|
Writer
Beware
by Victoria Strauss There are sharks
out there in the literary waters. Literary deceptions abound, from
fee-charging agents to dishonest
book doctors to fraudulent vanity publishers to fake contests. Some of
them are staggeringly successful--Edit
Ink, for instance, an editing firm that engaged in a kickback scheme
with disreputable literary agents and
established its own bogus agencies to send yet more business its way,
made millions of dollars before writers and
writers' groups finally blew the whistle.
Edit Ink's owners were indicted, and ordered to pay fines as well as reparations to the writers they defrauded. But law enforcement isn't very interested in literary fraud, a niche crime that targets a fairly small group of people, and usually involves small amounts of money (per person, that is--in aggregate, literary fraud is a multi-million-dollar-a-year business). The vast majority of sharks go unpublicized and unpunished, leaving them free not just to separate unsuspecting writers from their cash, but to spoil their hopes and dreams. The good news is that you can protect yourself, with a little information and a healthy dose of caution. Below are some tips and resources to help you do so. When You Should be Cautious If
a literary agent requires an upfront fee.
Reputable literary agents derive their income from commissions on the sale of literary properties, and from no other source. Asking for money upfront violates the basic premise of the author-agent relationship: a shared financial interest in the sale of the author's manuscript. An agent who profits only when the author does is highly motivated not just to place a manuscript with a paying publisher, but to obtain the best possible deal. An agent who makes money right off the bat has already made a profit, diminishing the incentive to submit to legitimate publishers. In fact, many fee-charging agents, some of whom have hundreds of paying clients, never bother to send out their clients' work at all. There are three kinds of upfront fee you may encounter. The first is the reading fee: a request for money just to read your manuscript. In the past, many reputable agents did charge reading fees. But it's not hard to imagine how this practice can be abused, with agents requesting submissions in which they have no interest just in order to get the fee. Eventually, the abuse became so widespread that the Association of Authors' Representatives (the professional trade group for US-based literary agents) prohibited its members from charging reading fees. No reputable agent charges reading fees these days--in fact, they're so discredited that very few fraudulent agents charge them either. The second kind of upfront fee is the evaluation fee. Agents who charge evaluation fees promise not just to read your manuscript, but to provide a written critique. But evaluation fees are as easy to abuse as reading fees (which is why they too are proscribed by the AAR). The critiques you get for your fee are rarely worthwhile, anyway. Often, they're not produced by the agent, but by an inexperienced intern or unqualified minimum-wage employee. They're likely to consist of some vague comments about plot and style, a few remarks about grammar and punctuation, and a hefty load of the sort of basic advice found in how-to-write books. Writer Beware has a file on one agent whose critiques are so generic they could apply to any manuscript--which is no accident, since he sends the same evaluation to everyone. The third (and by far the most common) kind of upfront fee is the "marketing" or "submission" or "administrative" or "handling" or "retainer" fee--supposedly, a share of the expense of marketing your manuscript. Confusion arises here, because most reputable agents do expect clients to bear some of the cost of submission. However, it's typical practice among reputable agents to pass on only unusual expenses related to the marketing of a manuscript (i.e., expenses incurred on the client's behalf over and above the ordinary cost of doing business, such as photocopying, postage, long-distance calls, Fed Ex, etc.), and to let the expenses accrue and deduct them from the author's advances and/or royalties. In other words, you don't have to pay anything out of pocket. Questionable agents, by contrast, want expense money right away--usually as a lump sum on contract signing, but sometimes as a monthly or quarterly allowance, or a per-submission charge. They may also expect you to pay not just for the unusual expenses described above, but for every file folder, envelope, and paper clip, or for unnecessary extras--photos, business cards, marketing plans, fancy bindings. Some agents who charge marketing fees are con artists. Six or eight years ago, they would have been charging reading or evaluation fees. Most, however, are simply inept, and can't keep their businesses afloat without asking their clients for money. Either way, a marketing fee, like a reading or evaluation fee, is a warning sign--if not of outright dishonesty, then of an unsuccessful business. Writers who've had poor luck with established agents are often tempted to turn to fee-chargers, on the theory that any agent is better than no agent. But even when fee-chargers aren't crooks, they tend to use unprofessional methods--"blitz" submitting to a laundry list of editors, bundling several query letters in one envelope, submitting inappropriate or substandard material. Editors remember agents like this, and give little if any attention to their submissions. This is just one of the reasons why there's an overwhelming correlation