What
You'll Find on This Website
There are sharks in the literary
waters. Deceptions abound,
from fee-charging literary agents, to dishonest freelance editors, to
fraudulent vanity publishers, to fake contests. Add
to that the complications of copyright and the opportunism of the
Internet (including the
growing number of useless writers' "services"
and the hordes of Internet-based vanity publishers), and you have a
veritable
minefield of literary pitfalls just waiting
for the unwary writer, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned pro.
The good news: if you know the warning signs, it's really very
easy to recognize and avoid the scams and schemes. Here at the Writer
Beware website, you'll find a full toolkit to help you: detailed
discussions of literary frauds and deceptions,
information on how to identify them, advice on how to avoid them, and
links to many useful online resources.
Here's
a brief summary:
- About Writer Beware:
Who are we? Why do we do what we do? How can you get in touch with us?
Find out here.
- Alerts for
Writers: Alerts about
specific
companies and issues of concern to writers.
- Independent
Editors:
While self-editing is a vital part of the writer's craft, there are
times
when writers
may want to consider hiring an
independent editor. There are many
excellent independent editors; unfortunately, there are also many
questionable ones, who
don't have proper qualifications, charge inflated fees, make
deceptive statements, and/or pay kickbacks to vanity publishers
and
literary agents as an incentive for referrals. This page lists the
warning signs
of a disreputable editor, and provides some tips on how to choose a
qualified one. There's also a discussion of the limitations of
independent
editing--and why you should think long and hard before choosing this
often very expensive option.
- Case Studies:
Here
you'll
find an in-depth look at how a number of now-defunct literary scams
actually operated.
- Contests and
Vanity Anthologies:
Some literary
contests are prestigious, but many aren't. Worse, they may be
money-making schemes, or marketing ploys by any of the dozens of
vanity anthology companies, which charge contest "winners" for
inclusion in their publications. On this page you'll find tips to help
you assess a contest's legitimacy, plus information on how the vanity
anthologizers work.
- Copyright:
Misconceptions and myths surround the complex subject of copyright,
including the belief
that you aren't protected by copyright law unless you register your
copyright (this isn't
true--your work is protected from the moment you fix it in tangible
form). The Copyright page provides general information on
copyright--including why it's not necessary to register
copyright for unpublished work--and punctures some
common
copyright myths.
- Electronic
Publishing:
Does
epublishing represent the future of the book, or is it just one of
several alternative formats available to readers? A bit of both,
actually.
Epublishing has a growing and enthusiastic audience, especially in
popular genres like romance--but overall, it's still a
niche market, with a limited readership and nagging credibility issues.
The Electronic Publishing page provides a full discussion, as well as
advice
on how to judge an e-publisher's
professionalism and links to help you check epublishers' reputations.
- Literary Agents:
A good
literary agent can be a
tremendous boon to a writer's career. But there are also many
disreputable agents who prey on writers by charging fees, promoting
their own paid editing
services, engaging in kickback referral schemes, and misrepresenting
their knowledge and expertise. Dishonest agents relieve
thousands of
hopeful writers of millions of dollars every year, making this the most
profitable and prevalent of all literary frauds. Equally dangerous are
the many amateur and incompetent agents, who may not charge fees, but
who lack the skills and knowledge required to successfully market
manuscripts to publishers.This page will teach
you how to recognize questionable agenting practice, in part by
defining legitimate practice, as well as how to identify and avoid
fraudulent and amateur agents. There's also some insight into the new
wrinkles the
Internet is adding to the scam agent
business, and links to help you research agents' reputability.
- Print on
Demand Self-Publishing Services:
Print-on-demand
(POD for short) is a digital printing process that allows a single
book to be printed and bound in seconds. Print-on-demand
self-publishing services utilize that technology to provide publishing
services for writers, at a cost that can be considerably lower than
traditional DIY self-publishing. POD self-pub services have made it
possible for just about anyone to publish a book--but despite the hype
about "democratization" of the publishing process, there are
substantial challenges to POD self-publishing that many writers don't
realize. The POD Self-Publishing Services page takes an in-depth look
at these,
and provides tips and links to help you find and evaluate appropriate
services.
- Small Presses:
The past decade has seen an explosion of small presses, partly as a
result of the ease and relative cheapness of digital
printing technology, which eliminates the expense of print runs and
warehousing, and makes it possible for almost anyone to set themselves
up in business as a publisher. This is not always a good thing. Amateur
small presses abound, run by people who have little or no knowledge or
experience of acquiring, editing, producing, or marketing books. And
then there are the scams. The Small Presses page discusses these
problems and the dangers they pose to writers, along with the warning
signs of amateur or disreputable publishers and ways to avoid them.
- Vanity
Publishers:
Some
vanity publishers are honest. Many aren't, producing shoddy books,
breaking contract terms, and
otherwise defrauding writers. Either way, vanity publishing is a bad
idea--not least because it's far more expensive than it needs to be. On
this page, you'll learn why, as well as the warning signs
of a dishonest vanity publisher and the many sneaky ways in which
vanity publishers are trying to dodge the vanity label.
- Writers'
Services:
The past few years have seen an extraordinary increase in the number of
people writing and trying to publish books. In addition to fueling an
astounding proliferation of scams and schemes, this
has also spawned a variety of services supposedly designed to assist
writers--from submission services, to marketing services, to manuscript
display websites. Some of these services are frauds; a few are
genuinely
intended to help. Most are just efforts to cash in on a trend.
This page discusses common writers' services and their usefulness (or
lack of it).
Recommended
Reading
Professor Jim Fisher takes an in-depth look at Dorothy Deering of the
Deering Literary Agency/Sovereign Publications, whose long-running
literary con game
defrauded hundreds of writers of millions of dollars. An engrossing
study of a
classic scam, this book is also an excellent examination of how easily
writers
can become caught up in such schemes.
