Alert! Agents for Hire Scam

I don't double up on my #SharingwithWriters newsletter news and blog very often, but sometimes it seems essential.  So, I'm repeating this from the February issue (it came out yesterday!). There is another scam alert in it (seems it's scam season for writers!), so if you are interested you can pick up the issue or subscribe on my Web site at http://bit.ly/SWWNewsletter.

Today I heard about a new kink in the old agent-for-upfront-fee scam. One of my longtime friends on Facebook told me that just as she had been waiting for the “right time to terminate” her relationship with her agent, she received a mass e-mail informing her of the agent’s new fee-for-service plan. My friend then terminated her contract (the terms of the contract had already expired) and asked that the mention of her books be removed from this former agent’s Web site. The agent refused her request (and other authors' requests) citing that she was the “agent of record” for those books.

My friend says, “I feel bad for new writers who fall for this trap of paying her upfront fees.” This agent also added another wrinkle to her fee collecting program—a cancellation-of-contract fee. Learn more at  (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2017/02/red-flag-alert-loiacono-literary-agency.html?m+1 )

I have no idea whether keeping a book that is no longer represented by an agent on an agent’s site is legal, but it certainly is misleading if not downright unethical. One of the tools that authors use to judge the effectiveness of an agent is their catalogue of book sales. It is important that you are all aware of this practice and double check with some of the authors who have been (or are) represented by any agent you are considering.

You should also be aware that some agents “sell books” to presses that would take any book presented to them, often called (rather erroneously) self-publishing presses and that were once called “vanity publishing or presses” and still are by anyone who cares to flaunt their #bookbigotry. Of course these agents usually still take their 15% for “handling” and “representing” or “selling” the book to that press. There is more on that in the blog link above.

You will also find more on finding reputable agents and editors in both The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor including things to look for and questions to ask both the professional you are considering as a hire and those clients they provide as references. There are all kinds of ways you can be mislead—both intentionally and unintentionally.

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER

 Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers including the award-winning second editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor. Her latest is in the series is How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically. Learn more on her Amazon profile page, http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile. Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers is one of her booklets--perfect for inexpensive gift giving--and The Great First Impression Book Proposal, another booklet, helps writers who want to be traditionally published. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it will help them convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. In addition to this blog, she helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs at all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at The Frugal, Smart,and Tuned-In Editor (http://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com)

The Good and Bad of Literary Agents

The essay below is a reprint of comments I contributed after a member of a list-serve came to the defense of agents and admitted that some of her agent-friends critiqued her work but "couldn't/wouldn't" sell it.)
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Ms. X, I'd like to add something to your comments, even though you did a great job on your defense of agents and, admirably, admitted that some manuscripts deserve to be put in a drawer or at least rewritten. That takes courage when it is your own manuscript (-: ; it not only takes courage but shows that writers do grow and get to be better writers if they work it. When that happens they can see the flaws in their own writing. That's not an indictment. It's the way we improve.

Now, back to agents.

I had the privilege of working with several dozen of the nation's top agents for my new release The Frugal Editor. They helped me help other writers by sharing with me what they find in query letters that mark writers as amateurs. They did it with humor and some with a certain sweetness of soul. They did it because it helps them if writers submit professional, helpful query letters but also because the more we all know about good editing and publishing in general, the better off the industry is. Some agents asked I not use their names but more than 20 let me quote them, and they were supremely quotable. They gave me a gift (a great chapter on writing and editing queries!). Through me, they gave writers in general a gift.

Having said that, these were all reputable agents, not the fly-by-nighters who charge for reading manuscripts, have editing businesses on the side that they try to pawn off on writers for an additional charge as well as a subsidy-publishing business that they hawk (at a hefty fee!) after they've roped writers in under the guise of being an agent.

There are scoundrels everywhere. And there are ways to avoid the ones who call themselves agents, something else I address in The Frugal Editor. The number one way on my list in TFE is -- surprisingly -- not to check complaint sites like Preditors and Editors. Too many naïve authors who know nothing about the publishing industry and didn't do their homework choose to go there and berate their agents who have really committed no other sin than taking their books on and working their bottoms off trying to sell their books so they can both make some money.

Nope, the number one best way to avoid them is to get references from someone experienced, like writing department instructors at universities, or some of the people on my favorite (self-publishing-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ) who give lots of their time to help other writers.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is the award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for authors. She is introducing The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, now available for pre-orders at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870/ .

Please sign up for my "Sharing with Writers" newsletter: Put "Subscribe" in an e-mail to HoJoNews@aol.com. Learn more at http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com . The next AllTips Edition will be issued in September.

