Speculations : The Rumor Mill : Anonymous : Ask Ann -- How to Spot the Scam Sharks in the Writing Waters

Topic 200 was started on 1998-10-18. There are 3940 messages available to read.

How do you separate the sheep from the goats when searching for Agents or Publishers? Ask SFWA's "scam watchdog" about it before making a potentially costly mistake!

[Publisher's Note, 31 July 2002: we're experiencing an unfortunate run of trolls, flamers, and other people with too much time on their hands. It would be very helpful if anyone who thought any particular message was objectionable would log in and submit feedback. If a particular message's score drops below -2, it will be automagically hidden.]

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Message 3940 was left by Helen on 2002-10-03 18:03:36. Feedback: 0/0 I'd just like to add that I do agree with John, and *NO* amount of pre-editing or anything else will guarantee that a ms. won't wind up in the same slush pile with all those that have never undergone any special treatments. However, sometimes it is a preferable decision to have things of this nature done. In my case, it was a third person narration story which involved an inner-city *dialect* in the story's dialogue. Therefore, even after several readings and crits, I wanted to be doubly sure that no syntax errors, etc. were mistakenly transferred into the narrative--along with other things that may have been previously overlooked. But once again, this was something I chose to be done, and thankfully, I was very pleased with the outcome after the editing was completed. BTW--the editor did throw in a slight *discount* on the total price after the completion, which I also appreciated.

Message 3939 was left by John Savage on 2002-10-03 17:08:21. Feedback: 0/0 As an aside, it is a very, very rare manuscript that both needs and will benefit from a "professional edit" before submission to agents and publishers for which the edit makes a difference. To paraphrase Gordon Van Gelder—who, before he took over F&SF;, acquired books at St. Martin's Press—so-called "professionally edited manuscripts" are ordinarily slightly less unpublishable than the rest of the slush pile. The one systematic exception that I can think of is an ESL author who is still learning the finer points of American usage—but that's something that the copyeditor will take care of if the rest of the manuscript indicates it merits publication.

Message 3938 was left by Helen on 2002-10-03 16:19:44. Feedback: 0/0 Archer: I took a quick look at the William Hoffman website. It appears that he's offering quite a lot(line-edit plus critiquing) for $500--including the matching of your work with a suitable agent after his editing services have been completed. I recently had a 85K manuscript line-edited and the sample edit(you mentioned that Mr. Hoffman will do for $100) alone was close to $500. The editor I used charged $50 *per hr* based on an average of 35-40 hours. I was told by several other editors that this a *reasonable* example of the going rate these days plus expenses(photocopying, telephone, postage, etc.). Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide. Best, Helen

Message 3937 was left by Archer on 2002-10-03 13:30:44. Feedback: 0/0 Say, I've been considering paying for a professional edit of my manuscript. William Hoffmann is who I have been talking to. Apparently, he's written 40 books and promises that if the work is good, that he will introduce me to an agent after the edit. He wants $500 to do a 60 to 75,000 word manucript, or he'll do one chapter for $100 so I can see if I like his editing. Has anyone dealt with him or know anyone else who has dealt with him? Is he as good as he sounds? His website is here: http://www.writer-services.com/ Thank you very much! --Archer

Message 3936 was left by Lucille on 2002-10-03 11:31:19. Feedback: 0/0 Thanks, Bonnie! That makes me feel great! I sent the MS yesterday...keep your fingers crossed. If I get accepted, I'll let everyone know. Man, I love this forum - everytime I need information, I know just where to go. Lucille

Message 3935 was left by Bonnie Shimko on 2002-10-03 08:06:26. Feedback: 0/0 Lucille, MacAdam/Cage is a top-notch publisher. Send your ms ASAP! They publish fantastic books and their publicity is amazing. Check out their website for their titles - you'll recognize them. Also, I've read wonderful things about how they treat their authors. Good luck! I hope you become a MacAdam/Cage author. Bonnie

Message 3934 was left by Marian on 2002-10-02 16:18:47. Feedback: 0/0 Does anyone know anything about literary agent Ricia Mainhardt? Thanks in advance. Marian

