How to spot a scam

[Patrick]

It's usually quite easy to spot a scam.  You can tell almost immediately because they ask for money.

A real publisher or agent will never ask for money (they pay you). 


Some typical scams are:

Charging a "reading fee"
This is when the agent or publisher tells you they would like to read your manuscript, but will have to charge a "small" fee to cover their time reading it.  Reputable agents and editors do NOT charge reading fees.  In fact, charging a reading fee is against the rules of The Association of Author's Representatives.

Charging printing fees
Some scam publishers will tell you they like your book and want to publish it, but it being a risky business and all, they can't take the chance.  But, the publisher believes so much in your book that, just maybe, he can convince his boss to publish it if someone (the author) would cover the up-front printing costs, therefore minimizing the risks to the publisher.  Of course, the author will be reimbursed this money as soon as the book begins to sell.  It's a LIE.  Don't believe it.  They have no intention of selling the book.

Contests which charge an entry fee should be avoided.

Some contests are free, but are just a way to get you in the door.  For instance, a company can run a contest for poetry or short-stories, then they print all entries into an anthology book and offer to sell the book to you.  There sole intention is to sell those books, and they can care less who wins the contest or why. 

Does this mean you should avoid all contests?  Of course not.  But you should research them first.

Editing Services
Some of these scammer agents will tell you your book has a lot of promise and they would happily take you on as a client, but there are just a few little edits that should be made first.  It just so happens that they have their own editing staff or can refer you to an editor.  Of course this service is not free.  The scam is that they have no intention of selling your book, they are only after the editing fee.

Posting Manuscripts
This one is starting to get more prominent.  An online service which claims that by posting your manuscript on their site that agents will read it.  Sorry, won't happen.  Agents get enough queries without having to go looking for more.  They will not browse websites looking for manuscripts.  Sites that offer this service (especially the ones that charge for it) are not doing a thing for you, and may even be hurting you because there are some agents who refuse to represent works which have been previously published (including online).

So, does the Showcase feature of QueryTracker fit into this category?  No, because you are not displaying the complete work, only samples, and the showcase is not publicly accessible.  Plus, you are not posting in the showcase in hopes that some agent will stumble upon it.  You are still querying agents in the standard manner, the showcase is just a way for the agent to get more information should he/she want it.

Interminable Clause
If you do sign with an agent, check for a "Interminable Clause."  Normally an agent contract will specify that the agent represents your book just for the duration of the contract which he/she negotiates with the publisher.  But the Interminable Clause means that the agent represents the book (and therefore is entitled to a percentage of your royalties) for the life of the book's copyright.  This is another no-no according to the The Association of Author's Representatives.  Do not sign such a contract.


Some good rules to follow http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubwarn.htm

Here are some good links to scammer lists:

http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peala.htm

http://sfwa.org/beware/general.html

http://www.nwu.org/nwu/index.php?cmd=showPage&page_id=1.3.12.2

Just be careful.


Some pointers from Dave Kuzminski, developer of Preditors and Editors

You might want to create a topic, though, that guides writers through a simple list which many of you can add to since we all tend to overlook simple things that often are done without thinking. For instance, one item might be that writers should never throw away emails from the agents/editor-publishers/editing services they might contact and should always make a copy of their own. A lot of email programs permit stashing those in special folders that should maintain the hidden headers. Then it should be possible for most email programs to have those transferred back to the active inbox for forwarding should a problem emerge.

Same goes for any papers (contracts, for instance) sent through the mail. Make a copy by scanning it. Be sure to use a setting that creates a small file. Don't let it default to BMP as those are often huge. Then if someone at another location needs to refer to something that was on paper, it's a simple matter of attaching the scanned document file to your email.

Unless absolutely necessary, never make decisions about your writing over the phone. Use email as much as possible because it creates a document that will stand up in court. Remember those hidden headers? Now you know one of the several reasons why you want to preserve those. Now this is not to say that all decisions can't be made over the phone. Remember, we're talking about acceptances and pricing decisions. It's quite another thing to discuss the wording in a paragraph prior to sending the proof to printing or other similar non-critical decision problems. Non-critical meaning it doesn't apply to the contract issues that could hurt you.

Another reason for email is most people will not send an email with a deliberate insult in it that might be used against them in court. So email tends to protect you by discouraging you from putting down something that you know could come back to haunt you. Yes, I know that some folks aren't discouraged by anything.

Also, there are some known scammers out there who want to conduct business over the phone for several reasons. Phone calls avoid creating documentation. They can use any phone recordings against you because there are states that prohibit recording conversations without giving notice to both parties. You might win in court, but you could lose everything you gained by having the state fine you and possibly even incarcerate you.