A Rant: Everybody Loses to Preditors

Unfortunately, we authors all look as if we just feel off the tail end of a donkey cart. Once an American merchant in Acapulco told me I had "creampuff" written on my forehead so, obviously -- though I've been around the publishing track a few times --I can be as gullible as you, the reader who believes a review, or that new author who is offered what they most want but for a price. Those few treks around the track put me in a position to warn you and I'm not feeling like mincing words.

Because I'm so ticked off, I'm going to leave out the name of an offending bookstore because I don’t much are for slash and burn tactics. I suspect their heart is in what they are doing. Still, when I see an ethical lapse--intentional or not--no more creampuff. Here comes Napoleon.

At first I was pleased that there was going to be a new bookstore out there that welcomed all authors. You know, someone who judges a book by its contents, not its cover or the press it's printed on. The concept was so novel it got a write up in the LA Times even though the bookstore is in New York.

The story noted that this bookstore even had a patio at the back where they would welcome new self- and subsidy-published authors. OK. In New York that patio is going to be used (comfortably) possibly 30 days out of the year but that's another story.

I'm going to be in New York for Book Expo America so I asked Star Publishing's marketer extraordinaire to set something up for me. You may know Janet Elaine Smith, the author of Promo Paks. She places books in bookstores and arranges for events for Star authors who pay an additional fee for the service. So, this new bookstore was a new opportunity, right? This is what she found out:

This bookstore is sooooo author-friendly they are perfectly happy to charge authors $300 to put their books on their shelves. I guess you could call it turnkey money (or a bribe). Then the author supplies the books and the bookstore takes approximately the same percent to sell them as most bookstores do. And then those authors who have obligingly forked over their money will be considered for an event, but--of course--not at BEA time because this bookstore has so many takers ("takers" can be read as "a sucker is born every minute") that their spots are used up for the entire time the tradeshow is in town. Oh, so when would they offer their hard-working, hard-paying client-authors a spot? Perhaps in August when a half-block walk requires flat shoes and no-shrink cotton garments to acoomodate the . . . .ummm, moisture?

Another bookstore in the LA area wants a mere $25 to join the ranks of their authors who they then allow to sign books on the sidewalk in front of their store and take a table at some communicty book fairs. Yep. Lucky to sell, two books but at least there will be an evening breeze in this part of the country. (Yes, I know my prejudices are showing.)

This tendency to stalk the innocent is everywhere. In the old days, radio stations sold ads. With the proceeds from those ads they paid their hosts and some of their guests. So, Okay, If they didn't always pay their guests. At least they didn't charge them to appear. It was sort of a trade. Author comes to provide newsworthy and smart content for free and they get exposure in return. That was not such a bad trade. That kind of trade still being made. But there are those who also charge the host rather than pay him or her. Then the host charges the guest (that's you, dear writer!) And then you get to promote the show for them as well. If an author wants to do this under these circumstances (either become a or appear as a guest) it's their own decision, but they should at least know there are other, more journalistically acceptable and... ahem, cheaper ways for it to be done.

In the old days (back in the days when journalism was journalism) critics reviewed books and were honest about what they thought because they got paid by the journal they were reviewing for. Oh, yeah, they also got a free book. Now reviewers are expected to review with no pay and authors try to get them to take an electronic copy to save money. I understand, but, hey! Reviewers are writers, too. Everyone needs a paycheck of some kind!

Then along comes reviewers who decide they're tired of writing free and start offering to review books as if it's a service. That even includes the venerable review journal, Kirkus. So the poor author--probably a newbie -- gets taken again. He pays a reviewer to give him a review he hopes (but isn't promised) will be favorable. Everyone loses here. The reviewer has no credibility (even if he gives a bad review). The journal comes off looking like a panderer. The reader loses because she doesn't know who to believe. And the author has paid for something with no value at all for all of the above reasons.

And then there are the agents with no Rolodex. They have begun to swarm around unsuspecting authors. They'll represent your book though they have no contacts in the publishing industry. They'll represent your book if you pay them up front. They'll represent your book if you'll let them (or someone who gives them a kickback) edit it and that person is likely to be no more than a typo hunter. Whew!

Is everybody out there -- readers, writers, and publishers -- just bloody tired of all this?(Apologies to you Brits. We Americans think bloody sounds jolly angry but no more!)

I'm damn tired of this and won't take it anymore. No!! I won't pay you to stock my books or be my agent (unless you follow the age-old 15% of sales rule) or will--well . . . .you get the idea. Or, at least I hope you do.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson comes from the old schools of journalism and public relations. She studies both subjects (University of Utah, University of Southern California) in the days when ethics courses were required. In this case, being hoplessly old-fashioned made her into THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER. She teaches courses in editing and marketing for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.