Agents Playing Hardball on Royalties

Today the UK's The Bookseller had an interesting article titled "Agents Raise Stakes in e-Royalty Battle":

Authors and agents are playing hardball on backlist e-book deals with publishers, with some said to be withholding deals for six to 12 months in the belief that the current industry standard royalty rate of 25% could be smashed within a year.

The article quotes an agent saying she's asking for 50% royalty on backlist and believes new books will command 30 to 35% soon.

What a difference a year makes.

Go here to read the entire article