Fake agencies mentioned in this post:
The Elite Scout Society
ImplicitPress Literary Agency
Judith Carter Literary
Literary Agents Association
Mushens & Churchill Literary Agency
Story Arc Literary Groups
Zenith Literary
Not too long ago, I published a post with tips and techniques to help writers spot a fake literary agency. This is a skill set it’s important to have, because overseas scammers are increasingly posing as literary agents, and some are going to elaborate lengths to create websites that, at least at first glance, look pretty convincing.
In this post, I’ll be looking at the latest crop of fakers to come across my desk. But first, for comparison purposes…
What A Real Literary Agency Looks Like
Most or all of these will appear on its website:
- The names and biographies of member agents
- A client list
- Verifiable book sales, in the form of book covers, announcements, news releases, and the like
- Clear submission guidelines
- Information on agency history–when it was founded, by whom, etc.
In addition:
- A real agency will have at least some internet footprint beyond its website (listings on sites like Publishers Marketplace and QueryTracker, sales announcements, mentions in the trade press, references to clients and sales, and the like). Ditto for the individual agents.
- A real agency is highly unlikely to email or phone you out of the blue with an offer of representation or a claim that a traditional publisher is interested in your work (real agents don’t pre-shop manuscripts for authors they don’t represent).
- A real agency will not require you to pay anything or buy anything as a condition of representation or publication. Other than the agent’s commission, there should never be a cost associated with rights acquisition.
Unmasking the Fakers
The Elite Scout Society
The Elite Scout Society is brand new, with a web domain registered just 87 days ago as of this writing (it’s always a good idea to check domain registration dates; you can do so using a free resource like this one). Its attractive website appears to include at least some of what you’d expect to see from a reputable agency: covers of published books, agent photos/bios, even some news of recent acquisitions.
As with any scam, however, the deception quickly unravels when you start to dig. The About page claims the agency started up in 2020, which doesn’t exactly jibe with the May 2024 domain registration. Even more implausible, Elite appears to be claiming credit for Candace Bushnell’s Sex and the City, which was published in 1996 (maybe they’re time travelers?). There are no submission guidelines, just a contact email address.
The roster of improbably hot agents also falls apart on closer scrutiny. Not only do their names produce zero search results–which would not be the case if they really had the accomplishments and years of experience their bios claim–their photos are…well, see for yourself. This is “Jim McCarthy” (a real agent, by the way, whose name Elite has falsely appropriated). Check out his mutant hands (a telltale AI-generated image glitch).
As for agent Michelle Spahr, she is associated not just with Elite Scout Society but with scammer Leap Write Literary Agency, which among other things impersonates publishers with fake offers involving large upfront fees. Here’s an “invitation” from Celadon Books, sent by Michelle on behalf of Elite but using her Leap Write email address:
UPDATE 9/9/24: Whomp whomp. The Elite Scout Society website has vanished.
ImplicitPress Literary Agency
ImplicitPress Literary Agency registered its domain name on June 10, 2024. Its website, which originally looked like this and included false claims about time in business as well as a team of fake agents with stock or AI-altered photos, is now a placeholder, but it is still sending out solicitations like this one:
The author who was targeted with this solicitation was asked to supply a variety of necessary “documents”; note #5, which is what this scam is hoping to sell (no publisher requires or cares about a book trailer):
!["Documents" requested by ImplicitPress: manuscript, book cover, author bio, Library of Congress number, book trailer, book synopsis and query letter "If you dont [sic] have these, our team can work on the leg work with minimal cost"](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ImplicitPress-literary-solicitation-2.png)
As incentive to buy, the author also received a fake email supposedly from PRH executive Manuel Sansigre (who really does work at PRH but who, as Chief Financial Officer. would not be involved in book acquisition), encouraging them to “complete the documents today”.
Judith Carter Literary
In the past month I’ve seen a number of identical solicitations from Judith Carter Literary.
![I am reaching out to you as a representative of Judith Carter Literary Agency, a distinguished literary agency specializing in advocating for authors and their works within the traditional publishing landscape.
Recently, during our thorough exploration of literary databases, we discovered your book [redacted] published on January 7, 2019. Its content captivated our attention, displaying great promise. Consequently, we are keen on the prospect of representing you and your literary endeavors.
Are you open to the idea of entrusting your book rights to esteemed mainstream publishers?
