Speaking at a seminar called “Winning the Non-fiction Battle,” sponsored by The Bookseller, agent David Miller said “Agents are going to have to get less lazy so they are thinking about podcasts and online, and engaging more with the world of the rights director.”
Of course the same applies to writers—because ‘lazy’ publishers’ first impulse will be to take all rights to your work, forever, in whatever format, often with no additional compensation, and unless you or a not-lazy agent are alert to the implications of this, you will end up with a contract that fails to protect you.
The moral of the story: we all have to stop being lazy about new media.