Click below to read Deering updates:
In 1992 I started working on an idea I had for a novel. By the summer of 1993 I had found an agent who was thrilled
with the work, telling me I definitely had "a winner here." She claimed my novel was "one of the
best" to ever come into her agency. In fact, a producer with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood wanted to see
a treatment of my manuscript immediately. I was flying high! I was going to get published. Soon I'd be the guest
of honor at signing parties and I'd be collecting royalties. My many hours of research, writing and editing had
paid off. Soon I would forever be known as an author.
Little did I realize that was the beginning of a three year nightmare. Several agent and publishing contracts later,
I was no closer to getting into print than I was back in 1992. Even worse, I had paid over $8,000 in contract fees.
I fired the agent and continued to write. Nobody was going to break my spirit. But nobody was going to sell me
down the river either.
A year passed. Finally I began to meet other authors over the Internet--authors who had similar experiences as
I, and with the same agent. We kept in touch, trading horror stories. Our numbers have grown from just a few, to
scores of angry authors. Today, in conjunction with others including a former FBI agent, we are on the verge of
getting our message to the masses. We are on the verge of changing the industry as we know it. The changes will
come slowly, but they'll come.
And what is our message? To let authors know that literary agents should not charge up front fees. Ever. Further,
publishing houses should pay AUTHORS. Authors should not have to pay PUBLISHERS to have a book published. Finally,
we need legislation to insure that literary agents be trained, licensed and qualified.
Join our growing numbers as we move these ideas into the new century. I sincerely hope that aspiring authors get
something out of this article. Everything I've written can be documented and substantiated. And God bless your
efforts as a writer. Your hard work and sweat will pay off one day.
1. What is the Deering Literary Agency? The Deering Literary agency was founded in Kentucky by
Charles and Dorothy Deering in 1988 or 1989. It has always been a fee-charging agency (you pay them money up front
with no guarantee you'll get anything published. Non-fee charging agents, on the other hand, make 100% of their
income from royalties once your book is published. So there's a real motivation to get authors' works into print.
In other words: get your clients published or starve.) The Deerings have boasted of numerous sales over the years-
both books and movies. These "sales" are questionable; many of them cannot be confirmed.
2. What is the controversy surrounding the Deering Agency? Numerous controversies continue to plague
the agency and its owners past and present. The biggest: charging large fees for representation, urging authors
to accept joint venture contracts with questionable publishers, and then having the deals fall through. The end
result: much money spent by authors with no results, no books published and no money returned. Even if books are
published, little or no royalties are paid. There are other problems which will be listed below.
So what is joint venture? Simple: the author puts up part of the money (in reality, all of the money) to have
his or her book published. I have found that joint venture and co-op publishing houses just like to claim they
share in the financial end of having your book published in order to sound generous. They offer 40% royalties on
the first 2,500 books sold, then 15% on any books sold thereafter. This percentage rate is unheard of among legitimate
houses. Dorothy Deering hailed the contract sent to me by Northwest Publishers (see the write up on Northwest below)
as "the best in the business."
In reality, authors never make their money back; their books cannot be found in bookstores. Why? Just a few copies
exist to begin with. One author caught in a joint venture deal won ownership of all 10,000 of his books (a rarity),
and he's been peddling them out of the trunk of his car ever since.
3. Who has owned The Deering Literary Agency in the past? Charles F. Deering, Dorothy Deering (husband
and wife) and now Daniel C. Deering (their son).
4. What companies have been run by the Deerings and what were the names of these companies?
5. The Deerings have had numerous addresses since the early nineties. What were they?
The following was turned up by a private investigator (12/98):
Apparently, Charles and Dorothy Deering lived at 2457 Lacrosse Court in Lexington, but this occupancy was by virtue of a land contract. A land contract is basically a rental agreement with the exclusive option to purchase in the lessee. Three weeks ago, the Deerings moved from this address and their current living quarters are unknown. Their former address was listed as a building lot located on Smugglers Notch Drive here in Lexington. Their current address is a post office box located at the main post office on Nandino Blvd. in Lerrington. An interview was conducted by our investigators with Mr. Lannie Miller who is a postal inspector at the main branch. He was familiar with this PO box and advised that the Deerings would check their mail periodically, but were notorious for refusing the great bulk of their deliveries. Mr. Miller indicated that this was a sign fitting the profile of a fraudulent business opportunity scam.
Why have there been so many moves (at least 7) within the past six years? That is an excellent question.
6. Who is Dorothy Deering? She is the wife of Charles F. Deering. Dorothy Deering has, according
to stationery headings, been an agent as well as a publisher. At one point, she gave herself the title of CEO of
Deering. She has made a unique claim in the past: she is the daughter of Betty Morrow of the original Morrow publishing
family. In fact, Sovereign was called, in their winter 1997 newsletter, "A Morrow Family Publisher."
Is this claim true? That is difficult to say. Many authors do not believe so. One author was recently in contact
with a long-standing employee of Morrow, and he cannot recall ever hearing about a Dorothy Deering. The claim has
never been substantiated nor has it been refuted, and there is no evidence the Deering agency ever sold a single
book to Morrow since their founding. Here is what that author has to say:
I have a connection to a gentleman who has been associated with the William Morrow Company for almost 40 years and who was a president and CEO for quite some time. When I told him of Dorothy's claim, he said that he did not know anything about her, and 90 he wrote her the following letter in April of 1997 in order to determine what her claims actually were. The letter was never answered by Mrs. Deering or anyone else:
"Dear Mrs. Deering,
An author whom you represent tells me that you are the daughter of Betty Morrow from the original Morrow publishing family. I have been associated with William Morrow and Company for the past 38 years and was president and CEO for approximately 20 years.