Should you be inclined, we kindly request the first 10 pages of your manuscript. This will afford us a deeper understanding of your writing style and enable us to ascertain whether it resonates with our agency's ethos. Additionally, please furnish us with the best contact number to reach you.
For further insights into our agency, please peruse our website at www.judithcarterliterary.com.
Publishers Marketplace: https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/JudithCarter/
Best regards,
Olivia Ramirez
Book Scout, Judith Carter Literary Agency](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Judith-Carter-solicitation.png)
Whoever is behind this one has taken some trouble to make the enterprise look legit, giving “Judith” a Publishers Marketplace listing (albeit with a number of typos) and adorning “her” website with book covers, claims of relationships with co-agents overseas, a detailed submissions page, and an About Us page with an impressive bio of “Judith” and even, in a final touch of fake verisimilitude, a warning about scams.
However.
The books pictured on the site are all self- or vanity-published–not a single traditional publisher among them. Not, in other words, what you’d expect from a real literary agent. As for “Judith’s” bio…it claims the agency was founded in 2018, which contradicts not just the claim on PM of eight years in business, but the agency’s web domain registration, which wasn’t made until January of 2024. And not only is is there no Judith Carter on the Board of the AALA, as the bio claims…there isn’t even a Judith Carter who’s a member.
I haven’t heard from anyone who went all the way down the rabbit hole on this one, so I don’t know what the money demand is. But I’m betting there is one.
Literary Agents Association
Per its July 29 press release, this “renowned” agency, founded in 2017, boasts “strong relationships with top publishing houses.” Not just domestic ones, either: it “operates on a global scale, bringing together freelance literary agents and authors from all corners of the world.”
Impressive! Well, not so much. Its (poorly formatted) website shows no evidence of achievement: no client list, no sales reports, and a directory of agent “members” whose silly videos practically scream “hired from Fiverr”. There are no submission guidelines.
Unusually, the claimed founding date checks out: LAA’s web domain, literaryacademia.com, was indeed registered in 2017. However, until at least mid-2023, what resided at that domain wasn’t a literary agency–even a pretend one–but a ghostwriting/editing/marketing scam called Literary Academia (link courtesy of the Wayback Machine, which can be a useful way of checking websites’ evolution). Subsequently, Literary Academia seems to have vanished, and until sometime in July the website looked like this:
There’s a lot of competition in the ghostwriting scam space these days; maybe the Literary Academia folks decided to try a new angle. Or maybe a different fraudster took over the URL. It really doesn’t matter: it’s a scam regardless of who is running it.
Mushens & Churchill Literary Agents
This is one of the more elaborate frauds. It’s partially an impersonation scam; Juliet Mushens of the very real Mushens Entertainment contacted me to confirm the misuse of her name.
Here’s the kind of solicitation it sends out:
(I can’t help wondering who approved that…unfortunate abbreviation.)
The MCLit website is more professional-looking than some of the examples above: attractively formatted and featuring the covers of multiple traditionally-published books. Look closer, though, and you’ll see that the selection is a bit thin, with many of the same books repeated across three different pages. And double-checking exposes the falsehoods: for example, it would be uh, difficult for an agency that did not exist before February 2024 (the date of its domain registration) to have sold a book like Samantha Silva’s Love and Fury, published in 2021; and a websearch easily confirms that V.E. Schwab, whose The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is included on the Recent & Upcoming Titles page, is in fact represented by the Waxman Agency (not to mention, a book published in 2020 is neither recent nor upcoming).
MCLit’s About page includes a bunch of vague claims but no details that could verify them (always at least a caution sign, even where you’re not dealing with an outright scam) and the agency has zero internet presence beyond its own website (well, other than my Overseas Scams List). As noted above, this is not the result you should expect from a websearch of an established agency.
Although I haven’t yet heard from anyone who has actually signed up with MCLit, and therefore don’t know what they’re charging, the fifth paragraph of the solicitation above gives away what they’re selling: an “International Literary Registration Seal and Bookstore Access Code”. Both of these are completely bogus items that scammers have invented to enable them to drain writers’ bank accounts.
Story Arc Literary Groups
Story Arc Literary Groups employs an approach common to many fake literary agency scams: promising to work on commission only, with no other fees due (note especially paragraph 5, which helpfully explains that “a reputable literary agent should not charge upfront fees”):
The aim of such solicitations, however, is always money, and writers who sign up with Story Arc soon discover this. In order for Story Arc to successfully pitch a book to traditional publishers, authors are told they must first “re-license” their book (a requirement that, as I’ve explained in another blog post, is completely fictional). As is typical for this type of scam, they’re referred to a “trusted” company to perform the service–in this case, an outfit called CreativeIP. The price tag: $5,000.