between fee-charging and a poor to nonexistent track record of commercial book sales. For a much more detailed discussion of fees, including the gray area of pre-sale billing, see "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fees" on the Literary Agents page of Writer Beware. If a publisher offers a contract that requires you to bear all or part of the cost of publication. Such publishers are variously known as vanity, subsidy, joint-venture, co-op, or partner publishers. Often, you're told that what you're paying is only a portion of the publication cost, with the publisher kicking in the rest. In reality, most pay-to-publish ventures charge hugely inflated prices that not only cover the whole cost of producing a book, but generate fat profits for the publisher. Many vanity publishers do provide the service you've contracted for, but others are dishonest--promising marketing and distribution services they don't actually provide, lying about print runs (you may have paid for 2,500 books, but in reality only the 100 copies you were given to distribute to friends and reviewers were ever printed), failing to pay royalties owed...the list goes on. Plus, because pay-to-publish ventures will publish anyone who can write a check, books from such publishers tend to be avoided by readers, booksellers, and reviewers. Pay-to-publish ventures frequently pitch themselves to new writers by saying that the risk involved in publishing an unknown makes cost-sharing necessary, or that making an "investment" in your book proves you're serious about a writing career, or that it's normal for new writers get their start this way. Don't believe it. The new writers getting a start are those published by advance-paying publishers willing to put editing and marketing dollars behind their product. Authors who pay to publish are rarely taken seriously. Note that a growing number of Internet-based companies use print-on-demand technology to offer straightforward pay-to-publish services that are similar--though not identical--to self-publishing, and cost a fraction of what the vanity outfits charge. Many (though not all) of these companies are reputable, and will give you decent value for what you pay. You'll face the same difficulties, however, with marketing, recognition, and respect. For more on vanity publishers, see the Vanity and Subsidy Publishers page of Writer Beware. For more on print-on-demand self-publishing services, see the Print on Demand page of Writer Beware. If an agent or publisher recommends a service for which you have to pay. Getting agented or published is all about you, the writer, making money. If instead you find yourself reaching for your wallet, something isn't right. If you're referred to a specific outside service--a book doctor or independent editor, for instance--it's possible that a kickback arrangement is involved. The agent or publisher may have been promised a "finder's fee" for successful referrals, or a percentage of whatever you pay for the service (Edit Ink, mentioned above, is a good example of such a scheme). Some vanity publishers also engage in kickback schemes, offering agents a bonus for each client they persuade to accept a pay-to-publish contract. The agency or publisher itself may own the service (often under a different name, so you won't make the connection). A publisher might run a fee-charging literary agency, and recommend it to writers who submit manuscripts. A literary agency might have a separate editing branch, to which submitted manuscripts are routinely referred (this is a serious conflict of interest: if the recommendation to edit can make a profit for the agent, how can the writer trust that the recommendation is in his/her best interest?). An agency might even own a vanity publishing company, into which clients are funneled once they've racked up enough rejections to become desperate. There are times when a reputable agent may suggest that a writer hire an independent editor--for instance, for a salable project that needs developmental work that the author, in the agent's judgment, can't provide. Such recommendations can be perfectly legitimate--though a writer should do some careful thinking before deciding to go this often very expensive route. But questionable editing schemes are extremely common, and receiving an editing referral should always make you wary. If you're asked to buy something as a condition of publication. An increasing number of pay-to-publish ventures are trying to dodge the "vanity" label by shifting their charges to some aspect of publication other than printing and binding. Instead of asking you to pay to print your book, they ask you to buy goods or services. You may be asked to purchase editing, or to fund a publicity campaign for your book, or to hire the company's own artistic or design staff. You may have to agree to buy a large number of your own books once they're published, or to become a salesperson and pre-sell your books prior to publication. You may be asked to buy or sell ads for your book, or to pay to attend the publisher's own expensive conferences, or to purchase a certain number of the publisher's other books. No matter what the permutation, the bottom line is that you're still paying money to see your work in print. There are also many poetry and short story "anthologies" that require or strongly encourage writers to buy the anthology in which they're included. These vanity anthology companies often solicit business via a fake contest, offering publication to everyone who submits. Vanity anthologizers may also bombard writers with solicitations to buy