Now that I'm semi-retired I'm thinking of writing a history of the company, and although I have a great deal of information on the 1940's and thereafter, I have very little information about the founder of the company, William Morrow himself.
I write to ask whether there are any relatives still alive or anyone who would know the story of William Morrow and how he came to found the company that bears his name. Was your mother a sister, cousin or aunt?
Thank you for any help you can give me."
Unfortunately, this letter was returned unopened.
On another note, one author spoke with an officer of a southwest writers organization last year. They wrote:
Dorothy Deering was supposed to speak at a conference they were giving but they became suspicious of her when she insisted on having the names and addresses of all the authors attending the conference before she appeared to speak. They did a little checking and found out about her background with Edit Ink and Commonwealth and quickly canceled her as speaker and warned their membership to stay away from her.
According to this officer, Dorothy Deering threatened to sue. The organization hired their own lawyer and Deering
backed away from the confrontation.
7. Where is Dorothy Deering now? We don't know for sure. Her husband Charles has claimed she is out
of the business. Their child Michael Deering was gunned down in Atlanta several months ago. Drugs were somehow
involved. Dorothy Deering talks about the death in the Winter issue of "Sovereign Digest"--a newsletter
sent to authors. Anyone wishing to speak with Dorothy Deering to complain about lost money or fraud on the part
of her agency has not been successful in reaching her.
8. Who is Charles Deering? The husband of Dorothy Deering. His is (was, at least) the baritone voice
you heard on all their answer machine messages. His titles have been numerous over the years: office manager, agent,
publisher. Charles Deering has been answering most of the e-mail sent to the office by irate authors (deeringlit@aol.com).
His remarks and responses to e-mail range from calm and friendly, to defensive and rude. He has personally called
me "sick" and "confused", claiming that I am part of a conspiracy and "mob". He has
called me Mr. Moahn (as if I'm always moaning and complaining? And he's threatened to sue me.)
Consult the e-mail correspondences listed here. The Deerings could sue; anyone can sue. It's the American way.
But that action on their part would prompt authors to counter-sue, opening he and his wife's entire business operations
to scrutiny under the laws of discovery.
9. Who is Bill Richardson? Dorothy Deering's brother-in-law. Apparently he had little or no experience
in the business prior to joining Deering. On reports from many authors, he is a former carpet-layer. He took over
as vice president of operations at Sovereign Publications. Several authors complained that he was rude to them,
even sending them letters which threatened to delay their publishing dates. I have one such letter I'll put on
file here. Where is he now that Sovereign has failed? That is unclear.
10. Who is Daniel C. Deering? He is allegedly the "owner" of the Deering Agency, now called
"Daniel Craig Literary Group." He is the son of Dorothy and Charles. Did he actually purchase the agency
from his mother and father? We have to investigate to find out. His middle name is Craig--thus the new name for
the agency.
In a recent article from the Erie, Pa. paper Times News, Daniel Deering, in an article entitled "Agents
Who Scam Would-be Authors," denied being like his mother and father. He claims he charges no fees for representation
and that he does not sell writers' works to joint venture operators. Further, he claims he is not on good terms
with Dorothy or Charles Deering. Are we to believe this, or is this an attempt to get people to think the new agency
is nothing like the old? Is he distancing himself from his parents in the eyes of authors while, in reality, continuing
to be close to them? Authors continue to be suspicious.
In the article he did admit to charging between $1.50 and $2.50 per page to edit a manuscript. So if your manuscript
is 300 pages, and he charges you $2 per page for editing, you're shelling out $600. Most of my manuscripts run
in the neighborhood of 400 pages--double spaced. I'd have to pay this man $800 per manuscript? Just how is he different
from his parents?
One author has a contract in her possession, signed by Daniel Deering himself, requesting $300 in representation
fees. I hope to have this author send in the contract so that it might be scanned into the web page. Yet another
author said she was skeptical, said she had it on good authority that Daniel is close with Dorothy and Charles
Deering. Many authors are choosing to land on the side of caution, and not believe Daniel Deering's contentions
in the article mentioned above.
This past August, one of the many angry and disgusted authors e-mailed Daniel Craig demanding he return her money
and criticizing his business practices. (She spent upwards to $10,000 to get published, and the Deerings were her
agents.) Daniel Craig Deering, in an e-mail message dated Wednesday, August 5th, wrote:
Carole, Carole, Carole: So typical of a first time writer, to be upset when their work does not merit publication.
Daniel C. Deering
Note: If this author's work did not "merit publication," why did Daniel's parents spend so much time urging her to sign contract after contract for representation by their agency? And take a look at the tone of his remark.
Update: brand new material on the Daniel Craig Literary Group has come in. Read it here.
11. Who runs the Deering Agency now? Charles Deering claims it's Daniel Craig Deering. The name
of the agency has changed to Daniel Craig Literary Group. Why is this? A few possible reasons. First, since allegedly
buying the company from his mother and father, he just felt like changing the name to put his personal stamp on
the company. Second, he realized the Deering name is tainted and its reputation is in question with many authors.
He had to remove Deering from the company's title.
Authors' question: Why would you change the name of a company which, as Charles and Dorothy Deering have claimed,
has been so successful over the years?
