I have no problem selling ebooks for authors directly as an agent, but partnering with them is another matter.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Authors will make far more on those ebooks through direct sales than publishers are offering. There is no incentive for authors to sell those rights to traditional publishers which means, in the fairly short term, publishers run out of material to sell.
I sell a lot of ebooks from my website and encourage authors to set up their own stores.
Authors can easily produce ebook versions of novels and shorter work which publishers don't own.
You have to remember that in addition to running a literary agency, I am also an ebook publisher.
Together, Amazon and I are giving readers what they want - inexpensive, professional ebooks.
No agent/publisher is in a position to create across a spectrum of media and distribution what major publishers can accomplish for authors.
Amazon is such a big player in publishing, but a lot of authors feel this connection to their publishing house and their editors who helped them get their books out there, so their loyalties tend to go that way.
Paying a royalty to someone for prepping an ebook is akin to paying the kid who cuts your grass a percentage of the purchase price when you sell your house. It makes no sense.
Having a literary agent makes a huge difference in submitting work. My agent has access and tremendous passion.
I tend to turn down books originally published as e-books. As for selling books directly to e-book publishers, I would do so only if all traditional publishers had turned them down.