real to traverse those vast distances...

I do miss the optimism of those days about the future of the net, but as you say, the potential is up to us to realize... but yes, that experience was really the idea behind Litopia. Ought to make that clearer, I think.

Robert, I think our business (agenting) is in profound transition, just as publishing is in transition from analog to digital. The traditional agent’s role of deal-broker will become, I suspect, less and less important, counter-balanced by authors’ growing requirement for a broader range of support services (and they won’t get that from publishers).

I’d say that the traditional agent has been closer to the publisher than the author. However, the new agent will be much closer to the author. That’s one of the reasons that I think Mary’s voice is so important, because clearly, there are a lot of authors out there who don’t feel agents are doing a good job – and we ignore them at our peril.

How do we persuade booksellers to get behind new talent (and indeed, to support the mid-lister)? Well, any business that allows itself to become hostage to a very small number of very powerful buyers is asking for trouble, and that’s just what’s happened to publishing. Bizarrely, publishing has never been consumer-facing, and they’re certainly paying the price for that now. I suspect the answer to this lies in developing a closer relationship between the author and their readership, which is already happening in some cases quite nicely here on the net. It’s not a short-term - or necessarily complete - solution, but it’s one promising step into our digital future.

That's a pretty Snarky comment of your own, "anon".

I don’t know what you consider “name-calling”, perhaps you can expand on that. Listen to the week’s output and you’ll see that we’re covering this huge – and hugely important – topic in a pretty responsible way. Or perhaps you think that agents should forever be immune to criticism? I’m afraid the sun is setting on that world, for better or worse.

Very perceptive post - thank you.

All the points you make ring true for me. I do think that publishing may soon start to de-corporatize itself (your second point) – maybe it already is – and that will produce some interesting surprises – such as for example, the success of Canongate in the UK.

“What was up with the deep discounting of Harry Potter?” – Sheer madness, that’s what.

“Work that was of a publishable standard 20 years ago is not publishable today” Again, I think that’s spot on. First time I’ve heard that argument made, but you’re dead right.

“Perhaps we should think about outlawing discounting” The abolition of the NBA in the UK was, imo, a huge mistake in retrospect. Can we ever get it back? I doubt whether there’s the will, even among publishers.

Unless we are to return to the Dark Ages (which apparently were never as dark and uncivilized as many think) people will still need and require the output of authors, in whatever format. It may well be that the future of agenting lies in this direction – being managers of the IP that authors create, not simply deal-makers. But agenting is certainly at the crossroads now.

>It appears most agents can't take criticism.

You have to bear in mind that most agents have come very late to the internet, and many wrongly view it as an extension of “business as usual”, which it most certainly ain’t.

In the traditional (but rapidly disappearing) publishing world, agents encountered zero criticism. However, the net is a great leveler in some ways, and no-one’s opinion goes unchallenged. Agents’ opinions, just like anyone else’s, are fair game for discussion and disagreement online. If we agents don’t like being held to account, then perhaps we shouldn’t blog. Otherwise – get used to it!

>Agent's blog decrying Mary's blog aka a gossip session with no counter view:

As a fellow agent, I find Janet Reid’s attitude baffling. Perhaps it’s just her style, I don’t know. But her approach seems full of condescension , even belittling. I do wonder how much she really likes authors. I would not want to be tarred with Janet’s brush in authors’ minds. She and I are as different as chalk and cheese – I do not believe she is typical.

As I wrote in The Bookseller last week, the agent’s role is fundamentally changing. I think the dinosaurs of the business, while still active, are enjoying their last moments of sunshine.

>I wish more people were brave enough to dive into this discussion.

Mary’s piece opened the floodgates – the cat is out of the bag and cannot be re-bagged. I think more and more people will see this soon.

Couldn't agree more - she's the real deal!

P.