Message 3933 was left by Victoria Strauss on 2002-10-02 12:27:05. Feedback: 0/0 Re: The PEP contest--there are a number of contests like this, with huge prizes and high entry fees. As a couple of people have rightly pointed out, the object of the contest is to make a profit for the contest sponsor. Typically, the entries are very short (I know of one that imposes a 250-word limit), minimizing the amount of paper and making it easy for the contest sponsor to zip through them Check the rules, which should be posted on the contest site. I'm betting you will find (in fairly small print) that the prizes are awarded on a pro-rata basis. What this means is that the full prize amounts are awarded only if the contest receives that stated maximum number of entrants. If there are fewer entrants, the prize amounts decrease accordingly--if 70% of the minimum entries are received, 70% of the prize amounts are awarded, and so on. This preserves the contest sponsor's profit no matter how many entrants there are. There's usually a cutoff point below which the contest is canceled; that's the point at which the contest sponsor judges that the profit no longer justifies the trouble of running the contest. Certainly the prizes would be nice if you won them, but contests like this carry no professional prestige. Re: American Literary Agents of Washington Inc: Writer Beware has received a lot of complaints about them. They are very active in publicizing themselves; we receive more inquiries about them than about any other questionable agency. In addition to the fees (which are totally nonstandard), they appear to pull publishers out of a hat when they send out queries (if indeed they do send out queries--I haven't yet heard from anyone who has received an actual publisher's rejection letter as a result of one of ALA's claimed submissions), and the publishers are often completely inappropriate for the work being submitted. Additionally, ALA owns a vanity publisher: Washington House, a.k.a. Trident Media (not to be confused with Trident Media Group, a legitimate literary agency). Clients of ALA are solicited by this publisher (without the relationship being revealed), and I've also heard from a couple of clients who were offered Washington House contracts by ALA--again without revealing the relationship. Re: David Mocknick: Writer Beware hasn't received any complaints. But I'd be very wary of an agent who claims to represent short stories. Reputable agents may represent short story collections for established writers, or may occasionally place a short as a favor to an established client, but I don't know of any reputable agent who represents individual short stories. I do, on the other hand, know of a lot of disreputable agents who claim to do so. Does Mocknick also represent poetry? If so, that's another red flag, for the same reasons.

Message 3932 was left by Lucille on 2002-10-02 11:39:33. Feedback: 0/0 I haven't been on this forum for a long time, so forgive me if this question has been addressed. I have had a request to send my full manuscript (a nonfiction) to a publisher in San Francisco called MacAdam/Cage Publishing. Does anyone have information on these folks? They certainly seem above-board and honest, but I'd love some extra info. Thanks!

Message 3931 was left by Lenora Rose on 2002-10-02 02:34:24. Feedback: 0/0 Matthew: To expand: There are *Very* few short story markets that don't take unsolicited subs. Big name magazines like Asimov's or the New Yorker? Take 'em. Anthologies? If the guidelines are public, then yes, they take unsolicited subs. It says query first? Well, query. Don't get an agent, just write a letter. No matter your genre, you should be able to find listings of appropriate s-s markets.

Message 3930 was left by John Savage on 2002-10-02 00:12:39. Feedback: 0/0 That's because you don't need or want an agent for short fiction, Matthew. It's not worth an agent's while to do the work for 15% of a $400 to $1100 sale.

Message 3929 was left by Matthew Joseph Harrington on 2002-10-01 22:02:37. Feedback: 0/0 Can you tell me anything about an agent called David Mocknick? He's the only one my online searches have located so far that takes short stories.

Message 3928 was left by Gene Stewart on 2002-09-30 20:42:11. Feedback: 0/0 Very informative stuff, and useful to boot. Thanks.

Message 3927 was left by John Savage on 2002-09-30 17:50:58. Feedback: 0/0 Skepticism is the order of the day. I cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone enter that contest.

Message 3926 was left by Chris Gerrib on 2002-09-30 17:25:59. Feedback: 0/0 Re: PEP Writer's Contest II - Doesn't look illegal to me (CAUTION = NOT A LAWYER - THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE) as long as she actually PAYS somebody the prizes. You might want to look at the fine print to ensure that her family and/or employees are excluded from winning. Although it doesn't APPEAR illegal, it stinks to high heaven. I suspect that she's trying to build a mailing list of writers to whom she can sell her services - then sell the list to other "businesses". Questions to ask to determine if it's legitimate are: 1) who is this person and what is her track record? 2) Will the winners get published? If so, is it somewhere they might actually get read? 3) Is the prize guaranteed or is it contingent on participation? I.e, if they don't get "enough" entries, do they still pay? If they don't get "enough" entries, do they refund the entry fee?

Message 3925 was left by SueO2 on 2002-09-30 16:40:00. Feedback: 0/0 Addendum to my post #3924 - I just noted the email address and went to the web site - they sell "coaching" services. I am guessing this is either a writer's school or editing services.

