The Writer as Pigeon
Naiveté, desperation, eagerness. What does that spell to you? To me it spells V-I-C-T-I-M. It can also spell W-R-I-T-E-R.
A writer eager to find a publisher, desperate for an agent, naive enough to sign any contract that seems to promise an agent and publication. And that’s just the dirt on top. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find all kinds of “opportunities” to promote, sell, distribute or otherwise handle a writer’s opus—for a fee.
I have been a writer all my professional life and a publisher for the last twenty plus years. I know how eagerly a writer wants to be published; I know the anguish of being rejected again and again by uncaring and by, obviously, ignorant agents who can’t seem to grasp my vision. And I have been naive enough to hand over thousands of dollars for publicists who did nothing, distributors who charged more in fees than my publishing company made in sales, cover designers who cost more than the going rates or who never heard of “work for hire.”
Contests, awards, marketing consultants, advertisers, unscrupulous agents and editors, even reviewers, all add to the pile of “writer-get-rich” snares out there. Writer Beware.
In fact, google “writer beware” and you’ll find a number of websites under this name, usually owned by Ann Crispin, who wrote as A.C. Crispin, and/or Victoria Strauss. Many thanks to both of you. I once heard Ann Crispin speak on this subject at an annual conference of the Maryland Writers Association. It was an eye-opener, and the “writer beware” websites are well worth a visit.
Crispin and Strauss compiled a list of 20 agents about which they had received the greatest number of advisories or complaints. I won’t repeat that list (you can look it up) since it is dated 2006, but her advice remains the same. None of the agents on the list had a significant track record of sales to commercial (advance-paying) publishers, and most had virtually no documented and verified sales at all (many sales claimed by these agents turn out to be vanity publishers). All charged clients before a sale is made, whether directly, by charging fees such as reading or administrative fees, or indirectly, for “editing services.”
Writer Beware suggests that writers searching for agents avoid questionable agents, and instead query agents who have actual track records of sales to commercial publishing houses.
Best of all is to find an agent who is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, which has a code of ethics.
One website I always check to find out the facts about agents, editors, awards, contests, etc. is www.pred-ed.com. It stands for Preditors & Editors and it’s a nonprofit whose sole purpose is to provide writers with information and contacts for the purpose of seeking publication of their work. Artists, composers, and game designers will also find the same information useful.
Go to this site, look up agents, and you’ll find some surprising comments. “Not recommended.” “Charges fee, not recommended.” “Under indictment.” Eye-opening, yessirree.
The first few years we were in publishing, we kept receiving requests for review copies from a Joan Orth. The letterhead seemed to have been cut out of a potato and stamped, so it didn’t quite look right, but eager for reviews, we sent her copies. Finally, one of our publisher acquaintances asked on a publishers’ chat room if anyone had ever seen a review by Joan Orth anywhere. The response was a resounding “No.” In response James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review, wrote a series of articles on how to spot a fake reviewer. Bless him.
So no matter how eagerly you want that book contract and a bestseller, watch out. You don’t want to become another pigeon.
Eileen McIntire
Eileen has ridden a camel in the Moroccan Sahara, fished for piranhas on the Amazon, sailed in a felucca on the Nile, and lived for three years on a motorsailer, exploring the coast from Annapolis to Key West. Eileen has many years experience writing, editing and designing all manner of publications for nonprofits and professional associations. She is now co-owner of Summit Crossroads Press, which publishes books for parents, and its fiction imprint, Amanita Books. The inspiration for her 90s Club mystery series springs from meeting a slim, attractive woman at a pool party who was the only one actually in the pool swimming laps, and she was 91 years old. Since then, Eileen has collected articles about people in their 90s—and 100s—who are still active, alert and on the job. She often speaks at retirement villages on “Old Dogs, New Tricks.”