Literary Agencies

Verica

Verica

I have recently sent via e-mail the manuscript of my self-published book, The Find, to the New York Literary Agency, whose name I found on the web and wonder if anyone else has dealt with them?  They sound very helpful and don't charge, except for 10% of any deal, if they place it with a publisher.
                                                                                      

Patty

Proceed with caution.  About ten years ago I had a New York agent to whom I sent a crime novel and a family saga. 
She charged $130 as a subscription fee and I think $25 commission.  With phone calls plus postage of mss, I eventually paid out over $1,000... and achieved nothing.

With today's increase in the cost of everything, £10 commission sounds much too low to me.  Why are they not flooded with mss - and more importantly, are they listed in the American equivalent of WA yearbook?
Regards Patty

Verica

Thanks, Patty and Dorothy for your advice.  As they've not asked me for any money and will only charge 10% of any monies paid by a publisher, if he accepts the work, I'm not too worried yet, but I have had  experience of  POD American publishers.  Before my book was published in this country, I had an offer of publication by Publish Britannica, but it was a very poor  deal, so I refused it, thank Goodness and went ahead self-publishing, which seemed successful.  (See comments on www.vericathefind.info from readers.                               

Webbo

Hello Verica and everybody,
The p1 story of Writers' News November, which should be with you in the next few days, concerns agents.
Among the information in the article is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's 20 "Writer Beware" <A HREF="http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html">20 worst agents list</A>, which is worth checking out.
Best wishes
Webbo

Patty

Thanks Webbo.  I've just looked at the list and I come in at No.3

Carol

Patty, is that you or your agent???

Patty

Barbara Bauer was my agent in the mid-nineties, and during that time I received lots of letters and information about the Agency. 
I also had two long telephone-interview calls for which I paid $80 in advance.  In the contract I agreed to send everything I had written - and the postage itself began to mount up. 

As the annual subscription was $130, after three years I gave up.

Carol

Patty glad you escaped from that. She is one of the agents I've heard the most critiscism about.
At least WN have actually bitten the bullet and are making the worst offenders from the SFFW list known.
It might prevent unwary new writers from losing time and money.

James Barrington

Two small but obvious points.
First, <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=# onmouseover=

James Barrington

I'll just try that again!

Two small but obvious points.
First, check the trade publications (Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and The Writer's Handbook)and ensure that the agency is listed, and read what is said about it. This isn't infallible, as legitimate agencies come and go all the time. My agent, for example, left Sheil Land Associates at the end of last year to form LBA, so if you're checking the 2006 edition of either directory you won't find LBA listed.
Second, the publishing world is really rather small, and even brand new agencies fill their lists quickly as authors they've previously dealt with migrate to the new agency, and others join by word-of-mouth recommendation. So I'd always be very suspicious of agents who advertise for clients, or who do anything else that isn't standard practice, like offering unusually high - or very low - commission rates.

Mjke

Barbara Bauer? Ouch! She's quite a piece of work, and last time I looked still hasn't secured a legitimate deal for anyone.

As well as checking your list of agents with writers & artists or equivalent, also check Preditors & Editors - http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

As a starting point, check Barbie Bauer's entry.

Then look at http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22  - their 'writers beware' section is second to none.

Verica

Thanks, Webbo and everyone.  My agency is No 12 on the list.  I wasn't suspicious, but my husband had a bad feeling about it.  I realise now that  these Agencies are somewhat like all the dud Poetry Associations in America who accept any poems, place them in anthologies and offer these for a 'special' price! I look forward to the November issue of WM.

Has anyone heard of The Fame Factory?  They might make films from suitable books and advertise in Writers' Forum?

Carol

So the 'deal' will possibly appear when they next contact you. At least you've found out now.

Verica

You were right, Carol.  They've contacted me and asked that I have a critique done by one of their contacts, which would cost approx $90.  As they gave me a choice of whether to proceed or say 'thanks, but no thanks', I've taken this latter option and concluded the dialogue with them.                                 

Carol

Glad you found all this out before you were committed to anything. The more information there is available on the con artists out there, the better for all of us.

Butterfly

Glad you had a lucky escape. It is a lesson to us all. Writer beware.

ghostwalk

I think it is connected to the childrens literary agency, which I have a contract with but they have not done anything except take my story and charged me money. It was to late when I read an article in writers magazine which asked people to check the website [email protected] which lists the twenty worst literary agents and to my horror they are on the list. please do check out this site I beg you. I have been waiting 6 months to get any good results from the childrens literary agency and recieved no word. please do not make the same mistake that I did or you will be out of pocket a lose your story.

Evaine

Terminate your contract with them, ghostwalk.
I nearly got caught that way too - fortunately I got out of it without losing much money.
What really annoyed me was that they were recommended by the Writer's Forum magazine in an article - I wrote to complain to the magazine and I no longer buy it.

Jenny

Evaine - Did you get a reply from Writers Forum?

It would be interesting to know whether they are still selling advertising space to that agency.

ghostwalk

Hello Evaine, I would terminate the contract, except that they could do me a great deal of damage with legitimate publishers. As that site did warn people they could do this, so I am just waiting until the contract is up in 6 months time.  Thank goodness I only gave them one of my stories.  Good for you having sense and not falling for these bad people.

Carol

I don't think legitimate publishers would take anything they say seriously ghostwalk, but if you feel happier doing it that way, that is your right.

Evaine

I did get a reply from Writer's Forum - a rather unsatisfactory one.  Basically they weren't going to do anything about it, and as far as I know they are still selling advertising space.  Hence I no longer buy the magazine.