Message 3924 was left by SueO2 on 2002-09-30 16:22:40. Feedback: 0/0 I am not a contest person and I agree with you on fees, BUT, assuming 1,000 people enter, at $25 a pop - this person has made $25,000 - and the prizes only total $17,000 - giving contest person a profit of $7,000. Don't know if THAT is legal, but if it is ...

Message 3923 was left by Terry on 2002-09-30 15:36:23. Feedback: 0/0 Does anyone else smell anything funny here: ======================= PEP Writers' Contest II Write a 500-word (or less) story that begins with this sentence: She sat on her suitcase waiting for a taxi. Prizes: First Prize = $10,000.00 Second Prize = $5,000.00 Third Prize = $2,500.00 Submissions: All entries must be prose (no poetry please), written and printed (either laser or inkjet) in English, double-spaced, on white paper using Times New Roman or Courier New 12 point typeface. Entries must be postmarked before November 15, 2002. Contest entry is strictly limited to the first 1,000 submissions. Entry Fee: $25.00 (USD) Mail to: PEP Contest c/o Donna M Chavez 605 W Jackson Avenue Naperville, IL 60540-5207 Questions: mailto:donna@thewritecoach.com or call 1-800-235-6156 Visit http://www.thewritecoach.com/contest.htm for complete contest rules and entry Form. ============================= Or am I just being overly skeptical? I don't enter things that charge fees anyway, so it's academic for me, but I wonder how many others will fall for this? OTOH, if I'm totally wrong and it's a wonderful contest, set me straight by all means!

Message 3922 was left by geoff on 2002-09-30 11:48:09. Feedback: 0/0 Joseph - I don't think you should be embarrassed, because you're not the only person who hooked up with a fee-charging agency (I have, too -- Barbara Harris). It's because of your unfortunate encounter and your willingness to share that we've all become a bit wiser and hopefully one by one these shabby agents will be run out of business. And your message serves as a reminder to everyone: up front fee? run away! Glad to hear that you were able to recover and a tip of the hat for your success. Hopefully, you'll make so much money that you'll be able to laugh about it in a few months!

Message 3921 was left by Joseph on 2002-09-29 23:06:03. Feedback: 0/0 I'm staying anonymous here because I'm slightly embarrassed about my experience with American Literary Agents of Washington. I'm sharing my story here in hopes that visitors searching for this agency will read this message here and may think again about hiring this agency. I wrote a local history book in 1998 and sent it to many appropriate publishers with no luck. Months went by and I finally decided to try an agency, and researched them on the web. I found ALA's page, among others, and ALA expressed interested and asked to see an email of the manuscript. Soon, I received a contract with a letter of acceptance. The letter and contract stated that a $200 representation fee would be required up front. I emailed them and asked about references. I wanted to see a list of who they had published. The answer I got, two days later, was short: "You want references. You are a first time writer and" and I forget the rest, but it was a very negative, unbusinesslike and unprofessional letter. I replied and explained that this was my first book, and knew virtually nothing about who I was hiring, and she sent me a list of twenty-some odd titles. I didn't have the money at the time, so I filed the contract away until the next year when I had the extra cash and sent the manuscript and all photocopies and illustrations that went with the book. I didn't copy the materials I sent in thinking I wouldn't ever need them back. The book had a couple hundred illustrations and photos that would be hard to track down again. It was only until a couple of weeks AFTER I sent the box in, that I researched them on the web and found a LOT of negative commentary on them, every time charging a $200 fee and producing nothing. In a near panic, I called them and told them to please send my materials right back. The ALA person ured me that everthing was OK, and publication would take a lot of time, and please give them a chance. I said, all right, three months. I contacted them by email about once a month. The contact person's name given in the acceptance letter was --and I'm not making this up-- Jane Smith, the most generic name in history. Usually after two days I would get a short, curt response saying that, in effect, nothing had happened yet, and they would contact me if it did. I asked again in five months and was told sternly by Jane Smith to wait until July. I did, and they sent me a letter saying that nobody had bought the book, and sent me a list of publishers to whom they had submitted my work. The letter said that some publishers had expressed an interest, and possibly something would happen later in the summer. In June, I found a publisher who had recently published a book with the same general theme of mine, but only in a different city. I contacted them, sent the manuscript, and they were thrilled and ended up sending an acceptance letter and contract. A real contract. I've checked these people out: they are the real deal. Meanwhile, I called ALA and said "send me my stuff back right awasy." They said all right, and six weeks ended up going by. I had called every two, and the person on the phone said the stuff was going out very shortly. After the six weeks, I sent a friendly "reminder" email to them, requesting nicely to please return my stuff. After hearing no reply for a week, I mailed them a snailmail letter that pretty much demanded the return of my materials now, or they would hear from me again. After a week of no reply I called. I spoke to the director and told him to please return my materials now. He explained that after three months my stuff had been destroyed because they don't hang onto it forever. Since I didn't have an SASE, they had destroyed it. He explained I should have KNOWN not to send original materials in the mail, and they TOLD me this at the beginning. I was agry and cussed a lot and eventually hung up realizing that yeah, he was right, I really SHOULD have enclosed return postage. The hell of it is, they could have told me right away from my first call that they didn't have my materials anymore. That would have saved me over seven weeks of headache! I now have to quickly gather up my materials again, this time by memory. I gathered my items from numerous sources and I have to do it fast if I want my book out soon. Anther thing: The contract stated that if the work had not been published after six months they would try their "foreign affiliates" for possible publication. They never mentioned this after the six months. Also, I understand that I am required by law to receive copies of all rejection letters from publishers. I was never offered them, nor were they mentioned. Any writer who is as desperate as ALL of us get with regards to finding a publisher or agent should NOT consider American Literary Agents of Washington. They are anti-professional with all of their dealings. I have provided only facts here in this post regarding my personal dealings with this agency. I am not looking for any kind of lawsuit or anything with these people, and I am not concerned about my $200. I consider the latter a small price to pay for a life lesson. I can only hope that others will learn from my mistake. My advice to writers: Research any agency you found on the web interested in your work. And if you don't succeed with or without an agency, sit on your work for a year or two and try again. It worked for me. I'm going to be a published author soon, no thanks to an agency.