12. What is the controversy surrounding Atlantic Disk Publishers? Atlantic Disk Publishers was
founded in 1994 by Charles and Dorothy Deering, listing both of them as "publishers.. The company charged
authors $500 per manuscript to have their novels put on floppy disks. The company failed in 1995 with authors getting
none of their books published or distributed. Authors' investments were not returned to them. I certainly did not
receive $500 worth of disks or service. What disks I did receive--maybe ten overall--were sloppy, full of errors.
Dorothy bragged about an electronic bookmark which would allow the reader to mark his or her spot in the book.
But the bookmark only marked chapters, not specific pages in between. It was completely useless. Authors were promised
that books on disks were the latest trend in the industry (see supporting material) and that disks would be placed
in libraries and airport book stores all over the United States.
The Deerings sold one disk to a Connecticut library; I received a royalty check for $1.96. That was the only royalty
money I received during my three year relationship with the Deerings. Dorothy claimed Northwest owner James Van
Treese was supposed to buy Atlantic Disk, putting books on CDs. According to her, Van Treese reneged on his offer.
She ended up getting rid of the company; a man by the name of Wayne Ray from Canada became the new owner. Nothing
really happened with the company after that.
13. What is the controversy surrounding Northwest Publishing Inc? Northwest Publishers, a Salt Lake
City, Utah company, was liquidated under Chapter 7 in 1996 and 1997. In a conversation during the summer of 1996,
the same summer I fired her as my agent, Dorothy Deering told me she had placed over 120 authors with Northwest.
Northwest was a joint-venture, co-op publisher. So as stated earlier, in order to be published by them, an author
had to contribute thousands of dollars of their own money.
I spent $6,375 and have not seen a single book, nor a penny of my money. As is the usual practice with these types
of publishing houses, they promised me 40% royalties on the first 2,500 books sold. I said to myself: "No
sweat. What's 2,500 books? They'll sell right away, especially since Northwest is going to send them out to so
many bookstores nationwide. So I took out my calculator and did the math:
Sadly, that's how many authors get pulled into signing a joint venture deal.
James Van Treese and son Jason Van Treese ran Northwest Publishing and are accused of stealing $10.5 million of
authors' money to gamble away in Las Vegas and Mesquite. The criminal case is still pending. Authors will most
likely lose their entire investment.
The Deering Literary Agency has claimed it lost money in the Northwest scandal too. That is not exactly the case.
Why? First, Dorothy Deering put up $0 in up front money to have her authors' books published. That was the responsibility
of the authors themselves. Next, the alleged dollar loss by the agency involved supposed or would-be royalty money
generated once their authors' books were printed, distributed and sold. Since books did not get published, Dorothy
Deering lost only potential royalties. The authors were the ones who lost actual dollars from their bank accounts--thousands,
in fact.
Dorothy Deering encouraged me to go with Northwest (true, I did agree), telling me it was one of the best deals
in the industry (see her letter to me). She claimed joint-venture was the latest trend in the publishing industry,
a claim legitimate publishers scoff at.
When I fired Dorothy Deering, I challenged her business practices. She said: "I'm not going to be put on trial
by you, Thomas." She simply said "I'm sorry" about losing my money, and hung up. That was that.
No book. No money. Dreams and aspirations crushed.
14. What is the controversy surrounding Commonwealth Publishing? Ditto with Northwest--a co-op publishing
house. Authors had to contribute thousands of dollars of their money. Books published by this Canadian publisher
were reported by authors as being: "Drivel," "Shabby," "Inferior." A man by the name
of Phelan ran the company. Again, hundreds of authors were left holding the bag: no book and no money returned
to them. Those lucky enough to be published by Commonwealth have, for the most part, reported receiving little
or no royalties on their books.
Again, Dorothy and Charles Deering placed scores of clients with Commonwealth. I was offered a contract, and Dorothy
Deering encouraged me to take it. I refused since I had yet to have my book with Northwest published. Commonwealth
wanted me to pay $3,900 in U.S. currency.
Commonwealth is no more. Some authors have reported that Mr. Phelan continues on in the industry.
15. What is the controversy surrounding Edit Ink? Edit Ink. was a "Book Doctor" service.
You send your manuscript to them and they'll edit the thing for thousands of dollars. The N.Y. State Attorney General's
office and the Consumer Fraud Bureau of New York were investigating the owners, Bill Appel and Denise Sterrs.
Basically, Edit Ink sent letters to literary agencies throughout the U.S., saying:
Please allow me to show you how you can earn many additional thousands of dollars yearly from what is now undoubtedly the Mt. Everest of unsolicited queries and manuscripts you must take precious time to reject anyway.
By referring our editorial services, we will gladly send you a referral fee of 15 percent of the fee we charge, per double-spaced page...
Some agencies jumped at this opportunity, sending letters to authors encouraging them to go with Edit Ink. Then,
after having their book doctored by Edit Ink, the agency would "reconsider" accepting the manuscript.
Dorothy and Charles Deering have been accused of referring authors to Edit Ink and have been listed on a couple
of web sites as an agency that deals with these questionable people. The authors who know the Deerings have expressed
little surprise at this news.
Like Phelan, some authors have reported Bill Appel continuing on in the business. Using a search engine such as
Yahoo, Excite or Metacrawler, authors can call up the name Edit Ink and read about the specifics of the controversy.
Literary agents who are AAR signatories are forbidden, by ethics, to refer their authors to book doctors. Why?
It all goes back to the kick-back scandal mentioned above. How is an author to know whether or not the agent in
question is in bed with the book doctor?
