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Thursday's Tip
6 years ago
This will probably get lost in the flood of new journals from the site being down.
Imagine if you will a job that only takes maybe a half hour a day to start, only requires basic letter writing skills, some online marketing knowledge, and has the potential to make thousands a week/month.
Oh, and it’s real. Your first thought (I would hope) is that it’s a scam. And I suppose it is, only you’re the one doing the scamming.
They share a title with a real (and increasingly necessary profession): literary agents.
Here’s how to spot the fraud (it’s really easy are you ready for it?):
They charge you money.
That’s it. They can show you their record of numerous authors that they got published and their list may even be true. But they’re scamming others.
So they take you money. According to my publisher, it can be told after the FIRST PARAGRAPH if something is publishable in 90% of submissions. Very close to 10% more of that can be told within ten pages. Less that 1% require a full reading.
So you’re not paying them to read your story: you’re paying them to help you feel good about yourself. Then they send you the rejection letters with all kinds of fabricated stories of why it failed. They tell you that you’re so close and do you happen to have a newer version of the story and another $500? They don’t even need to send in anything of yours. With technology, they can fabricate any rejection letter they want and have it say whatever they want.
Real agents don’t waste your time or their time. They make their money as a cut of published works, so they only want to spend time on things that will be accepted. They do not ask for money up front (some can be subsidized by large publishing houses).
Oh, and never let an agent earn retroactive pay for something you got published. I can’t believe I’ve heard of that.
Imagine if you will a job that only takes maybe a half hour a day to start, only requires basic letter writing skills, some online marketing knowledge, and has the potential to make thousands a week/month.
Oh, and it’s real. Your first thought (I would hope) is that it’s a scam. And I suppose it is, only you’re the one doing the scamming.
They share a title with a real (and increasingly necessary profession): literary agents.
Here’s how to spot the fraud (it’s really easy are you ready for it?):
They charge you money.
That’s it. They can show you their record of numerous authors that they got published and their list may even be true. But they’re scamming others.
So they take you money. According to my publisher, it can be told after the FIRST PARAGRAPH if something is publishable in 90% of submissions. Very close to 10% more of that can be told within ten pages. Less that 1% require a full reading.
So you’re not paying them to read your story: you’re paying them to help you feel good about yourself. Then they send you the rejection letters with all kinds of fabricated stories of why it failed. They tell you that you’re so close and do you happen to have a newer version of the story and another $500? They don’t even need to send in anything of yours. With technology, they can fabricate any rejection letter they want and have it say whatever they want.
Real agents don’t waste your time or their time. They make their money as a cut of published works, so they only want to spend time on things that will be accepted. They do not ask for money up front (some can be subsidized by large publishing houses).
Oh, and never let an agent earn retroactive pay for something you got published. I can’t believe I’ve heard of that.
