Agent-Assisted Self-Publishing and the Amazon White Glove Program

Amazon White Glove program

Today’s guest post is from bestselling author Melissa Foster (@Melissa_Foster).


With independent author success on the rise, the role of agents has taken a precarious turn for the unknown. Many agents are seeing fewer sales and lower advances (which equates to lower income), and are looking for ways to keep their heads above water. One path that some have taken is agent-assisted self-publishing.

What is agent-assisted self-publishing?

Agent-assisted means different things to different agents. Some agents help an author self-publish, literally. This means they format the files for publication and upload them, and take 15% of the sales revenue. Those scenarios may still call for the author to pay for editing, cover design, marketing, etc. Some authors think that the agent bond they create, by paying that 15%, will make their path to traditional publication easier, while other authors simply don’t understand how easy it is to self-publish. Fear can guide writers to hand over their income because it’s easier than learning to format an e-book, or understanding what is needed to self-publish.

Two biggest drawbacks to agent-assisted self-publishing

This depends on the contract, but in general:

  • Authors lose their ability to directly manage their books (e.g., pricing, files, distribution)
  • Authors lose 15% of their sales revenue indefinitely

There are no “rules” for agent-assisted self-publishing, and before authors give away their hard-earned money, they should think about these points and try to negotiate what is in their best interest.

For authors ultimately seeking traditional publication, remember that what sells books to publishers is the writing, and that writing doesn’t change if your agent is earning zero dollars or thousands of dollars from your work. Publishers don’t appear to be interested in self-published works unless they’ve sold over 50,000 copies—in some cases, even higher—or hit the e-book bestseller lists. Having your book repped by an agent means nothing unless the writing is good enough for a publisher to purchase it in the first place—and if that were the case, you probably wouldn’t be considering the agent-assisted option. That’s the harsh reality.

Those who are moving in this direction should ask more experienced friends for help, take a course on e-publishing, or seek one-time, fee-based services to help them through the self-publishing process. My own company, Fostering Success, offers a self-publishing 101 course for under fifty bucks, and you can find other reputable courses or guidebooks from places like Writer’s Digest or successful independent authors such as CJ Lyons and Joanna Penn. You’ll spend a lot less than 15% over the lifetime sales of your book.

What about foreign rights, film rights, and the like?

Agents can sell such rights without earning income through self-assisted self-publishing. Put another way: Agents do not need to earn 15% of your total income to sell subsidiary rights. Know this before you leap into giving away your royalties.

Amazon KDP’s White Glove Program

Another agent-assisted self-publishing option now being pushed by Amazon KDP is the White Glove Program. Amazon KDP’s need for exclusivity is the driving force behind the White Glove Program (WGP), but they’re being smart about it. The program is only available to agented authors—their gatekeepers for quality assurance—and offers a modicum of promotion to represented authors. A WGP book is promoted on three Amazon pages in rotation with other WGP books for a period of thirty days. In return, Amazon KDP requires a 6-month or a 12-month period of exclusivity (merchandising changes with contract term). Some authors see a spike in sales during that 30-day period, while others see little, if any, difference. 

The complicated part of the WGP scenario is that to benefit from this 30 days of promotion I’ve just described, you must sign a portion of your royalties away indefinitely to your agent. Having twice taken part in the WGP, I have seen the benefits and negative outcomes of this program, and while it can be a beneficial program, 30 days of promotion are not worth the life-of-the-book revenue grab by agents.

Important note: When you are exclusive to one reporting venue, such as Amazon KDP, you cannot make any of the bestseller lists outside of Amazon’s Top 100. The New York Times and USA Today both require two or more reporting venues, so even if you sell 100,000 copies on Amazon, you will not make the lists that can lead to large advances with traditional publishers. Make your choice wisely.

Below is an agent contract proposal developed specifically with the WGP in mind. All authors should consider using this as a starting point for contract negotiations with their agent if they decide to pursue WGP.

Establishing Agent-Author Contract Terms: Amazon White Glove Program

  • Agent remains the Agent of Record for 3 years for work published through the WGP. For sales of foreign rights, audio rights, film rights, or a future publishing contract, the standard agent contract applies.
  • Agent earns 15% commission on all sales from the book for the life of the WGP contract plus one year. After that period terminates, all royalties and rights revert to the author. (Most sales happen in the first two years of publication.)

Remember, if you go with the WGP, it is a KDP contract that only affects your digital format. There is no need for your paperback to be under the agent’s control at all. Digital and print formats are handled separately.