16. What is the controversy surrounding Sovereign Publications? Same as Northwest and Commonwealth,
only this time, Charles and Dorothy Deering were the actual owners of, and publishers at Sovereign. So, at one
point, Charles and Dorothy could bring in authors and charge them agent fees (usually $300 or more), then funnel
them right into Sovereign. What did Charles and Dorothy Deering charge authors to have them published? Figures
range anywhere from $4000 to over $10,000. Later, they charged authors an additional $2000 to "upgrade"
their books to trade quality.
In their winter newsletter "Sovereign Digest," Dorothy announces the creation of Sovereign: "After
years of planning and countless requests from our authors, we have finally taken the big step and are proud to
announce the opening of Sovereign Publications, our new publishing house." I have asked around and have not
located a single author who asked Dorothy and Charles Deering to open a publishing house. I most certainly did
not!
Brother-in-law Bill Richardson, in the same issue, said: "In the past several months many Sovereign authors
have requested upgrade sizing of their books. These authors wanted to increase the size from mass-market to the
larger trade size editions because they thought their books would look better and make more money at the larger
size."
I have asked Sovereign authors and have yet to locate a single person who made such a request. If there is anyone
out there who made such a request, please let me know. I'll stand corrected.
So, many Sovereign scenarios looked like this:
Then it is announced that Sovereign Publications is filing for bankruptcy. (They have yet to do so.)
You want answers. You want your thousands back. You want the rights to your book back. Few authors have gotten
the rights to their books back. The chance you'll get your money back? Judging by the Northwest case and related
cases: not good.
The law firm allegedly handling Sovereign's bankruptcy: Cunningham & Associates: Charles Grundy-(606) 268-9223.
This firm is looking out for the interests of Charles and Dorothy Deering. In fact, it would be unethical to do
otherwise. If you want legal recourse, complain to or file with a different law firm.
How many Sovereign authors are there? The numbers have been reported as high as 248 or 250. If one were to tinker
around with the math, one would come up with an impressive dollar figure Sovereign pulled in.
17. What is the current status of Sovereign Publications? I just called their number at (606)
971-0080. You can listen to Charles Deering's voice for yourself. He emphasizes that bankruptcy has NOT been filed
yet. Charles Grundy is the attorney at Shirley Cunningham & Associates. They claim there will be a creditors'
meeting soon.
18. What conclusions are we to draw from the business dealings of Charles and Dorothy Deering? Upcoming
litigation will accuse them of being anything from just plain incompetent to engaging in outright and blatant fraud.
To prove fraud, authors will have to show that the Deerings never intended to publish their books and hid authors'
money. If the Deerings knew they were filing for Chapter 7 (liquidation), yet continued to solicit business from
authors, that could spell trouble. I know for a fact that as late as this past July, the Deerings sent me a coupon
giving me $1000 off my next book publishing contract with them. If they intended to file for Chapter 7 before July,
that's definite trouble. Future investigations will have to travel in that direction.
19. What did a typical Deering Literary Agency contract look like? I'm asking my friends who run
this site to scan the copy of the contract in for you to look at.
20. What did a typical Northwest contract look like? Ditto on the above.
21. What did the typical Commonwealth contract look like? Would somebody like to send a copy of theirs
in so it may be scanned into the site? That would be appreciated.
22. What did the typical Sovereign contract look like? Ditto #21. Please send in a copy of your Sovereign
contract, so that it might be scanned into the site. Thanks.
23. So how do legitimate, non-fee charging agents conduct their business? Nobody is saying legitimate
agents are eligible for sainthood, but some solid commonalities apply. Here are a few things to note:
24. Give the Deerings credit; they have survived. Despite the demise of Atlantic Disk Publishers,
Commonwealth Publishers, Northwest Publishers and Sovereign Publications, the Deerings, at least Daniel from what
we're told, continue to stay in the business.
It has been very easy for Charles and Dorothy to say: Northwest and Commonwealth lied to us, scamming us too. We
are victims like the rest of you. We thought these publishing houses were legitimate. Don't blame us, blame them.
But how do they explain away Atlantic Disk and Sovereign? This has not been easy.
According to authors who have contacted me, Daniel Craig Deering continues to charge up-front fees for representation.
He should prove, in the various legitimate literary publications, that he does not conduct his business this way.
25. Have there been official complaints filed against the Deerings? Yes, and they are numerous. Authors
have hired attorneys to get back money and book rights. Others complaints have been filed with: The Better Business
Bureau of Lexington KY, The Chamber of Commerce of Nicholasville KY, a reporter for the Kentucky Herald-Leader,
a detective by the name of Jim Mobley, the FBI and the Attorney General's Office in KY. Don't forget the The National
Writers' Association and Professor Jim Fisher.
26. What is the infamous Sovereign Coupon? If you never received one, you really missed out; they
are hilarious! Basically the coupon, resembling something an outlet shoe store would pass out on the street, entitles
the author to $1,000 off the publication of their next book. I fired Dorothy Deering in the summer of 1996 and
she still sent this thing to me this past summer (1998). Now, do any of you really believe you were really going
to receive $ 1,000 off of anything?
27. What is the Deering Literary Agency's current status with the BBB of Lexington and the Nicholasville
Chamber of Commerce? That's a little complicated. First, the Deering Literary Agency is no longer a member
in good standing with the BBB of Lexington. Why? The complaints have been too numerous and Charles Deering has
stopped responding to complaints filed against the company. Please call the BBB yourself and listen to their message
concerning the Deerings.
