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.
Writers’ services are proliferating across the Internet, targeted to both aspiring writers and writers who are self/vanity/POD-published. There are submission services and manuscript display sites; there are book marketing services and electronic press release websites and book review services. Some are free. Some are modestly priced. Some are eye-poppingly expensive. Are they worth it? Well…Read More
Okay, here’s the second post in my “What REAL agents do” series. This is a big topic, so I’ll probably devote the entire post to this one subsection, which is: RECEIVE AND DISBURSE ADVANCES, ROYALTIES AND OTHER MONETARY PAYMENTS. (At this point we’re far beyond the point people who deal with scam agents would everRead More
Being the third installment of the continuing saga of Lisa Hackney, a.k.a. Melanie Mills, a.k.a. Lisa Mills, a.k.a. Lisa Thomas, a.k.a. Elisabeth V. Thomas, a.k.a. Elisabeth von Hullessem, a.k.a. Roswitha von Hullessem, a.k.a Roswitha Thomas, a.k.a. Roswitha von Meerscheidt, a.k.a. Roswitha Mills, a.k.a. Hullessem von Meerscheidt, a.k.a. a number of others that I don’t know. For those who need a refresher course, Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.
Megan MacBeth is notified that her mother has died in Germany. Months later she goes to the airport to pick up her mother’s boyfriend who, she assumes, is bringing back her mother’s personal possessions and there’s her mother, alive. Later that same evening her mother tries to kill her and by accident, she runs over her mother with her car, which saves Megan’s life. Her mother survives and accuses Megan of trying to kill her. Eventually, charges against Megan are dropped.
So begins the synopsis for “Elisabeth von Hull’s” thriller Sins of the Mother, a spinetingling novel of greed, murder, money, sex, and betrayal. According to Ms. “von Hull’s” query letter, “This novel is based on actual events that occurred in my life and have been fictionalized.” (Um...yeah. Really, really fictionalized.) Despite the not exactly scintillating writing skills demonstrated in these documents, Ms. “von Hull” did manage get her novel published, under a different title, Sins, and a different name, L. R. Thomas. The publisher is--wait for it--PublishAmerica!
Here in this blog, we talk a lot about what fake agents do to rip off unsuspecting, naive writers. It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to discuss what a REAL agent does. Once you know what a real agent does, it’s easy as falling off a log to spot theRead More
Just saw this on the messageboard of a faux publisher that shall remain nameless (though I bet that most of you can guess which one it is): I know that it is possible to find anything negative about anyone on the internet. Just look at the negative hype that is out there about [Publisher X].Read More
If you need to refresh your memory, Part 1 is here.
In the summer of 2003, writers began hearing about a major writers’ conference and celebrity charity event to be held in Banff, Alberta. Well-known editors and agents would be in attendance at the conference; famous entertainers such as Celine Dion would grace the event, the proceeds of which would benefit a national autism foundation. The conference registration cost was a bit steep--$1,699 US, including accomodations--but hey, it sounded totally fab.
Originally scheduled for August, the conference was postponed, supposedly due to smoke from forest fires near Banff. Instead, it would be held in October--though the organizer, Elisabeth von Hullessem, didn’t give an actual reschedule date. Then, in September, von Hullessem skipped town for parts unknown, failing to refund the writers who’d paid the registration fees, and neglecting to notify the well-known literary agents who’d agreed to attend to the event. (You can see the Calgary Herald's coverage of the incident here.)