other things--their poem mounted on a plaque, their story made into an audiotape, membership in an authors' registry maintained by the company, attendance at a writers' conference hosted by the company. Writer Beware has heard from writers who've wound up spending thousands of dollars this way. Because vanity anthologies employ no editorial screening and offer publication to anyone who enters their "contests", they aren't considered a genuine literary market. As with a vanity-published book, inclusion in one of these anthologies will not count as a professional writing credit. For more on vanity anthologies, see the Contests and Vanity Anthologies page of Writer Beware. If a book doctor or independent editor claims a manuscript must be professionally edited in order to have a chance with a publisher or agent. Dishonest and/or ignorant independent editors often prey on the anxieties of aspiring writers by saying that publishers won't look at manuscripts unless they've been professionally edited. In-house editors, they say, no longer have the time to edit--they want books that are picture-perfect and ready to publish. This isn't so. It's true that in today's world of big publishing conglomerates, where in-house editors must handle enormous workloads and do double duty as administrators, the days when an editor could afford to invest months working with an author to shape a promising-but-not-quite-ready work are largely gone. But it's false to say that in-house editors don't edit (they do), or that professional editing is a prerequisite for publication (it isn't), or even that the name of an editing service on a manuscript will make a publisher more likely to read it (it won't). Agents and in-house editors know the limitations of editing; they're also well aware of how many underqualified and unscrupulous independent editors there are. Typing "professionally edited" on the title page of your manuscript, or mentioning it in a cover letter, will not improve your chances. (In fact, it may harm them. There are so many unqualified independent editors that agents and in-house editors, on seeing a name they don't recognize, may assume the writer has been duped.) Your manuscript needs to be as perfect as you can make it--finished, polished, and properly presented. But no one will hold it against you if you accomplish this yourself. For more on independent editors, see the Book Doctors and Independent Editors page of Writer Beware. If you're solicited. Reputable agents, publishers, and independent editors are overwhelmed with submissions, and have no reason to go looking for more. In general, the only people who actively solicit writers' business are those who want to fleece them. Some questionable agents, publishers, and editors purchase subscription lists from writers' magazines. Others solicit writers who register their copyrights. Still others cruise online writers' forums and bulletin boards. On a related note: reputable agents and publishers often maintain websites, but they rarely advertise. Beware of literary agent or publisher ads you see online, or in the backs of writers' magazines. If reasonable requests for information are refused. It's your right to ask an agent or publisher or independent editor about track record, contract terms, commissions, marketing, distribution, and so on. If they're reputable, they should be glad to answer, since they have nothing to hide. Questionable agents and publishers and editors, on the other hand, have quite a lot to hide, and are often very reluctant to provide information. Be especially wary of the agent who tells you that his/her sales list is confidential. Reputable agents won't always be willing to reveal their entire client list, and they certainly won't give you clients' contact information--but they are proud of their track records, and shouldn't have a problem telling you about recent sales (if they have a website or other online listing, the information should be available there). An agent who won't provide this information may be trying to conceal a poor track record, or to hide the fact that she t deals with disreputable publishers. If there's a double standard or a special deal. An agent may tell you that she usually charges a reading fee, but because your query is so terrific she'll read your manuscript for free. Or a publisher may claim that while it usually offers traditional advance-and-royalty contracts, for new authors there's a special "joint venture" deal. Or an independent editor may say that he usually charges $5.00 per page, but if you send in your manuscript right away he'll give you a 20% discount. Don't be fooled. You aren't receiving special treatment, just a calculated marketing pitch. The agent hopes that if you think you're getting a freebie on the reading, you'll be more willing to pay the $500 marketing fee she plans to ask for later on. The publisher wants you to believe it's a legitimate small press, when in fact expensive vanity contracts are probably the only kind it offers. The editor thinks that if he can convince you that you're getting a bargain, you'll be more likely to buy his editing services--which only cost $4 per page to begin with. Reputable agents, publishers, and editors don't employ double standards or provide discounts. If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And be wary if you encounter any of the following:
Resources
To Help You Protect Yourself
The Association of
Authors'
Representatives. (http://www.aar-online.org/)
The professional trade group for US agents. The website hosts a
membership roster and the AAR Canon of Ethics.