Anyway, this is a start. More will occur to me later. I'm sure others can add onto this list so that a well-balanced guide of how to protect yourself against later problems will be available to writers.


***

Never let anyone rush you. If they state they need a decision right then, odds are they're trying to stampede you into a wrong decision for your interests. That's another reason why scammers like to talk to you on the phone. Many of them are confidence men (or women) whose voices just exude a feeling of being on your side. When they're restricted to email, they lose one of their weapons of persuasion. Also, it's easier for you to notice when they're avoiding your questions when their answers are written down.

[Chelc]

Thank god for this...I have zero business smarts, so I'd no doubt accidentally query to a whole bunch of scammers 

[Cole Gibsen]

At the conference I was at last weekend they had a lawyer who spoke on a panel about scams. He used to work for the publishers who were doing the scamming so he knew the ins and outs. Basically he stated, "Money should always flow to the author, never under any circumstance should it flow away." 

[Chelc]

That a wonderful quote.

[lrobertson0207]

So having a small part of the novel online will not be considered being published?
I am new at this please help!

Smiles,
Lisa

[DaveKuzminski]

So having a small part of the novel online will not be considered being published?
I am new at this please help!

Smiles,
Lisa

Generally up to three chapters won't hurt you unless they comprise the entire novel. When in doubt, figure out whether you're giving away more than about ten percent, but that's only a guide. Sometimes you have to judge these things on gut feeling. I've noticed that some publishers put a chapter out free on their sites while others display only the first few pages. There is no set rule, but if it's not published yet, why take a chance? Keep it off any open pages (except those that are controlled, usually by a password) so you won't scare off any publishers.

[gypsygurl]

I believe the ones on this site are by password so they're safe...

[Patrick]

Yes, GG, the showcase here is password protected and only intended for a few chapters so you're safe with it.

[gypsygurl]

I thought so...good to clarify out in the open just in case anyone had doubts though! 

[DaveKuzminski]

Another thing that occurred to me is that scammers frequently attempt to make it appear they're operating on the side of the law, that their activities are strictly legal. For this reason, almost every scam agency offers a written contract. In fact, I don't know of a single scam agent that doesn't. On the opposite side of the coin, there are a significant number of legitimate, reputable agents who still operate on the handshake principle. They know what's expected and do so to the best of their skills and experience. They rely upon the publishing contract they obtain from selling the author's manuscript to protect everyone. And it works.

But back to scammers. Keep it in mind that they will attempt to use the law as a weapon. For instance, PublishAmerica has sent cops around to the doors of some authors in order to intimidate them. No one is certain whether those were real or fake cops because none left any business cards or showed any credentials, that I know of.

Scammers frequently point to provisions of their contract and freely interpret those in their favor when differences appear between them and the authors. Furthermore, they'll frequently threaten to take the author to court in order to get the author to back down. This is because they know many authors simply don't have the funds to sustain a legal fight.

Scammers will also threaten to blackball an author so that no one in the industry will touch the author's work. This is one of their nastiest threats because many writers believe that can happen. It has a touch of realism brought to it by inaccurate movies and stories by writers who wanted to dramatize their own work so it would sound like something the reader believed existed. With the exception of publicized plagiarism accounts, there really is no blacklist. That's because there are simply too many publishers coming into operation each year for anyone to keep track of. Consequently, anyone could easily beat such a black list and many would probably dismiss it as politics. So the only individuals who could even conceivably be considered blacklisted would be those who make the headlines for plagiarism. Why would a scammer make this threat? To keep a writer from revealing the truth about the scammer. By doing their best to make it sound like what they're doing is business as usual within the publishing industry, they further their own efforts to operate their scam.

So, the important thing to remember is that some scammers will threaten you to keep you quiet. It doesn't matter how they threaten you, the point is that some will. A few have tried death threats, but were fortunately convicted for that. Others have tried direct extortion, smear tactics, and attempted to block online availability for critic sites.

And the surest way to defeat those attempts to silence you is to report them to the authorities and to other writers by whatever means are available.

[audal]

So I suppose that to simplify, you're saying that if you're feeling at all bullied, you're dealing with the wrong people and it's best to run far, far away?

I've never looked into finding a publisher directly, mostly because I believe that it's easier to find a reputable agent than a reputable publisher.  You get the right agent in your corner, and it takes a lot of uncertainty out of the equation, I think.

[Patrick]

Thanks Dave, for the great advice.

[DaveKuzminski]

More techniques on how to spot scammers and their near-cousins, clueless wannabes*:

Scam agents have frequently in the past posted book titles that were published by reputable publishers. What they don't point out is they didn't represent the book to that publisher. In fact, if you know when the book was published and when the agency was established, discrepancies will often appear. Such as? Oh, the agency came about five years after the book was published or the agency that repped it is no longer in business or has a very similar name.