Like other fake agencies discussed in this post, Story Arc’s website makes some stabs at verisimilitude that fall apart under scrutiny, including false claims to have repped traditionally-published books (including many, such as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves and Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent, whose pub dates substantially precede Story Arc’s March 2024 domain registration) and a roster of “agents” whose names generate no results on a websearch, and whose photos are lightly altered images downloaded from Freepik. Here’s Mary Russo, for example (I used Google Image Search to find the match).
Zenith Literary
Typical of fake literary agency scams, Zenith Literary is an aggressive solicitor.
One writer who responded to this solicitation was told that in order to snag a traditional publisher’s interest, they needed to gather various “action items”, including “ten editorial reviews and endorsements” (hint: reviews and endorsements are nice, but they are absolutely not required by traditional publishers). To obtain these, the writer was referred to Verse Bound Solutions, a company with no apparent existence beyond a Wyoming business registration but active enough to phone the author and offer them ten book reviews for $3,000.
Like others mentioned in this post, Zenith Literary’s website looks good at a glance, but closer examination exposes the usual range of fake agency lies: false claims to represent traditionally published books (easily confirmed by comparing publication dates with Zenith’s March 2024 domain registration), non-working links (especially in the footer), and “agents” with zero web presence and fake bios that in some cases have been plagiarized from the bios of real agents (phrase search is your friend: compare, for example, the bio of “David Lin” with the first paragraph of the bio of Folio Literary’s Sonali Chanchari).
Zenith’s agent bios were once accompanied by equally fake photos, but these have been removed, possibly as a result of some vigorous social media discussion back in April, when Zenith’s “Gideon Carlisle” was soliciting submissions on Xitter.
Final Thoughts
The aim of this post isn’t to encourage you to mistrust all literary agencies…just those that contact you out of the blue, rather than in response to your own query or submission. As I’ve said ad nauseam, and apparently can’t say too often judging by the volume of questions I receive, solicitation is one of the first and most common signs of a scam these days.
Is out-of-the-blue contact always fraudulent? No. Literary agents do sometimes reach out to authors to express interest in their work. But that’s rare. And solicitation scams are so overwhelmingly prevalent that you really are safest if you proceed from a standpoint of extreme skepticism.
I hope this post will help with that, by giving you a sense of what to investigate, and how, in order to unveil a potential deception.
Sorry about the second query re wordpress; comment posted so seems to be working.
Bob Rodriguez of Epistle Media, supposedly out of NYC, regularly sends me a very scammy sounding proposal promising a few hundred thousand for a movie deal on a short story I once submitted, and later on another I’ve only copyrighted (he never appears to remember he already called me). Challenged he admits to not having read them. Where does he even get his info? Are new © titles public?
Has anyone had any experience with “West2EastLiteraryBureau”? They have approached me. I used WestBow to publish “Glimpses of Grace, Reflections of a Life in Christ” ~10 years ago, and I wish I could say I was pleased with their marketing efforts, though I paid extra for that.
I just got a question about this group, from someone who was referred to it by a “Netflix Correspondent” using the fake email address @netflixagents.com. That’s a strong indicator of a scam, as is West 2 East’s website, which includes a false claims (they say 10 years of experience but their website is less than a year old), unverifiable claims of expertise, and no indication that they’ve ever actually gotten anyone a movie deal.
Anyone here of Book Writer Corner? This is all very overwhelming and frightening.
Based on what I see at its website, Book Writer Corner is a ghostwriting scam, like the ones profiled in this blog post: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/01/24/how-to-spot-a-ghostwriting-scam/. My advice is to avoid.
I just received a voice message from a company called Liberty Press, wanting to re-publish my children’s book. The one that has been on Amazon since 2011 that Xlibris scammed me for. I can’t find them anywhere. I found one publisher called the Liberties Press. However, I don’t think it is the same company. I’m looking to publish my nonfiction novel with a traditional publisher. No luck yet. This Liberties press doesn’t have much for children’s books. Does anyone know of a publisher who calls themselves Liberty Press? the number they gave is 1-209-213-2632 I googled the number and got nothing.