Book Distribution and WGP

If the agent holds the ASIN (Amazon’s unique product identifier) and the rights revert to the author, it requires re-uploading of the e-book on a separate KDP account, which means losing hard-earned rankings. In addition, because a new book page will be created on Amazon, all back links pointing to the book page are also lost, as that page will be removed.

Since starting over is not easy or beneficial, the author should put in place a system that allows for the book to remain untouched after the life of the contract, thereby allowing the author to maintain the value of their marketing efforts.

To build on the terms stated above:

  • Agent remains in control; however, author has access to accounts. The agents create and hold a new and separate account for each author client. This account is set up using a new joint e-mail address. Both author and agent have access to the KDP account. Agent remains in control of finances to manage income (financial payment data is hidden by KDP automatically). Authors have access to pricing, files, and reporting, to better manage their promotions.
  • Account reverts to author upon completion of the WGP contract plus twelve months. After the term of the contract is up, the KDP account reverts to the author. The password is changed to one chosen by the author, and the author changes the financial info to their own. Voila—no future connections and no reason to re-upload the book or lose rankings. In my opinion, this is vital.

Bundling Your E-Books

Bundling of books is very popular, but creates difficulties when you have a range of titles available, some under an agent-assisted contract and some that are not. It is best if you can exclude bundled e-book sales from your agreement with the agent; however, if you are unable to negotiate such a deal, and if you choose to include an agent-assisted title in a bundle, then I suggest the following:

  • Agent shall receive 15% of whatever percentage is appropriate in that bundle. For example, if there are three books in the bundle, the agent would receive 15% of one-third of the sales. This is the most complicated piece of the puzzle, but should be addressed prior to signing on the dotted line, and I suggest thinking about an outside bookkeeper to handle it so there is no question about honesty.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla that can make or break your book, but what I’ve discovered is that if you write a good book and market it well, your book will sell incredibly well with or without WGP. It’s the Amazon algorithms that make the difference, and you can reach them without WGP—although for some, WGP can provide a great start.

If you don’t understand publishing contracts, or if you have yet to be exposed to them, seek advice from those who are knowledgeable in the industry. Take control of your career so your income is not mismanaged, and most importantly, remember that success only comes overnight for very few people. In reality, it takes years to become a recognized name. Manage your expectations, and think long term.

A personal thought on managing expectations: There is no secret to selling good books. I see two big issues with the mindset of indie authors today: (1) their expectations seem to be out of whack because of the false hope given by KDP Select after-free promotions, and (2) they’re looking for the easy path to success. With the advent of Select freebies, authors have forgotten that learning to market and have a professional, active presence is vital. It will be interesting to see what happens when Select freebies go away.

The bottom line: Authors should not give away their royalties indefinitely in exchange for a short-lived sales push. Authors are so desperate to show sales that they’re giving away (literally) thousands of books every month instead of learning about marketing and working on exposure. Before signing on for agent-assisted self-publishing, weigh your options carefully, and don’t be afraid to negotiate.

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[…] Should authors use agents' assistance to help them self-publish? Is the Amazon White Glove Program a good option?  […]

Jane Steen

Excellent post, Melissa (and thanks to Jane for giving it blog space!) I would love to hear more about how successful self-publishers are teaming with agents for specific parts of their business (foreign rights, print only, etc.) and how commissions are structured for these ventures. As you say, there are no rules; but there must be some arrangements that work well and others that don’t. I’d like more self-pubbers (and agents) to be willing to discuss the good and the bad of agented self-publishing.

And I agree with you about the false expectations raised by the KDP Select post-promo bounce. I was one of those authors who was flying high after a 41,000+-download promo, only to see sales collapse later. I’m not complaining about the promo – for a first-time author it was a great way of getting my book into readers’ hands, and it has generated 80+ reviews so far, 400+ adds on Goodreads… an all-round great start. I am taking a slow-cooker approach to my writing career so I am not daunted by the current sales slump, but I do recognize that there is a lot more to managing a self-published career than relying on one program.

Melissa Foster

Hi Jane, thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Agents still play an important role for authors on many levels (for those authors who hope to reach all audiences). Foreign rights and audio rights can be sold using the same structure that they’d use if the agent/client relationship was in tact across the board. The agent takes a percentage of the advance (foreign rights commissions are usually 15-25%, I believe). The key for authors is understanding that we do have a bit of negotiation power. We no longer have to accept a all or nothing, and agents are accepting this as well because of the way the industry is changing.

