Gathering of the Figments

Figment · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:06 am Post subject: Beware of scams!

Ok, so i know that i personally was looking at sending my book off to WL Writer's Agency when it is read... And i know that Pommie was also looking at them... Their deal sounds good and you apparently don't have to pay anything and they just take 10% of royalties...

I have since learned that the company is run by a convicted conman, and that it is a new name for a company scam that he has run under at least 7 other names...

* Children's Literary Agency
* Christian Literary Agency
* New York Literary Agency
* Poets [sic] Literary Agency
* The Screenplay Agency
* Stylus Literary Agency (formerly ST Literary Agency, formerly Sydra-Techniques)
* The Writers [sic] Literary & Publishing Services Company

Apparently they DO charge you and make you sign over rights to your books for ridiculous amounts of time... And they get you a "publishing deal" with companies that publish your books and send you cheques totaling $5 when you KNOW that you have had more copies bought than that, because you placed the orders yourself...

Steer clear of Publish America!

Ok... Well if you hear bad things about other companies, feel free to and please do alert us to them! And keep an eye out for any scams before sending ANYTHING off to "publishers" or "agents!"
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pommie42 · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:53 pm Post subject:

Whoa.

I shall not be shortlisting them then...

Thanks for letting us know... and how did you find out about this can I ask?
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butterflii · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:06 pm Post subject:

I havn't really thought far ahead enough to look for publishers, but thanks for the heads up.

What sickos are happy to make a living scamming kids?
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Figment · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 4:01 am Post subject:

I found out about it through the Sydney sector of Nano, where someone warned us about PublishAmerica, and the person posted a link to Absolutewrite.com, and through the forums there i found out more about WL Writer's Agency...
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ShadowFang · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:03 am Post subject:

Woah, that's awful....Now I'm angry again. How could someone do that?

*sigh*
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RugbyWriter · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:45 pm Post subject:

I've recently thought about checking through some publishers and stuff to maybbeeee get my work looked through. So thanks, I'll stay clear of these guys ^.

But how do you know if a company is a scam or not? I imagine that fake companies, that claim to be fair publishes with great deals, appear totally genuine. . .

Of course, I'd have to be thoroughly convinced before sending anything off, but is there anyway to check if a company is sincere?
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DarkWaltz · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:04 am Post subject:

I think your best bet would probably be to just pick a publisher you know well (through reading their publications) or at least have seen in bookstores and know is real to try to get published. That way you avoid the scams.
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Shaye · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:02 pm Post subject:

It's a sick, sick world.
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pommie42 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject:

DarkWaltz · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:11 pm Post subject:

*loves Pommies* Yeah Moody!!!
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Hawkins · Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

I'm good friends with some authors; lemme go ask them what companies they've published with, you know...I'm sure that those aren't scams, seeing as they're not broke. *rofl*
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