HOWEVER, The Daniel Craig Literary Group IS a member of the BBB. By eliminating the Deering name, Charles and Dorothy
are able to say: What's all the fuss? The Deering Literary Agency no longer exists. How can you file complaints
against a defunct company? Good point. The only way to do this would be to tie Daniel Craig Literary Group to the
Deering Literary Agency and Charles and Dorothy Deering. The BBB is currently investigating this possibility.
Ditto the Nicholasville Chamber of Commerce. The woman there told me the Deerings stopped their membership payments,
and were thus no longer a member in good standing. I asked: "What if the Deerings were still members? How
would you deal with them in light of all the complaints sent to your office?" She responded: "Well, they'd
have some serious explaining to do concerning all the accusations being made against them." I then asked:
"Is the Daniel Craig Literary Group a member of the Chamber in good standing?" She answered: "Yes."
28. How has Charles Deering defended his agency against the accusations made against he and his wife with
the BBB? Check below. All this is documented and available upon request.
| Accusation: You and you wife have been scamming authors by taking up-front money, producing nothing for the author. | Answer: "Mrs. Dorothy Deering has not been in the Literary Agency for over 1 1/2 years. She
has not been in the Publishing House since 9/9/97. C.D." Analysis: If that is the case, why does the infamous Sovereign Coupon, received this past June of 1998, still list Dorothy Deering as the publisher along with a quote from her? You can all review the coupon for yourselves. |
| Accusation: You and you wife persuaded authors to accept contracts with Northwest. We trusted your judgment and now we have nothing. | Answer: "Many agents were used and misled by the Van Treeses!" Analysis: It has been easy for them to blame the publishers. |
| Accusation: In 1994 I began to suspect something. I was in a major book store and picked up every volume they had dealing with publishing and literary agents. The Deering Agency was nowhere to be found. Nor was Northwest. I even looked in the Writer's Market. | Answer: To my assertion that I "...picked up every volume they had dealing with publishing and
literary agents:" Charles wrote: "Lie. Writer's Digest: Political and biased. That is not the truth.
We were listed in over 28 different reference books, except for the Writer's Digest. They took us out because of
complaints. We requested copies of the complaints several times, but they would not send them. We back tracked
one of their printed complaints. There was no such person in the area or address they printed! We were and are
signatory with the WGA. We refused to be dictated to by self appointed dieties (sic) of the literary field. You
really have to have a good record to be listed in the Literary Market Place." Analysis: Was Charles standing next to me in the book stare when I was looking through these different reference books? So why does he write "Lie?" Next, there were complaints (plural) filed against them with Writer's Digest. Are we to believe the Writer's Digest fabricated complaints against the Deerings? Go visit a major book seller such as B. Dalton, Walden Books, Borders or Barnes & Noble. Look up the Deering name or Daniel Craig in any writing reference book you can find. Will you find their names? Let me put it this way, if you find their names anywhere, let me know. |
| Accusation: You charge up front fees to the tune of hundreds of dollars.Your contracts are professionally designed. Hot air, not worth the paper it's written on. | Answer: "Opinion, not truth. Slander and malicious rumour." Analysis: The words: "Slander and malicious rumour" were repeated over and over in Answers given to the BBB. |
| Accusation: You hyped Atlantic Disk Publishers as "wonderful" and "Beyond our expectations." The company failed and now Dorothy Deering gets the idea to open Sovereign Publishers. | Answer: "We have several books out, some of which are standard royalty. Smart remarks. Several
years passed after Atlantic Disk and Sovereign Publications. (sic) Another manipulation of facts." Analysis: Did Sovereign really put "several" books out? Can anyone out there name the books published by them, books which actually ended up in a book store? There were three or four titles I'm aware of. Are there any more? |
| Accusation: Dorothy Deering charged me $500 for her services (contract commencing August 3, 1993) Page two, section C of the contract reads: "Author agrees to pay agent fees as follows: $500 for total contract fee, due upon signing of this contract...Due to the work 1oad of this agency, no breakdown of expenses will be given. " I accused them of writing this into the contract in order to keep authors from knowing just how they spent their money. | Answer: "Does this man think that we had time to record every little thing? Agents Do Not Break
Down Expenses." Analysis: Read page 10 in Guide to Literary Agents 1998. "Some non fee-charging agencies don't charge for a reading or criticism fee but ask the author to pay for expenses such as photocopying, postage, long-distance phone calls, marketing and office expenses. These expenses should be discussed up front and should not run more than $100-150, and the writer should receive specific statements and receipts for them." |
| Accusation: You charge $300, sometimes $500 to represent authors. | Answer: "That averages out to a little over $30 a month. The $500 fee, per year, averages a
little less than $10 per week. Analysis: Yes, and if I purchased a $70,000 Lexus today, my monthly payments would only average out to $41.50 per hour. Don't break down the expense to justify it. |
| Accusation: On April 4, 1994, Dorothy Deering sent me a letter saying she was "excited" to have received an offer from Northwest Publishers. On further analysis of the letter, I found it to be a form letter. | Answer: "So what!" Analysis: So I'm led to believe that when an agent goes into business, they keep form acceptance letters for all the publishing houses. And when an author's work is bought by a publisher, they take out the form acceptance letter from their drawer, type in the book's title and send the form off to the author. Of course, all these form acceptance letters specify the terms of the contract, the number of books to be published, in what form- trade or mass market-and possess comments on the quality of the publisher's art department BEFORE ANY DEAL HAS BEEN STRUCK. You'd have to be a virtual psychic to do this with any degree of accuracy. Common sense says that Northwest told the Deerings: "Here's the contract we'll try to get people to sign. Now go out there and find us as many authors as you can. Get them to agree to the terms. Tell them the contract is the best in the industry. When they say: 'That's a lot of money,' just tell them: 'But you'll make your money back right away, because you'll make 40% royalty on the first 2,500 books.'" |
29. What else has Charles Deering said about these accusations? He claims the accusations are:
"lies, rumors, gossip, misleading, malicious opinions, bitter apples, slanted opinions, I seem to enjoy malicious
accusations, accusations are very untrue, none of these things are our fault, not our fault newspapers did not
print what we sent them, bending the truth, more lies, not true, he wanted it all for nothing, opinions, more opinions,
malicious intent, this is not our fault, welcome to the real world, presumption, is he jealous or just envious,
this man is sick, he is a heartless and cruel person, more bending the truth, his opinion only!"