This is a learning process for all sides — agents, authors, publishers, and even retailers. We can only share what we learn along the way to help others make informed decisions.

MJRose

Great post. I would also add that some agents are worth it and some aren’t and that’s another 800 pound gorilla.

Melissa Foster

Yes, I’d agree with that. Agents can certainly make/break a career. Thanks, MJ

annamaria

thank you Melissa, some great insights in this article. education is the most important thing a self-publhished author can do. to understand the world of publishing an marketing can do wonders for a well written book. with all the work an author puts into writing a book, i just can’t see why they would ever want to give 15% of their hard earned money to an agent who will only upload the ebook.

Melissa Foster

I think the key is that if the program they are going to get you into adds value (ie: sales/exposure), then in certain cases it makes sense, but for simply being able to say you are agented, I agree, there’s no value there.

kathie

Thanks, Melissa! There are so many options to consider and I think that’s what makes this an exciting time. Most writers could probably say their publication situation could be better for any number of reasons. But if going it alone requires a professional path, treating it like a job, self-publishing with the thought in mind that you are a tiny little publishing house means you put out the best product possible. I’m sure working with certain agents can be beneficial for some, but finding resources like you offer at WLC and FosteringSuccess mean unaffiliated authors have a shot at getting noticed by readers. Thanks so much for all the info!

kathie

beware the typos above–rushing!!!

Melissa Foster

No worries about typos, Kathie. Thanks for your input and for taking the time to read the post. I do think resources are key for indies in today’s market. When I first started self-publishing (2009) there were such limited resources and the nose snub was everywhere. We’re in a good space now, and it can only get better.

Paula Cappa

Very informative. I had no idea! I see you mention Amazon KDP Select FREEBIES
and after-free promotions. Melissia or Jane, or anyone, do you have
some insight on the status of FREEBIES at this stage going forward? The
s/p authors’ gravy train for freebies seems to have left the station as
I’ve been hearing that freebies do not spark the sales they used to (my
horror novel got 1300 free downloads but did not spark any new sales).
So do we think FREEBIES no longer have benefits other than momentary
exposure? Would love to hear your thoughts as I’m bringing out my
second novel soon and have mixed feelings if I should go with Select and
offer free downloads.

Melissa Foster

Hi Paula, everyone has a different opinion about this. JA Konrath just made about $100K in 6 weeks using the freebie tract, but that’s an anomaly. I follow hundreds of authors and their promotions, and most see just a slight, short-lived increase in sales. However, series seem to do better with free than stand alone books, which makes sense–use #1 in a series as an intro and gain your revenue from the others in the series.

BTW, I stand firm in the belief that the best marketing strategy long-term is writing more books, putting out high quality work, and connecting with your readers at every turn–social media, book clubs, in-person groups, Skype events. Word of mouth does wonders.

Nina Amir

Another great response! I am in total agreement about promotion. Beyond the great book, promotion of every sort will sell a book best.

Also, I believe many people who opt into the freebie tract do so to gain reviews for their books, and I’m not sure that has always worked out so well for them. Again, many books remain unread on Kindles or get read and not reviewed.

Melissa Foster

Agreed, I was in a group last week that was commenting about giving away 30,000 books and having only gained an average of 2-3 reviews.

Author DSault

Excellent information and advice, Melissa. I have 35 years experience in marketing and sales. It always surprises me when authors give away free copies of their books as in the KDP Select program. I realize the theory suggests that this builds a fan base, but I’m not sure readers who seek free books are the best group to be courting. I’d rather give premiums like posters and other fun incentives to the wonderful fans who actually pay for my books. Of course, good marketing carries a cost in dollars and/or time, but, in my opinion, there is a much greater cost for NOT marketing.

Melissa Foster

Hi Dean, there is a lot of controversy about the free book epidemic that we are seeing. I do think that before free books became the norm, the value of free was there and strong. Now, the value seems to be in slightly increased follow-on sales, but you’ve hit the nail on the head. How many free books are actually read? I know people who have their Kindles full of freebies and they admit that they’ll only read a handful.

Anthony Pacheco

KDP Select is not free books.

The reader is “borrowing” the book with the rights to read it on his or hers Kindle. You cannot borrow a book like this on any other Kindle reader, it has to be a Kindle.

Furthermore, a reader has to be an Amazon Prime member which cost $70 a year.