There are so many companies called Liberty Press or some variation thereof that I can’t pinpoint exactly who contacted you–but the out-of-the-blue phone call, as well as the re-publishing offer on a self-published book, are both scam markers these days. I think it’s highly likely this is not a legit company, and my advice would be to block the number and ignore any further attempts at contact.
I am familiar with Xlibris and Author Solutions. In 2011, I signed up with Xlibris. I had a traditional publisher at one time however, after four years and a five-year contract, I pulled my book out, as did my illustrator. The publisher fell on hard times. I was so upset when I came across Xlibris. They promised me a lot. I signed up with them without knowing anything about that type of publishing. I paid money for the book, and nothing came of it. They would contact me for more money to have my book at fares or anything they could convince me to do. I questioned them constantly. They gave me no answers. I later viewed online many complaints and lawsuits against them. I learned the hard way. Unless you know how to promote yourself and fork out $$$ to help get you noticed, it’s not worth it. They still call me wanting to revamp my book. They were offered to sell thousands of copies of my book through a former employer that I worked for in marketing for children’s charities. They wouldn’t accept a lower price for a test run. The book I spent so much time writing didn’t make the sales. The friends that bought copies, I never saw any royalties from. It’s still on Amazon and various sites. I would never trust those companies again. They are only selling you a package, not a contract. Xlibris Never Again.
Sorry to hear about your experience with Xlibris. I’ve written many, many articles and warnings about Xlibris and the other Author Solutions imprints–you can see them all here.
I have gotten many of these e-mails and phone calls from many different states. If I answer, I tell them I will do business with them when they pay me rather than charge a fee. Yes, I have been scammed. I’m joining your valuable site. Thanks.
Victoria, thank you for making your site available. I have received heavy solicitation from Leap Write Literary for movie rights, even received a contract, but your site will let me leave this scam behind without falling for it. The Sea Skimmer (aka Ride the Sea) is a fun, worthwhile adventure read for all ages, but my publishing with a vanity outfit has doomed my chance to be taken up for real. Fortunately, you’ve kept me out of getting into deeper trouble! Narelle Kirkland
Glad you found the information you needed to avoid these unscrupulous scammers!
I’m basically being harassed by 2020 Literary. Different “agents” from there leave messages on my machine and email me, but when I respond to the emails with specific questions such as which manuscript are you interested in, where is your client list, and can you provide a list of imprints you work with, I get no response… then I get a cold call or email from a different “agent” looking to work with me. I have emailed and answered their calls asking to be taken off all their lists, yet I still get calls. At this point, I’d like to report them to the BBB or another organization that focuses on agencies, if there is one.
I’m sorry you’re being harassed. This kind of relentless sales pressure is the typical M.O. of such scams, and they will never take you off their list. The best way to deal with this is complete non-response: block their numbers, hang up if they get around that, delete answering machine messages and emails. Every bit of engagement you give them–even if it’s negative–incentivizes them to come after you again. You don’t owe them any explanations or questions.
I do encourage you to leave a review or at the BBB. The BBB doesn’t have any power to penalize businesses other than changing ratings, but people do check the BBB and negative reports may make the next potential victim think twice.
Hi Victoria,
I have a co-author who had a negative experience with Xlibris, particularly with their marketing services, which ended up being overpromised. I’m curious why I don’t see them mentioned here.
Are you affiliated with them? If not, I’d appreciate any clarification, as it’s making me wonder. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.
Xlibris a self-publishing service provider, not a literary agency, so it’s not surprising it’s not mentioned here (if by “here” you mean this blog post).
I have, however, written dozens of posts about Xlibris and its parent company, Author Solutions (you can see them here). Author Solutions has one of the worst reputations for quality and service of any self-publishing service provider, and is notorious for its hard-sell sales tactics. In fact, Author Solutions is the progenitor of the scores of Philippines-based publishing/marketing/fake agency/impersonation scams that have become such a plague over the past ten years. If you’re interested, you can read more about that here: https://writerunboxed.com/2023/10/27/imposter-syndrome-the-rise-of-impersonation-scams/
I’m not affiliated with Xlibris (or any other business). But I am aware that scammers often make this false claim when confronted with the information on my blog. I wonder if perhaps you are aware of this too.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve been scammed to the tune of around $30K the past few years. Hopes and dreams for my three novels blinded me to may of the signs you describe.
Thank you so much for your guidance and warnings.
