In what is sure to be viewed as a stigma-erasing coup for indie authors, book discovery and indie advocacy site IndieReader announced its partnership today with one of the most well-known and respected literary agencies, Dystel & Godrich Literary Management. this collaboration will fast-track books that have been selected by a panel of judges as winners in IR’s annual IndieReader Discovery Awards, announced each year at BookExpo.
“The quality of the books we’ve received over the past two years has been extraordinary,” said IndieReader’s president Amy Edelman in a press release on the partnership. “I just felt, for those authors interested in taking the traditional path, that we needed a firm that could help get them the attention that their titles warranted. By virtue of their client list and their enthusiasm, Jane and Miriam seemed the logical choice.”
That client list includes some well-known names in publishing, including authors Tracey Garvis Graves, Colleen Hoover, Abbi Glines, and Samantha Young.
“We are very excited about this opportunity to partner with IndieReader and Amy. We’ve learned so much from our Indie authors and have experienced tremendous success bringing together the worlds of independent and traditional publishing. We are committed to guiding authors through this new publishing landscape and we’re having lots of fun doing it,” said president and founder Jane Dystel.
When ebook-only publishing first came about, many literary agents were accused of underhanded business practices for signing authors who were either previously self-published or were interested in pursuing indie or digital-only publishing. Fortunately, as the industry has caught up with the capabilities, more and more agencies are looking to authors who have ventured out into indie publishing first. this creates an entire breed of authors who know the effort and experience needed to publish a book, and will therefore hopefully create a stronger market of books to come.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
