A New Scam to Watch For: “Pre-Paid” Agent Commissions

As I’ve discussed to my readers’ exhaustion, as well as my own, impersonation scams are rife these days. Scammers are impersonating real, reputable literary agents, publishers, editors, film production companies, bookstores, and organizations with out-of-the-blue phone and email solicitations purporting to offer representation, or publication, or a big budget movie–but in reality, the goal is to steal writers’ money by convincing them to pay large fees for fake, unnecessary, or wholly fictional goods and services.

Often, scammers impersonating Big 5 publishers create fake publishing contracts, either to string the writer along or as an incentive to pay exorbitant fees. That’s where you’ll find the latest scam ploy, the pre-paid literary agent commission.

The Details and the Practitioners

Here’s the relevant clause from a Penguin Random House contract fabricated by Calyx Literary Agency, which (falsely) claimed to have submitted to PRH on the author’s behalf (you can see the entire contract here). Supposedly sent by Jessica Willow, PRH Contract Associate, the contract promises a “total contract price” of $230,000.

So in order to sign the contract and get the payout, the author must either convince their agent to forgo payment (fat chance), or prove they’ve already “settled” the agent’s $23,000 commission. An advance, if you will–but paid by the author.

(Most of you reading already know that this is not the way it works: an agent’s commission isn’t due until the publisher’s payment is received, and it isn’t the author who pays it. Either the publisher sends the whole amount to the agent, who deducts their commission and remits the balance to the author, or the publisher splits the payment, with the agent’s commission going to the agent and the author’s share directly to the author.)

Here’s the rationale provided to one skittish author, who, having been promised there would be no upfront costs (a standard approach for a fake agency), was surprised to learn they’d have to shell out anyway. (The author had previously been told that the commission, aka the “security deposit”, would be “held in trust” by a literary lawyer.)

It’s a good illustration of how fraudsters take real elements of the acquisition process–advances, commissions–and twist them in order to monetize them. To someone unfamiliar with how the publisher-to-agent-to-author payment pipeline normally works, the above might sound entirely reasonable. The inclusion of a literary lawyer who will supposedly hold the money allays suspicion even further by allowing the scammer to claim the money isn’t going directly to them–plus, it’s not the scammer demanding that their commission be pre-paid: it’s a requirement by the publisher.

I hate to give scammers credit, but it’s a pretty clever way to disguise an upfront fee.

You’ll also note that while the contract clause above identifies Luke Slater and Calyx Literary Agency, the email comes from Zenith Literary Agency, and agent Jordan Hill (not to be confused with a real agent by the same name; see below). At least three scam agencies–Calyx, Zenith, and Hillbrand Agency–have run this fraud, complete with the same bogus PRH contract (again, see below).

The Zenith author was not reassured by their agent’s explanation, and continued to ask questions and express concerns about their ability to raise the required funds. When authors balk at the price, publishing scammers will often come back with a reduced offer…and indeed, one day later, surprise! Agent Jordan had managed to negotiate a lower “initial” 4% commission:

Calyx Literary Agency also purported to drop their commission to 4% when the author protested–with the agent even claiming to personally contribute to the cost!

And Hillbrand Agency, the third “agency” running this scam, backed down as well, promising to issue the commission waiver upon receiving an “initial payment” of $3,000, with the remainder due in installments (which of course would never happen, because the author would never hear from Hillbrand again).

The pre-paid commission isn’t the only moneymaker for these agencies, either. Of the four authors who contacted me about this fraud, two paid for a “separation of book rights” ($2,500), an entirely fictional requirement that’s also sold as book licensing or book re-licensing; and an International Literary Registration Seal ($500), a kind of fake copyright certificate (there’s an example at the bottom of this post).

PRH Responds

The Zenith author took the step of reaching out to PRH. Here’s their response.

The Names

Agencies

Calyx Literary Agency: As of this writing, Calyx’s website is a “coming soon” placeholder, but when I encountered it last September, thanks to a question from a writer who received a “we’ll endorse your book to traditional publishers” solicitation, it looked like this (link courtesy of the Wayback Machine). Of the several books said to be “acquired by traditional publishing houses”, all but one had been published by Europe Books, a vanity publisher I wrote about in 2020 (see the update at the bottom of the post for a mention of Calyx).

Zenith Literary Agency: Zenith’s domain has expired, but it had a fairly elaborate website, as you can see from this archived version from last October, complete with a roster of imaginary agents and an entire page of false claims to rep trad-pubbed books.

Hillbrand Agency: Another “coming soon” placeholder, but as of January 2025, the website looked like this. The URL of Epistle Media (www.epistlemedia.net), another scam agency currently soliciting authors with representation offers, directs to Hillbrand’s website.

Agents

Why is it important to list the (fake) names of (fake) agents with defunct (fake) agencies? Because these names, which are aliases used by sales reps in the Philippines to make them seem more relatable to Americans, are portable, and sales reps bring them along when they move on to work for other companies or business names.

• Luke Slater (Calyx)
• Pamela Morrison (Calyx). Pamela is currently running the same scam–bogus PRH contract offer and all–for Envision Literary Agency
• Kristine Johnson (Hillbrand)
• Jordan Hill (Zenith) Not to be confused with the real Jordan Hill, an agent with New Leaf Literary & Media

Associated Businesses

BlueInk Media Productions, aka Blueink Digital Marketing Services, aka BlueInk Media Solutions: This outfit was presented, variously, as the literary law firm that would hold the “security deposit”; the expert that would process the waiver of commission along with the author’s payments; and the provider of other fee-based services, including book trailers and registration seals. Below are the invoices the Zenith author received after the commission was knocked down to 4%, or $9,200:

In an unrelated complaint, a writer reported that they were referred to BlueInk by Calyx to purchase “engaging and detailed book reviews” (supposedly because publishers require them with submissions). Cost: $300 each.

OWG Production Co aka OWG Digital Marketing Services: After experiencing problems making payments to BlueInk for processing of their “security deposit”, the Zenith writer was referred to OWG, which was said to be a subsidiary of BlueInk.

One of the Calyx authors was also referred to OWG for their International Literary Registration Seal ($500).

Dennis & Associates: When the Calyx author balked at working with OWG because they suspected it was located in the Philippines, they were referred to yet another business name, Dennis & Associates. But…oops. Someone forgot to change their metadata.

MACCAP LLC: A California LLC first registered in September 2021, this is the holder of the wire transfer account for payments to BlueInk.