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Author Jenna Glatzer and intellectual property lawyer Daniel Steven
collaborated on this book, covering such matters as agents (how can you
tell the
good from the bad?); writing contests (how to spot the scams); vanity
presses and other pay-for-publish schemes (not all of them are
rip-offs); and other potentially shady elements of the business of
writing. Essential reading for writers both new and established.
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Just as you shouldn't put off
seeking medical care if you have symptoms
of appendicitis, you should not put off seeking legal care if you have
symptoms of fraud. A substantial
proportion of fraud victims forfeit some or all of their legal
remedies by waiting until too late to seek counsel.
There's no shame in being defrauded--and certainly none in trying to
find out
whether you've been defrauded. "I
should have known better" is a lot
less painful than "I lost the right to recover the thousands of dollars
I spent because I waited too long
to seek help."
If you have any reason to believe you may have been defrauded by an
agent, publisher, editor, or writing service, consult a lawyer
right away. Don't try to play "library lawyer" with these
issues; fraud (and its cousin,
deceptive practice) is one of the most subtle of legal theories, and
the
exact law and remedies vary significantly
from state to state. Remember also that though the statute of
limitations for filing a lawsuit varies, the time
period within which any suit can be filed is limited, and a
careful attorney's prefiling investigation may
take several months--sometimes even longer. In other words, don't
delay.
An initial consultation with an attorney doesn't have be a financial
burden. In the USA, the American
Bar Association Lawyer Referral Network can put you in touch with
an attorney who will evaluate your situation
for free or for a nominal fee. (The cost of proceeding beyond the
evaluation will be explained at the evaluation,
and is set by individual agreement.) For example, the Chicago Bar
Association will provide a referral by telephone for a $20 fee, all of
which goes toward funding the referral program.
Many US states and major metropolitan areas--New York, Washington D.C.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
others--also have Volunteer
Lawyers for the Arts organizations, with referral services geared
to helping people
who work in the arts (the link above lists VLA organizations
state-by-state,
but
a Google search on "Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts" will bring up many
local VLA websites). Panel attorneys will often
offer
reduced-fee services (and sometimes pro bono services) after the
initial
consultation as described above. Additionally, Volunteer Lawyers for
the
Arts in New York City operates the Art Law Line telephone service
(212-319-2910),
which can be called by anyone with an arts-related legal question.
There are similar organizations in other countries; links are below.
When calling either a referral program or an attorney, you should be
prepared with the following information:
- The name and mailing
address of the main party you suspect
may have defrauded you (the potential defendant).
- An estimate of the amount of money you
believe you've lost.
- A list of the dates you and the potential
defendant first
had contact, first agreed to any services, and last
had contact.
- How you first learned of the potential
defendant's
services.
- The general nature of the suspected fraud (such as "lied to
me about agenting/publishing/editorial services
they could not provide").
While a referral program is not
a guarantee that the attorney will take
your case, your discussions with the
attorney are privileged and will not be revealed to third parties,
including the potential defendant.
Thanks to Charles E.
Petit,
Esq., and M. Christine Valada, Esq. for this
section
Other
Remedies
Apart from consulting an attorney about
possible
legal action, there are steps you can take to bring literary fraud to
the
attention of the authorities.
Consider
writing a letter to the FBI
field office closest to the fraudster's business
location. A single complaint isn't likely to result
in action, but a substantial volume of complaints may prompt agents
to take a look. The letter needn't be elaborate--a
one-page description of your experience is sufficient. Make sure to
give the agent's or publisher's address (so
the agents know the case is in their jurisdiction), and to request a
formal investigation. The letter should be
addressed to Special Agent in Charge.
Also consider filing a written complaint (same basic guidelines as
above) with the Consumer Fraud division of the Attorney General's office both in your
state and in
the state where the agent or publisher does business.
Again, a single complaint won't produce results, but a volume of them
may. Numerous writers' complaints to the
NY State Attorney General helped lead to judgments against fraudulent
editing service Edit Ink and fraudulent literary
agent Woodside Literary Agency.
If you received correspondence, contracts, etc. through the US mail,
you can file a mail fraud complaint with the US Postal
Inspection Service. There's an online complaint form
to fill out on the Mail Fraud page at this URL; you can also find the
snail mail address of the Postal Inspector
closest to the fraudster by using this handy search
page. I'd suggest filing a complaint online AND writing a letter.
As with the resources above, only a volume
of complaints is likely to generate action, but you can possibly help
contribute to this by making a report.
A complaint can also be filed with the Better
Business Bureau office closest
to the fraudster's business location. The BBB has no
regulatory or disciplinary power--it can only attempt
to mediate disputes, and if the party about which you're complaining
chooses not to cooperate, there's nothing
the BBB can do. However, if you feel you've been cheated, it's
worthwhile to complain--people do sometimes
check BBB records before making a decision about an agent or publisher,
and if a complaint is on file it might
make the next potential victim think twice.
(Just a note to those who do check with the BBB: don't assume that a
lack of complaints means that a business is reputable. Writers tend to
contact the BBB only as a last resort, and many questionable literary
agencies and publishers have squeaky-clean records
with the BBB.)
Since many literary scammers maintain websites, use e-mail, and/or
solicit by telephone, it's also worth paying
a visit to the Internet Crime Complaint
Center (a joint initiative
of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center) and the National Fraud Information
Center (operated by the National Consumers League). Both provide
online complaint forms that you can fill out.
Last but definitely not least: contact Writer
Beware! We are always looking to collect information and
documentation on literary schemes and scams, and if we've gotten other
complaints about the agent or publisher, we'll tell you. All
correspondence and other information shared with Writer Beware is held
in strictest confidence.
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