Message 3920 was left by Joseph on 2002-09-29 22:32:43. Feedback: 0/0 How about "American Literary Agents of Washington?" Anyone have any bad, or possibly --good-- experiences with them?

Message 3919 was left by Pat on 2002-09-26 19:34:50. Feedback: 0/0 The Forest for the Trees was written by Betsy Lerner. It's not a bad read, by the way: sort of a look at the publishing industry from an insider's perspective, though definitely meant to educate writers about querying, submitting, etc. matters.

Message 3918 was left by Raphaela on 2002-09-26 16:12:42. Feedback: 0/0 I think Betsy Amster wrote a book on writing called The Forest for the Trees. My neighbour read it and liked it. I may be wrong. It could be another Betsy.

Message 3917 was left by Jan L. on 2002-09-25 13:29:54. Feedback: 0/0 Noticed there is another Jan posting. I posted #3916, not #3915. I'll post as Jan L. from now on. Jan L.

Message 3916 was left by Jan on 2002-09-25 13:29:01. Feedback: 0/0 Does anyone have any experience with the following: Kathi Paton Karen Solem (formerly of Writers House, now with her own agency) Stephanie Kip Rostan, of James Levine I know all 3 are legit and respected. Looking for info like response time, personal comments, etc. Jan

Message 3915 was left by Jan T. on 2002-09-25 11:36:50. Feedback: 0/0 Anna - not sure if i'm correct but i think any agent will take a new client if they love the work. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the books.

Message 3914 was left by Anna M. on 2002-09-24 20:16:05. Feedback: 0/0 My novel is written, tweaked and ready to go. I'm just beginning the agent search I've read so much about here at Speculations. I have the new Jeff Herman book and Writers Market. My problem is lack of funds. I have to be careful and smart about where I send my "magnum opus." The following agents are the ones I have short-listed. As far as I can tell, they're all fine. However, if anyone has had actual experience with any of them or info about them (i.e. they're not taking new clients, etc.), I'd really appreciate your input: Kimberley Cameron, Betsy Amster, Angela Rinaldi, Martha Casselman, Julie Castiglia and Sandra Dijkstra. I've chosen west coast agents because I live in CA and I'd like to meet them face-to-face, if possible. Thanks for your help. Anna

Message 3913 was left by Victoria Strauss on 2002-09-21 18:12:03. Feedback: 0/0 Re: Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie in the UK and all its various imprints--it's a vanity publisher. I've received several reports about it.

Message 3912 was left by John Savage on 2002-09-21 18:03:46. Feedback: 0/0 Emily, for a variety of reasons, including the potential of being accused of providing legal advice without a law license, I do not recommend posting your "layman's reaction" without taking advice of counsel. Let's keep this here for the moment; I don't use PGP for good and sufficient reason, but agree that any other communications need to be kept confidential.