30. To which publishers have the Deerings allegedly sent authors' materials? Below is listed a computer-generated
update list from the Deerings dated 4/2/96. What was my novel's genre? Suspense-thiller.
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Observations: Some of these publishers cannot be found in any of the literature. Next, if my two books were
of the suspense-thriller genre, why were my manuscripts sent to Zebra, Franklin Watts and Peachtree? (Zebra= company
publishing female writers only [I'm a male, by the way]. Franklin Watts=publishes textbooks for grade schoolers
from K-12th grades [My book was a fiction novel]. Peachtree= publishes books dealing with juvenile stories [I'm
not that juvenile].)
Further, has Deering sold one book to the major publishing houses: Berkley, HarperCollins, Little Brown etc.? There
is no evidence of this. Not even to William Morrow & Co. Now if Dorothy Deering is the daughter of Betty Morrow,
and if Sovereign was a "Morrow Family Publisher", why haven't they sold to their own family? Again, if
they can prove this, I'll stand corrected. But they have to show proof, not merely make claims.
31. What are Deering authors saying about The Deering Literary Agency, Charles and Dorothy Deering, Bill
Richardson, Daniel Craig Deering and Sovereign Publications? I e-mailed a couple of basic questions to
Deering authors and here is what I received back. Most authors' names and e-mail addresses available except where
author preferred anonymity.
| Q. What specifically did you pay to have the Deerings represent you as agents? | "I did not pay the Deerings to represent me as agents. They bought out a firm "Rising Sun" which
happened to be owned by Dorothy Deering's nephew (sister?), and they wanted to keep me on." "I paid the Deering Literary Agency, $500 to represent me. The letter Dorothy sent me offering to represent me, sounds like a duplicate of the one Mary Key received, in that Dorothy alluded to already having a publisher who was interested in the manuscript." "I paid the Deerings $500 to represent my first book. From there the fees would change: $350, $300 etc. Like Diane and Mary Kay, Dorothy Deering, in her first letter to me, wrote: 'Michael Manheim of Paramount Pictures wants to see a treatment.' I never heard from Michael Manheim, nor did I hear him mentioned again after I signed and had sent the Deerings money. Once the hook was set..." "A reading fee of something around $100 and the $500 agent fee." "I first got them to represent my work around 1990; this was my first and hopeful venture into writing something other than engineering. Reading fee was $100, rep fee was $300. The reading of manuscripts was supposedly done by a college professor, so I thought my stuff was pretty fair." "$300." "In 1994, I paid Dorothy Deering $350 for the initial 'critique' and another $300 for 'representation'." "$300 for the first reading fee, $75/book for reviews, readings, representation thereafter." |
| Q- What specifically did you pay for your joint venture contract(s) either with Northwest, Commonwealth or Sovereign (or Atlantic Disk) ? | "$10,000." "Also around this time or maybe earlier they attempted to start an internet marketing company Atlantic Disk Publishing (electronic rights). They bailed out of it, selling it to someone in London, Ontario who had no money to get it off the ground." "Got three manuscripts to be published for the lump sum of $8,500 (Northwest Publishers)." "Paid Sovereign $3,800 for a manuscript. Asked if Sovereign was doing any standard royalty contracts, was told not until the year 2000." "I paid the Deerings $1,892 in a cashier's check upon my execution of the contract with Sovereign. The payment was the first of three agreed to installments, the second of which was to be another $1,891 when they produced the galleys, and the final payment of $1,891 for a contract total of $5,675 upon publication of The Earth Alien as a mass-market paperback. The second and third installments never were paid as Sovereign never met the agreed to requirements for those payments." "In September of 1996, I paid Sovereign publications $6,425 to publish my book." "I paid $12,787 for two novels to be published." "$0 (but I didn't receive royalties for the 2 books that sold to Commonwealth, even though the first novel did over 10,000 copies in sales that my attorney could document through UPS and distributor records)." |
| Q- Does anybody out there know if Dorothy Deering is truly the daughter of Betty Morrow of the Morrow Publishing family? Do you have any evidence to support this? | "I do not know for sure, but her son told me so." "Good question. Any reputable company would welcome an opportunity to confirm their claims." "I do not know." "Dorothy herself (or someone claiming to be her) told me her mother was Betty Morrow of Morrow Publishing. However, I have no independent verification." "I have seen this reported...I have no first hand knowledge whether this is true or not." |
| Q- How did you come to know about the Deering Literary Agency and Dorothy Deering? | "1992 or 1993 edition of Writer's Market. I wanted a southern agent because I was from the south, so I picked
them on a whim." "I believe through an ad in Writer's Market." "I got the Deerings' name in '94 from LMP (Literary Marketplace) so I 'assumed' they were legitimate." "From a man who was making a speaking tour, talking about getting published." "I found their name in the Literary Marketplace." "Writer's Market about 1990 or 1991." |
| Q- Did any of you request that Chuck or Dorothy Deering open their own publishing house as they claimed in their newsletter last winter? | "You've got to be kidding me. After the Northwest, Atlantic Disk, Commonwealth fiascos? Them? Open a publishing
house?" "No and I wasn't asked either." "It would never have occurred to me to encourage Chuck and Dorothy to open their own publishing house." "Not I." "I made no request they open their own pub house." "I emphatically did no such thing." "No." Note: If there are any authors who did ask the Deerings to open their own publishing house, please step forward and let us know. |