Other discrepancies are deliberate misspellings. Who knew that there were two "Gon with the Winds"? Or that they're claiming to have repped a book that's in public domain and they actually published it themselves using a publishing name similar to the actual first publisher?

How else could this be accomplished? Easy. Take credit for a book published by an author they actually represent, but only mention the book so that the casual writer-visitor will conveniently think they represented that book even though the book came out well before they started repping the author. This happens often with clueless wannabes also known as gormless agents. They can't stand the idea of having a bare webpage, so they list what they or their authors had previously published. Nothing wrong with that, but many forget to point out that the agency didn't have anything to do with those titles. They'll typically list them as books by our authors. They leave it to the visitor to come up with the wrong impression.

Gormless publishers will also use this technique in a similar manner. They'll actually publish a public domain classic. Doesn't matter that they sold only one copy (we hope at least that) so long as their catalogue isn't bare that it frightens away authors.

* Clueless or gormless wannabes are generally individuals who enter the publishing industry without any background experience within the industry. In most instances, they don't realize how expensive it can be to operate an agency while trying to make that first sale just to break even with the costs. When the truth rears its head, some fold but others retreat to an upfront fee placing them on the slippery slope to becoming a full-fledged scam operation.

Similarly, they don't recognize how expensive it is to publish because of the need to have sales and marketing teams to get one's books into retail stores. It doesn't take long for the gormless publisher to begin asking the authors to help support the publishing house by paying copyright registration fees and going out to help with marketing and paying for books. It doesn't take long for such an operation to become a vanity publisher.

In the case of those who believe they know enough based upon passing fifth-grade English class and deciding they're smarter than a fifth-grader, real damage can be done to the writer because this is one area within the publishing industry where it is typical for the service to charge some of the cost up front to avoid being stiffed for the fee. How they harm writers occurs in both the pocketbook and in the writing because they can convince a writer to do something in a way the service believes is right when it is not. Likewise, they typically do not add to or increase the odds that a writer's manuscript will be seen by a legitimate agency or publishing house. Very few such editing services can boast that their work has not only resulted in sales, but has been used by publishing houses to augment their own staffs.

[DaveKuzminski]

Another tactic or trick used by scams is the fake resource site. I've encountered several. Some are ridiculously easy to penetrate because they put their names on it such as the site that PA created called the Author's Market at URL http://www.authorsmarket.net/. Until a visitor reached the very last page, it looked like it was an independent site, but on the last page, it admitted it was sponsored by PublishAmerica. So much for its unbiased comments about individuals who were critics of PA.

That's not the first and it won't be the last, but it's effective when it comes time to mollify the believers into continuing their support by giving them a site that appears to be unbiased and gives its blessings to the scam that's in trouble.

Of course, there's another in operation now called Literary Agent News at URL http://literaryagentnews.blogspot.com that appears to be operated by Michele Glance Rooney. Why is she suspected? Because she lacks a track record of legitimate sales to commercial trade publishers and is listed in at least five top agent lists on the site within the October 2007 archive. Some of the other agents might seem suspicious because they don't deal with some of the categories they were placed in, but most of them didn't appear on five top agent lists. Besides, most of them also possess track records of verified sales. They lack a motive for creating a fake resource site, especially one with an anonymous blogger operating it.

Keep in mind that anonymity isn't a bad thing provided the information given can be independently verified as was the case with Miss Snark. Her site was anonymous, but the facts were verifiable. She didn't endorse scams and scam agents. Literary Agent News, on the other hand, contains numerous inaccurate facts that can be easily shown to anyone visiting the links given in the blog. For instance, Randi Murray does not handle science fiction, yet he's listed as a top agent for science fiction. There are other inaccuracies, so this isn't an isolated mistake. This site was put up quickly, and it shows. Was it produced in order to list someone as a top agent who doesn't have the sales record to back up the claims? Visit the blog and make up your own mind.

[DaveKuzminski]

Writers should also watch out for new publishers who don't ask for a payment to publish the books, but instead asks for a loan or offers the writer the opportunity to become a part owner with nothing to do but write. Eventually, the operation goes bust. Then the writer discovers the funds aren't going to be repaid or that the writer owns nothing because the books never got published and, in addition to that, the publishing rights are tied up because the publisher can no longer be contacted.

So never invest anything you can't afford to lose. The money might be replaceable, but the book often isn't. Judging by how many writers are dirt poor, I'd say in most instances the money isn't easily replaceable, either.