Message 3911 was left by Emily Zapata Vasquez on 2002-09-21 16:14:43. Feedback: 0/0 Thanks to those who answered my post number 3907 regarding PublishAmerica. I followed your advice and learned a lot. And what I learned leads to another thought and another question. The thought is: If possible, I will obtain a recent copy of PublishAmerica's contract and dissect it from a layman's point of view. The question is: will that offend anyone here? Attorney John Savage, are you out there? Are you reading this? If so, I ask you to contact me at email address ezvasquez@yahoo.com. Brace yourself, John. I plan to ask for free legal advice regarding the matter of my examining PublishAmerica's contract then posting my impressions. If you write I will discuss the matter with you in depth. And, John, if you are a PGP user, please attach or embed your public key in that first message. I'll send you mine in the reply. Encryption will allow us to speak freely. Emily Zapata Vasquez

Message 3910 was left by Lenora Rose on 2002-09-21 14:47:35. Feedback: 0/0 And, if you've never been here before: To get to the main page, go to the top of this one and click the link that says "Rumor Mill". The search function boxes are at the bottom of the page. The topic number is 200, if you want to narrow the search... though that might eb a bad idea, as I think you'll still be missing a lot of specific messages, as people use alternate spellings, or names of the "publisher" Or, you could accept the short version: Bad news. Avoid.

Message 3909 was left by Helen on 2002-09-21 11:52:29. Feedback: 0/0 Emily: To be more specific--type "Publish America" in the "text" box and then click search.

Message 3908 was left by Helen on 2002-09-21 11:49:01. Feedback: 0/0 Emily: Go to the RM's main page and type "Publish America" into "Search" at the bottom of the page. There are some previous posts regarding them there.

Message 3907 was left by Emily Zapata Vasquez on 2002-09-21 09:57:18. Feedback: 0/0 Anyone out there ever heard anything important about an online publishing firm called PublishAmerica? Are they legitimate? Do they treat their authors well? Do they sell books in quantitites sufficient to make them attractive to the author? I would appreciate any feedback you may offer. And if you are reluctant to speak openly here, I invite you to contact me at ezvasquez@yahoo.com. Thank you, Emily Zapata Vasquez

Message 3906 was left by M. Thomas on 2002-09-21 08:24:20. Feedback: 0/0 I'm looking for info--good or bad--on Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie publishers, in Cambridge, Great Britain. They are not listed on Preditors and Editors. They have several imprints, Vanguard being one. Thanks.

Message 3905 was left by Lenora Rose on 2002-09-20 01:44:50. Feedback: 0/0 As recently as June, Bawn was still making frivolous "cease and desist" lawsuit noises at places like Preditors and Editors (Note; places making a legitimate case for themselves get the "unrecommended" label removed. Places that try the lawsuit tactics do not). They were listed by Ann as one of the dozen or so agencies to get an automatic ignore from major publishing houses for sending inappropriate or unsaleable material and for other unprofessional conduct. In the highly unlikely case that they have cleaned up their act, they have a LOT of prior unprofessional conduct to make up for before anyone will take them seriously. In other words, regardless of whether they're "trying to go straight", they are still unrecommended. You want an agency major publishers will take seriously.

Message 3904 was left by Debbie Farmer on 2002-09-19 21:36:19. Feedback: 0/0 Hi, Does anyone have any recent experience with BAWN Literary Agency? They are a known fee charging agency, but I received a contract from them last week that doesn't request fees. This seems suspicous to me. Also, they won't give references of books that they've sold to "big houses". I know the last few books they've sold have been to Amerihouse -- a POD publisher. However they told me they no longer with with "such disreputable publishers". Yeah, right. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks. http://www.familydaze.com

Message 3903 was left by Jan on 2002-09-18 00:03:40. Feedback: 0/0 Twest, I'm aware of Jimmy Vines and John Talbot as legitimate and well-respected agencies. Haven't heard of the other, but that doesn't mean he isn't legit. Maybe someone else will know. Jan

Message 3902 was left by Jan on 2002-09-18 00:02:15. Feedback: 0/0 Looking for any stories, good or bad, with the following agents: Kathi Paton Karen Solem (formerly of Writers House, now with her own agency) Stephanie Kip Rostan, of James Levine I have looked these people up on Google, but was looking for something more personal. Jan

Message 3901 was left by Phillip on 2002-09-17 11:42:38. Feedback: 0/0 Anyone have info re: New American Publishing Co. in Reno, NV?

Message 3900 was left by Twest on 2002-09-16 16:19:01. Feedback: 0/0 Please let me know if you have information (i.e. are they reputable or not) on the following: James Vines - The Vines Agency Frank Scatoni - Ventrue Literary John Talbot - The John Talbot Agency Any information would be most appreciated. Thanks!