This is how Amazon makes money off of KDP Select.

Now, what’s in it for the author? The primary answer is “money.” For every book that is borrowed under KDP Select, the author gets a percentage of a monthly pool. Right now that’s $2.12is to $2.50ish per book. Last month it was $2.31.

$2.31 is a significant royalty per Kindle book that is in the $2.99 to $4.99 price point.

While there are significant (and I mean significant) gains from cross-sell and up-sell opportunities with KDP Select, Amazon, and publishers/independent authors who use the KDP Select program know exactly what they are doing.

Anthony Pacheco

And with that said, there is a KDP option to set the price-point to $0 for a promo period of 3 days. That is indeed free books, but should not be confused with the main features of KDP Select.

Used properly that promo can drive a lot of sales to other books in the author’s portfolio, especially with series.

Melissa Foster

Yes, Anthony, you are right about the other benefit being the lends on KDP Select, however, there is a great divide between those who see a “significant” gain from lends. Again, I follow hundreds of authors and the average number of lends is not what I’d call significant, however for those who use retailers such as BookBub to give their free days a send off tend to see values that I’d rate as “significant” in the lend department. But again, most authors aren’t pulling out all the stops and that goes back again to riding off of the free bandwagon.

I do agree that Amazon/KDP knows exactly what they are doing with their programs and they are incentivizing authors in ways to get that exclusivity, and I’m not knocking the exclusivity, just providing info so that authors realize that there’s much more to the WGP than simply signing up. This article isn’t about KDP Select, though I think we could write an article about that and weigh the good and the bad.

Anthony Pacheco

My reply was geared towards Dean’s comment.

Porter Anderson

@twitter-27873266:disqus

Hey, Melissa,

Thanks for the detail of this post, really good to see so many specifics. Question about this paragraph:

The complicated part of the WGP scenario is that to benefit from this 30 days of promotion I’ve just described, you must sign a portion of your royalties away indefinitely to your agent. Having twice taken part in the WGP, I have seen the benefits and negative outcomes of this program, and while it can be a beneficial program, 30 days of promotion are not worth the life-of-the-book revenue grab by agents.

Why must you sign away those royalties “indefinitely?” In your proposed approach, I see you limiting agency of record to three years. And could an author not talk to an agent about limiting his or her cut to the life of the KDP exclusive (six months or a year)? Is it not possible to dicker with the term of commissionable activity from the outset — or, at least, try to. I realize that all agents wouldn’t be amenable, but if one was talkable on the point, is there anything from the Amazon side that dictates that “indefinite” factor?

Thanks!

-p.

@Porter_Anderson

Melissa Foster

That’s exactly the reason that I put this out there. Right now, agents want it all – full signage for the life of the title. At least that’s been my experience. With respect to agents, this is new to them, too, so everyone is in a learning stage. My feeling is that authors armed with information (as noted) can negotiate rather than just accepting the terms of the contract. With enough strength, the hope is that eventually the agents will realize that they’re losing money by NOT negotiating with authors. There is nothing from Amazon’s side that dictates the terms of your contract with your agent.

Again, I put this out there so authors would be armed with enough information to start talking with agents in a way that benefits the author.

Nina Amir

Great question, @twitter-39469575:disqus, (I was going to ask the same one!), and great reply, @twitter-27873266:disqus. To be honest, I’ve had little problem with agents, but I’m highly caution of Amazon and its programs. There are many rights issues indie authors need to be aware of, and for some, this can be overwhelming. An agent can actually provide just the services they need to navigate all sorts of publishing contracts.

Super post, Melissa. You’ve outlined some good points and offered great resources. I wonder, though, if all agents providing assisted self-publishing are taking 15% or if some are just charging for services. Do you happen to know? I know one or two…might have to ask (or send them over here to comment).

Melissa Foster

Hi Nina, I’ve only worked with a few and spoken with several others, and the 15% seems to be the common number/way of working with authors. Remember, they’re trying to replace money that they are losing in lost sales, so this structure makes sense (from an agenting standpoint, not an authoring standpoint)

Porter Anderson

Thanks much, Melissa, appreciate the clarification.
And thanks again for the piece.
It would be great if we could get some agents’ comments here.
-p.

Melissa Foster

Agreed.

Taylor Dean

Great article. Very informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Melissa. Much appreciated.

Melissa Foster

Hi Taylor, you’re welcome and thanks for stopping by today.

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