An interesting debate over at Digital Book World with Jason Allen Ashlock, the founder of the Movable Type Literary Group, arguing that agents need to evolve to meet the needs of today's publishing market.  I couldn't agree more and have waded in with my two cents' worth. I suggest you head on over there and read the debate in its entirety.  It's fascinating to see it from all sides, some authors clearly very unhappy with their experience of agents and others coming at it from a more positive angle. Here's what I had to say: An agent may be the best person to stand alongside a work during the long and often bumpy gestation period but that presupposes a skillset many simply do not possess. And why should they if, like many, they entered the industry over ten years ago? The requirements of producing a book as an app or a game are a mystery to most publishers, never mind agents. I would suggest, therefore, that an agenting team work together as they do at some of the bigger agencies although this at present rarely extends beyond film and some digital rights. Smaller agencies could achieve this by working with dedicated consultants – now there’s a ...