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.
Hi folks. I’m finally home after vacation, my dad’s surgery, and Dragoncon. I taught my two workshops there, and attended several panels in the Writer’s Track. A couple of common mistakes caught my attention, either from Q&A in the Writing Track, or during the workshops. Here are some of the common problems writers seemed toRead More
This week, I’ve gotten two inquiries from writers about agencies with low commission rates (7% in one case, 10% in another). Both writers felt that the low commission was a positive sign–not just because the agents would get a smaller cut of the writers’ eventual income, but because it suggested to them that the agentsRead More
In a post from November 16 of last year, I discussed a legal threat against Writer Beware by “Agent B” (since revealed as Barbara Bauer of the Barbara Bauer Literary Agency), and mentioned one of Agent B’s clients, as follows: One writer, who was with Agent B for eight years, paid over $3,000 in annualRead More
This is getting tiresome, but…the Twenty Worst Agencies List has been updated again. We’ve just discovered that Mark Sullivan Associates, also d/b/a New York Editors, has added another d/b/a: Manhattan Literary–apparently an editing/ghostwriting service, but which also claims to prospective clients that it matches writers up with agents. How do we know? The URL forRead More
Some of you may have seen this recent article in the Times online, in which journalist Danuta Kean discusses a couple of fee-charging agents in the UK. The first, Darin Jewell of the Inspira Group, charges £350 upfront for photocopying and postage. He has been around for a while; Writer Beware first began receiving advisoriesRead More
I’m back from vacation and embarking on the Herculean task of catching up with Writer Beware business, including this blog. Ann has also returned, but family matters will be keeping her busy for a little while, so I’ll be holding the fort here. My husband, Rob, and I spent our vacation with my brother KonradRead More
