Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Image of a coffee cup, piping hot!

In Memoriam

Karl Kroeber
1926-2009

SFWA

OVERVIEW

writerbewareimage3

Links checked/Page updated: 10/2/09


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 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.

  • Copyright: Misconceptions and myths surround the complex subject of copyright, including the belief that you must register copyright in order to be fully protected (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The Copyright page provides general information on copyright–including why it’s not necessary to register copyright for unpublished work–and punctures some common copyright myths.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 is experiencing explosive growth, and sales in popular genres like romance can be robust. 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.

  • Independent Editors and Manuscript Assessment Services: 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 or using a manuscript assessment service. There are many excellent editors and services; unfortunately, there are also many questionable ones, with dubious qualifications, inflated fees, and deceptive come-0ns. Some may even pay kickbacks to vanity publishers and literary agents as an incentive for referrals, or be owned by a crooked agency or publisher (usually without disclosure of the connection).

    The Independent Editors page lists the warning signs of disreputable editors and assessment services, and provides some tips on how to choose a qualified one. There’s also a discussion of the limitations of editing–and why you should think long and hard before choosing this often very expensive option.

  • 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.

    The Literary Agents 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 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 services have made it possible for just about anyone to publish a book–but despite the hype about the resulting “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.

  • Scam Case Studies: Here you’ll find an in-depth look at how a number of now-defunct literary scams actually operated.

  • 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 techniques to avoid them.

  • Vanity Anthologies: Vanity anthology companies entice writers through free contests. Only problem is, everyone who enters the contest is declared a “semi-finalist,” and pressured to buy the anthology in which their poem or story will appear. The Vanity Anthologies page exposes how these deceptive schemes work.

  • Vanity and Subsidy 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. 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 many common writers’ services and their usefulness (or lack of it).

  • Writing Contests: Some literary contests are prestigious, but many aren’t. Worse, they may be money-making schemes, or fronts for fee-charging agencies or publishers. On this page you’ll find tips to help you assess a contest’s legitimacy, as well as some thoughts on an important question: Is it worth it?
Top of page

Recommended Reading


Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent From Hell

Professor Jim Fisher takes an in-depth look at Dorothy Deering of the Deering Literary Agency/Sovereign Publications, whose long-running literary con game cheated hundreds of writers out 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.

The Street-Smart Writer: Self-Defense Against Sharks and Scams in the Writing World

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.

Top of page

Legal Recourse

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 $30 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
Top of page

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.

For US citizens, or where the fraudster is USA-based:

  • 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 agency 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.

For Canadian residents, or where the fraudster is based in Canada:

For writers in other countries:

  • A page of resources for reporting fraud in the UK

  • Similar resources for reporting fraud in Australia, including the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s SCAMwatch website).

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.

Top of page

Links

Top of page
The material on this website is copyrighted and may not be used without the author's consent.

SFWA® and Nebula Awards® are registered trademarks of
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
Opinions expressed on this web site are not necessarily those of SFWA.