Not this same kind of scam, but Jason Statham’s movie, The Beekeeper, gives one unlikely view of how to deal with these kinds of crooks.
Thank you for this post! I was contacted by ‘Pegasus’ and ‘Nightingale’ wanting to publish my children’s book. They then requested £2500 from me, but unable to provide any further detail about what that would be spent on..!
What a wonderful piece of investigative work. Thank you so much for keeping an eye out for black holes in the publishing universe.
Thanks for posting this Catherine. It’s a shock for me to read as I’m the Founder of the long established and reputable mentoring company The Writing Coach and we have a small imprint called Nightingale Editions. It is seldom used, and just as I see Juliet Mushens’ name has been used in a scam, so it seems they have take the name of my small imprint too. What a worry indeed. Feel free to contact me via The Writing Coach if you would like to as I’d love to find out more about what has happened here. It’s a concern to me. I’ll let Writer Beware know directly too.
I recently had someone contact me out of the blue from “Independent Book Agents” named Bella Easton. A month later, I received a voicemail from Chronicle Books saying they had critiques of my book and wanted to speak but didn’t leave a call back #. My agent then called me and sent me a Letter of Intent from Tom Fernald at Chronicle. Since I self-published my book on Amazon, she said I would have to pay $3k to a company called “Professional Development Agency” (which she said Chronicle recommended) to have them re-license my book. The Letter of Intent from Chronicle said that they would reimburse me up to $15k for expenses such as this. Neither my agent or this person at Professional Development Agency are native English speakers, which I don’t have a problem with but it did raise flags for me. At this point, I’m calling BS. I’m going to send the Letter of Intent to Chronicle and see what they have to say. I’m disappointed but glad I caught this before I laid out any money. The Letter of Intent offered $350k for a 3-year deal + 15% commission on each book sold.
Lisa, I’ve gotten multiple reports of this exact scam, and have written about it here (scroll down to the Chronicle Books heading): https://writerbeware.blog/2024/06/21/the-latest-impersonation-scams/
Thanks so much for the heads-up on fake literary agencies. It’s sad how writers are being scammed so much. Almost all the agencies I search for agents to spotlight at Literary Rambles now have warnings that their agents have been impersonated too.
I really hate the thought of writers being treated like “sitting ducks” to all these criminals out to rob us!
One reason Writer Beware exists is to help writers _not_ be sitting ducks…by giving them tools and information to help them understand and identify the many scams and shady enterprises they may encounter.
As usual, Victoria provides a valuable service to writers. I applaud her hard work.
Interesting. What can one make of kirchoffwohlberg.com? No agents or principals are listed on that website, and its domain-registration contact is “PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC”.
KirchoffWohlberg is a real agency–the authors and the books are real, and sales are verifiable via Publishers Marketplace (also via some websearching). The agency has web presence beyond its website, and is listed by resources such as Duotrope and The Market List.
Not every agency includes a list of agents. Nor is the domain registration contact unusual: most registrations these days are privacy-protected.
“Check out his mutant hands.”
That enhanced my browsing experience considerably!
I needed a good laugh.
Thank you so much for keeping us all in mind. I’ve been approached by many scammers and thanks to learning from you I can now protect myself.
Victoria. You rock. Ever since the days of the “Tate” embezzlement, you have led the way for us authors just trying to tell a story. I have moved on. I’m with a publisher you recommended.
I do receive these scam emails and of course, scrutinize every word. My personal test is to ask them to buy one of my books on Amazon, then read it. Call me back. They may not know that Amazon provides author’s “almost” real-time insights to their sales. FUNNY. None have yet to buy my book. LOL
you guys do GREAT WORK, YOU have saved me a lot of MONEY I don’t HAVE, thank you so very very much
PLEASE keep up the Great WORK YOU are doing for all of US THANKS TO the CREW
Thank you!
When I read these posts, I often wonder if any of this — aside being deceptive — is also illegal.
Does anyone ever get prosecuted for these scams? I ask because you often reference the same player repeating the scams under new names/websites.
Or is it always “buyer beware”?
Most of these scammers are in other countries where extradition would be difficult. With the Internet it’s so easy to just set up a site somewhere and send out a ton of emails. If you could get WiFi in Antarctica you could do it there.
Never mind extradition; don’t the host countries have any laws? Or do they want that kind of reputation?
Excellent! Thank you so much, Victoria.