| Q- Did any of you ask that your books be "upgraded" to trade and "pay the two thousand dollars without hesitation" as Bill Richardson writes in Sovereign's winter newsletter? (Note: these "requests" allegedly prompted the Deerings to sit down and mull over the idea to see if it was feasible. Eventually, the idea sounded good, so the Deerings offered the upgrade to their clients.) | "No." "I negotiated with Bill Richardson that I would pay $1,000 first, and the remainder upon publication. They took my first payment, but never received the second because they did not perform. " "I asked that my book be upgraded to a trade size only after reading the February Sovereign Digest." "No." |
| Q- Have any of you received royalties from books represented or published by the Deering family? Have your books even been published, for that matter? (Note: books listed on Amazon.com are not necessarily books in print. I'm on Amazon and the publisher listed is Atlantic Disk [failed 1995]. Even if I wanted to order my own book, I wouldn't be able to.) | "No royalties and no books published." "I have received no royalties and my book was never published even though Amazon.com lists it as available by special order." "None." "No royalties/no books." "No." "I have had them represent 6 of my works over the years, never got a review from a single publisher, never got a standard contract offer." "No." "Yes, 4 (books published). No royalties on the last 2. |
| Q- To which agencies/authorities have you filed complaints against the Deerings? | "I have talked with attorneys and filed complaints with the BBB and Attorney General of Kentucky." "BBB of Lexington, Attorney General, KY, Write Connection, National Writer's Association, Nicholasville Chamber of Commerce, WGA East, various reporters." "No attys/no agencies etc." "My attorney advised me to send Sovereign a letter terminating our contsact for non-performance, which I did. I still have not received my materials back from Deering..." "I filed complaints with the Attorney General, the FBI, the Better Business Bureau and the Police Department of Kentucky. " "Not yet, but in the process." |
What else have authors said?
"My association with the Deerings was ever so brief. Kelly O'Donnell of PressTige Publishing sent my manuscripts to Deerings without my knowledge, after I'd broken with her. Deerings sent my work to Russia. [Note: in Deering ads, they write about marketing books to "book-starved Russia".] Russian publisher bought my books and translated. They were missing a page...they contacted me. I started investigating how my work got there. And it led back to the Deerings. Dorothy offered to sign a publishing contract with the Russians and claimed to have all copyrights to my work with Atlantic [Disk] Publishing. They even quoted an ISBN number which was bogus. I have her letter offering to sign a contract [with the Russians] in black and white. The Russian agent sent it to me...My books are still in Russia and I never saw a penny. I don't know if they ever submitted them elsewhere."
"Another Deering publisher has filed for bankruptcy. Call their phone number: 606-971-0080. Dorothy Deering channeled several clients to Sovereign/Appaloosa Publishing."
"WARNING TO OTHER WRITERS: Daniel Deering has taken over Deering Literary Agency but will change the name to DANIEL CRAiG LITERARY GROUP, Nicholasville, KY. He is charging $300 for new contracts."
"I had paid $3,800 to the above referenced company [Sovereign] to publish my work. I received notice this week that they have now filed for bankruptcy! Do you have any information on this particular publisher? What is my course of action?"
"I am writing in regards to recent rumors concerning Sovereign and Appaloosa Publishing. I have had considerable business dealings with both of these firms and am concerned that my investments may be at great risk. Can you offer any assistance?"
I have to stop here. I have two, four-inch-thick binders full of information on the Deerings, Northwest, Sovereign
and Atlantic Disk. Any further examples would gladly be furnished upon request. Write to: tomaj@fau.campus.mci.net
32. You had an interesting e-mail exchange with Charles Deering this past summer. What was it all about?
I wrote the agency by e-mail, accusing them of unethical business practices. Charles, who by this time had received
several other such messages from angry authors, wrote back:
Your letter is as I expected from "one of the mob". Your previous letter sent to the BBB was answered and is on file. I will not answer any more of your ranting and threatening letters, moreover if a war is what you want? Join the army. We did our work in a professional manner and tried to help all our clients. The music you mention is a discourse of alligations [his error in spelling, not mine] and snide remarks that do not deserve an answer. I hope that you find some peace in your obviously confssed life. Deering Literary is now and has been totally under the control and ownership of my son Daniel since shortly after the murder of our son Mike.
I answered back challenging him to provide me with a Deering work published by a legitimate, non-joint venture publishing house. "Just one," I challenged. He wrote back:
Even though there is no reason for an answer to your letter, I will respond one last time:
Item #1: There are a lot of rational people who realize that Commonwealth deceived a lot of people as well as their agents. Everyone lost because of Commonwealth. Mobs usually do grow when they are fed a diet of misinformation and hate.
Item #2: Our son Daniel is not a puppet and is doing his well [sic] to represent his clients to publishers and some producers. For your information, he is working some deals right now with some major publishers and at least two producers on a couple of movie deals.
