While perusing the deals today in Publishers Marketplace, I came across a sale by agent Bob Diforio to HarperCollins for three erotic novellas penned by Delilah Devlin. The wording of the deal was so different that I wondered if it meant what I thought it meant.
Delilah Devlin’s three erotic novellas, again to May Chen at Harper, for immediate e-book publication, in a nice deal, by Bob Diforio at D4EO Literary Agency (World).
After a confirmation e-mail from Mr. Diforio, it comes to light that HarperCollins is indeed going to offer these books as e-books first, with print options to come later. This makes a ton of sense because e-book publication overhead is so much lower than a print publication. I advocated for this back in November. Dave Rothman, of this blog, has also been a proponent of the e-book to print workflow. An author can build on an online following, like Lora Leigh‘s, that can be leveraged into large print sales.
Having a giant like HarperCollins enter the e-book publishing industry makes me wonder what will happen to e-publishers such as Ellora’s Cave and Samhain. My hope is that it raises the standard of what is going to be published while not diminishing the diversity of offerings.
This can be a win-win-win for readers, authors and publishers. Kudos to Harper Collins for taking a bigger step forward into the digital age.