The Association of Authors' Agents. (http://www.agentsassoc.co.uk/) The professional trade group for UK agents. Their website hosts a membership roster and the AAA Code of Practice. The Australian Literary Agents' Association. (http://austlitagentsassoc.com.au/) The professional trade group for Australian agents. The website includes a membership roster, a Code of Practice, and an extensive list of writers' resources. Agent Research & Evaluation News. (http://www.agentresearch.com/news.html) Informative articles on agents and the deals they make. Publishers Weekly. (http://publishersweekly.com/) The online version of the print magazine, very useful for news about agents and publishing in general. It's mainly US-focused, but covers international publishing as well. Publishing News Online. (http://www.publishingnews.co.uk/) Also an online version of the print magazine. Comprehensive news about the UK market. Publisher's Lunch. (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/free/) A daily e-mail newsletter with all the latest news about publishing worldwide. A full subscription costs, but the "lite" version is still free. A feature is the weekly Deal Lunch, which covers recent agent/publisher deals. Publishers Marketplace. (http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/). An extensive professional website where many established agents have listings (as usual, though, there are a few bad eggs). AgentQuery. (http://www.agentquery.com/) Another useful online agent listing at a site whose owners are careful about vetting the agents they include. Writer Beware. (http://www.writerbeware.org/) I maintain this website for SFWA. There's detailed information about literary agents here, as well as sections on independent editors, vanity/subsidy publishers, contests, copyright, electronic rights, and online publication. Preditors & Editors. (http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/) Agent listings, with notations as to which agents aren't recommended for fee-charging and other abuses. Agent Research & Evaluation Verification Service. (http://www.agentresearch.com/agent_ver.html) Another place to check up on agents. AR&E will search their database for sales the agent has made, and let you know if there've been any complaints. Researching an Agent's Track Record (http://www.sff.net/people/VictoriaStrauss/trackrecord.html) My article suggests a procedure for researching agents' track records, and offers a number of resources to help. The Safest Way to Search For an Agent (http://www.sff.net/people/VictoriaStrauss/agentsearch.html) My article recommends a procedure for agent-hunting that's designed to weed incompetent and dishonest agents out of your query list. Examples
of the Schemes Discussed Above
Edit Ink
(http://www.sfwa.org/beware/cases.html)
A fraudulent editing service.
The Case of the Woodside Literary Agency (http://members.tripod.com/~cyberstalked/) A fee-charging literary agency that fought back when writers blew the whistle. Commonwealth Publications (http://www.sfwa.org/prededitors/pubop011.htm), an article by Stephen Esrati, a writer who sued fraudulent vanity publisher Commonwealth in 1997. The Deering Literary Agency (http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/Deering.html) A fee-charging literary agency that owned a subsidy publishing company, and took millions of dollars from writers who never saw their books in print. The National Library of Poetry Expose Page (http://wind.wind.org/nlp.htm) The National Library is the largest of the vanity anthology companies. Copyright
1999-2006 Victoria Strauss
Victoria Strauss is the author of seven fantasy novels, including The Burning Land and The Awakened City. She’s a regular book reviewer for Fantasy magazine and SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in Writer’s Digest and elsewhere. In 2006, she’s serving as a judge for the World Fantasy Award. An active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, she's Vice-Chair of the SFWA Writing Scams Committee and maintains the Writer Beware literary scams warning website (www.writerbeware.org). She welcomes visitors to her own website: www.victoriastrauss.com. This article may be reproduced, with permission and without alteration, for distribution to writers' groups. Contact me. Top of Page |