Item #3: In answer to your "just one" question. The Deering Literary Agency has sold books to TOR (The Falcon Rises, by Michael Stoddinger). Another is to Blue Dolphin (Prayer of Jesus, Prayer of the Heart, by Theodore J. Nottingham). As well as several others.
Item #3 [sic] In reply to the malicious and unfounded rumor of our relocation to Kentucky was engineered and funded by Commonwealth, is a complete lie. Anthem America was formed to help give our authors a little help in placing their books with American distributors as well as have a hands on part of getting the books out to the independent bookstores.
Item #4: In the attack of the other day, I forget which one, it was said "legitimate agencies do not charge for evaluation or representation." My reply to that remark is simple. Before you make statements of supposed fact, do yourself the favor of at least checking a little. One of the largest, oldest and most successful agencies is locate [sic] in New York and charges MUCH higher fees than we ever did. The Scott Meredith Agency charges a very large evaluation fee up front, with no promise of representation.
Item #5: In closing this matter, for your information we placed several manuscripts with Northwest and Commonwealth on the basis of advance contracts and standard royalty contracts. I have never run away from ANYTHING in my life, and do not intend to start now. For as many people as the "mob" has stirred up into a feeding frenzy, there are hundreds of others who do not share your opinion.
I did some quick checking, then wrote back the same day:
Mr. C. L. Deering:
#1: You were in tight with Commonwealth, and this will be proven over time. By the way, you sent authors FORM acceptance letters on behalf of Commonwealth and Northwest.
#2: Your son Daniel charges fees up front, then funnels clients to Sovereign, who will publish anything. I just love Dottie's coupons! Gee, wonder if HarperCollins, Little Brown, Morrow or Doubleday does this?
#3: TOR did not publish "The Falcon Rises". TSR (publisher of Dungeons and Dragons) did, and this book is out of print. (it was published in the late 80's). The author's name was not Stoddinger but STAUDINGER. Can't you even get your story straight? Blue Dolphin is no longer listed. And Ted Nottingham negotiated that deal--not you.
#4: The Scott Meredith Agency has no listing with the various, legitimate agent books such as "The 1998 Guide to Literary Agents." Hey, you don't have a listing in any of these books either. The Deering name is nowhere to be found in BARNES & NOBLE, WALDENS, B. DALTON or BORDERS. What do you know? Your idea of an old and successful literary agency is a business which charges higher fees than you? Is this a joke?
Item#5: CW and NW offered an occasional standard-royalty deal. Hell Chuck, so does Sovereign. Big deal. Gee, I wonder if HarperCollins, Little Brown, Morrow and Doubleday offer JV (joint-venture) to clients? Of course they don't.
Charles Deering's subsequent response sent to several authors:
To whom it may concern:
Be advised that there will be no further correspondence in reply to the malicious mail addressed to deeringlit@aol.com. Daniel C. Deering is the owner of record of the Deering Literary Agency since December of 1997. Please make all correspondence regarding Charles F. Deering or Dorothy L. Deering via the Postal System, addressed to Sovereign Publications, 128 E. Reynolds Road, Lexington, KY 40517.
Analysis: When you ask a legitimate literary agent for recent titles published by legitimate houses, they'll gladly give you a list of titles sold that year. Let's look at an agent listed in the 1998 Guide to agents. Manus & Associates is run by an agent who is a member of AAR and has been an agent for 20 years. His office is in New York City. Under recent sales, you can read:
Recent Sales: Sold 87 titles in the last year. The Last Day, by Glen Kleier (Warner); Balling the Jack, by Frank Baldwin (Simon & Schuster); The Umbrella Man, by Doug J. Swanson (Putnam Berkley); Marcus, by Marcus Alien and Carlton Stowers (St. Martins)
Note the publishing houses. Not a joint venture outfit on the list.
Now when Charles Deering was asked to give a recent title, he went back to the late 1980's and found one: The
Falcon Rises. I called the publisher and the book had been out of print for several years. Do you think Manus
& Associates has to reach back a decade to provide you with a title?
Charles Deering said that The Falcon Rises was published by TOR, a legitimate, mainstream publisher of science
fiction and works such as The Relic. THIS ASSERTION WAS NOT CORRECT. The publisher was TSR and there's a
huge difference in publishing houses; TSR published dungeon books and role playing games. I would like to think
this error was just a slip of the keyboard; I make typo errors all the time myself.
33. Will there be a lawsuit filed or lawsuits? It's beginning to look that way, yes.
Authors would like to avoid this, if possible. But unless their rights are sent back to them along with all money
lost, the situation grows more tense by the day. By conservative accounts, Sovereign Publications pulled in a million
dollars since its founding back in 1996. Some think more than a million. Just where this money ended up, is the
question authors are asking.
Update: a class action lawsuit has been filed against Sovereign Publications. Read about it here.
34. Have there been articles published about the Deerings? Yes. On December 6, 1998 in Erie
Daily Times of Erie, Pennsylvania. It was written by Dana Massing--205 West 12th Street, Erie PA 16534 (814)
870 1729. The article deals with the suffering of victimized authors of joint-venture houses failing, as well as
the literary agencies who put them into such deals.
The Deerings are prominently mentioned. Charles and Dorothy Deering could not be reached for comment, but there
are quotes from Daniel C. Deering.
Another reporter wants to write a story for the Kentucky Herald-Leader, but his hands are tied until the
Deerings actually do file for bankruptcy, he has said.
35. If I feel I've been wronged by these individuals, how may I seek justice? There are hundreds
of other authors out there whom we have never spoken to. If you are reading this, please contact us. To file complaints,
you may write to: