Could Publishers and Agents Agree on a Flat Royalty Rate?

Agents, for their part, seemed suspicious of the notion. "When I'm looking for better royalties out there, it often has do with e[-books]," said Jennifer Weltz, of the Jean V. Naggar Agency. "That"s where the issue is." Adding that she doesn't feel a flat royalty rate would ultimately work to get authors a better payout, Weltz said she would like to see escalators more regularly built into the e-book royalty rate and has already had success achieving this in the international market. When asked what he thought of the idea of a flat royalty rate across formats, Robert Gottlieb, chairman of Trident Media Group, was more blunt. I'm always open to hearing about things that are beneficial to our authors... I just don't generally hear those things from publishers."