Writer Beware

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Impersonating Agents: A New Face For An Old Scam

Header image: a business-suited wolf, hiding behind a smiling mask, facing an unsuspecting woman who is about to be scammed (Credit: dariodraws / Shutterstock.com)

JUL 29, 2022November 13, 202537 COMMENTS

A few weeks ago, the Bent Agency notified me that an email was doing the rounds falsely claiming to be from Jenny Bent.

Though it links to the real Bent Agency website and cites the correct address, this is clearly a scam. Real, reputable literary agents very rarely reach out to writers they don't already represent--and if they do, it's a personal approach, not a form letter that doesn't mention the writer's name or the title of their book (note also that there's no "To" category, indicating a mass mailing to multiple recipients). Other indications include ungrammatical text (apart from the last two paragraphs, which have been copied from the Bent Agency's Who We Are page)--not something you'd expect from a reputable agent--and an email address that doesn't match the agency's web domain.

Impersonating reputable agents, editors, and publishing people is a very common tactic for the fake literary agency scams that are so common these days. I've written a number of posts about this phenomenon.

CONTESTS AND AWARDS

America’s Next Great Author: The Author Reality Show Idea Rides Again

JUL 15, 2022April 20, 202512 COMMENTS

No doubt publishing isn't the only industry where the same ideas crop up over and over again--touted each time as original and groundbreaking, with no regard to previous iterations.

Manuscript display sites (aka electronic slushpiles). Author-agent and author-publisher matching services. They spring to life with hope and hype, persist for a while with limited adoption and no notable record of success, and eventually sink into oblivion...until the next time.

Another of those perennially arising, perennially failing notions: author reality shows.

BUSINESS OF WRITING

Author-Agent “Handshake” Agreements: Be Wary

JUL 1, 2022July 1, 20224 COMMENTS

This is an updated version of a post I put online several years ago, in response to complaints about "handshake" offers from a particular agent at a large agency.

That agent is no longer making those offers (as far as I know). And handshake agreements are rare these days. But I've recently heard from several writers who received handshake or no-contract offers from other agents at other agencies--so it's not impossible that you may encounter such an offer in your agent search. If you do, there's reason to be cautious.

According to Wikipedia, a handshake agreement, or oral contract, is

The Copyright Claims Board: A New Option For Copyright Disputes

JUN 17, 2022January 13, 202311 COMMENTS

Taking legal action if your copyright is infringed can be complicated and confusing--not to mention expensive. Suing an infringing party, which must be done in federal court, can rack up enormous legal fees, and take years to resolve. (For instance, the Authors Guild estimates that the average cost of a copyright suit is $400,000--often more than the value of the claim itself.) And there's no guarantee of success. It's a situation that, for many creators, renders their rights under copyright essentially unenforceable.

Traditionally in the USA, such suits have been creatives' only avenue of redress. Now, though, there's an alternative: the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), which opened for business yesterday.

Established by Congress in 2020 via the CASE Act, the CCB is a small claims court for copyright disputes, where creators can bring lower-dollar infringement claims (monetary damages are capped at $30,000) without having to hire an attorney or make a court appearance (proceedings are conducted entirely online). The CCB is housed within the US Copyright Office, and staffed by a three-person tribunal that oversees proceedings and is the final decision-maker on claims.

CONTRACTS

Publishing Contracts 101: Beware Internal Contradictions

Header image: man's hand holding silver fountain pen preparing to sign a document (credit: Cytonn Photography / Unsplash.com)

JUN 10, 2022July 26, 202420 COMMENTS

It should probably go without saying that you don't want your publishing contract to include clauses that contradict one another.

Beyond any potential legal implications, internal contradictions suggest a publisher that either doesn't understand its own contract language well enough to spot the problem--or a publisher that simply doesn't care. Neither is a good sign for what lies ahead.

Contradictions can be tricky to spot, especially for first-time authors who aren't experienced in contract legalese. Here's an example that came across my desk recently: an anthology contract from Dark Lake Publishing that provides for rights reversion 12 months after publication:

CONTRACTS

Bad Contract Alert: Stary (aka Dreame)

JUN 3, 2022June 24, 202565 COMMENTS

This is another in my series of blog posts about serialized fiction app contracts (you can see all of them here).

This time the subject is Stary (official name: Stary Pte Ltd, based in Singapore), one of the largest and most well-established of such companies. At least sixteen apps operate under the Stary umbrella, of which Dreame is probably the best-known. Most cater to English-language readers, but there are several for readers of other languages, including Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese, and one specifically for Filipino writers.

Procedurally, the Stary apps are much like the others I've written about. You must sign up for the app and publish at least three chapters, with a minimum of 3,000 words, before you can apply for a contract. (You could also be invited to apply--like other serialized fiction apps, Stary aggressively solicits for content.)