The official blog of Writer Beware® shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
This afternoon in Syracuse, New York, after several delays, Martha Ivery–vanity publisher, fee-charging literary agent, and woman of many aliases–was sentenced to 65 months in Federal prison, plus 3 years’ probation. In December 2005, she had pleaded guilty to all counts of a 17-count indictment: 15 counts of mail fraud and acts against the UnitedRead More
Groucho Marx’s famous joke about not wanting to belong to any club that would invite him to be a member is a good maxim to keep in mind when an agent, publisher, or other literary enterprise approaches you out of the blue. On occasion, such an expression of interest can be legit (everyone knows aRead More
Hi, folks. Martha Ivery’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 29th, at 4:00 P.M. in Federal Court in Syracuse, New York. Not surprisingly, Martha’s attorney made another last minute request for postponement (his fifth, I think, or was it the sixth?) but this time, The Honorable Frederick Scullin, Jr., the JudgeRead More
I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about Author Identity Publishing, a publisher of short story compilations that has been emailing writers with invitations to submit. To avoid the appearance of a spam campaign, the solicitations are personalized with the writer’s name and the title of the story; in true junk mail style, however,Read More
Today I want to talk about something that has been bugging me…well, pretty much since Writer Beware was founded. Ann, I, and several others who prefer to remain nameless are volunteer staff members of WRITER BEWARE. Not the most inventive or exciting name, perhaps–but simple and descriptive and our own. Note that there are noRead More
Hi, folks. Thought I’d offer some thoughts today indirectly related to the IILAA and the “cabal” accusations by pointing out — One More Time! — that cluelessness (frequently tinged with deep denial) is rampant in the world of aspiring writers. It’s there, it’s scary, and I guess not much can be done about it, becauseRead More
