I’ve been had. Not totally had, but enough had so that I feel like a cad. Yes, I was excited, but – believe it or not – I did still have my feet on the ground. I was cautious with this offer from an agency to represent me and my literary work. So, with excitement (and yet my feet solidly planted), I read through the contract sent to me by the Agency. I’d done some research into this group, but (and I’m still not sure how) I hadn’t stumbled upon the info that I found yesterday.

It didn’t take much on-line sleuth work to discover quite a few links regarding the Agency. Most of the links were titled something like “Writers: BEWARE!” or “Agency Fraud” – yeah, not a good sign. Turns out, that this dude named Robert something-or-other has spent his time and talent starting up very legit-seeming literary agencies under various names. He then responds to all the emails under different names as well. So, “Sherry” (no last name provided) is the Director of Author Acquisitions, then “Andrea” is the Director of Administration. It seems stupid now (of course, hindsight is 20-20) that I didn’t pick up on these things initially, but I was pleased with the whole philosophy and seemingly casual form of correspondence. It wasn’t overly technical (or professional) which appealed to me. LAME. Hello: rookie, excitable, clueless author wanna-be. Yeah, that’d be me.

The only first and last name listed on any of their info was the name of the Senior Agent provided on the very bottom of the contract. When I googled “her” name, I found several places where writers were calling out this Robert guy on his con. There was no official information – background or professional references at all on this “Agent.” Fishy. Yes, at this point, I realized there was definitely something going on.

The con is this: “they” – the “Agency” does an excellent job of making you feel that there are “no strings attached.” You pay them nothing (they only get paid should your book sell, at which point they receive 10% of the sale – most agencies take 15-20%; so even that seems good). You can break the contract (no questions asked if they don’t sell your story in 90 days. Rarely does a story sell in 90 days. So, according to the writers who have fallen prey to this, they feed you lines like, “Oh, we’re so close to closing the deal; we’re just negotiating the best possible contract for you…” until the 90 days is up, you’re suckered in and you can no longer break the contract. They make their money by requiring you to use their “reputable” professional editors for you final critiques. While they say, you can provide your own editor, they really stress using theirs (and based on what I read during my on-line detective work, they never actually accept your work if it’s been edited by someone else). So, you pay about $70-100 to their “editor” (Robert-con-guy again, answering a different email with a different name). They claim that they’ll never make you do more editing. However, once they begin “negotiating with the publisher” they say the publisher requires more editing (also done by the Agent’s editors). It gets pricier every time. One guy on one of the “Writers: Beware” posts, said that he’d ended up spending about $1000 in editing before realizing that it was all bogus.

The Agency lists a toll-free phone number and address in New York. Calling, the phone number, I heard an automated message, (“we’re busy assisting other clients…leave a message we’ll call you back…”). I didn’t leave a message. And according to one woman who showed up at their office address, she found herself in an office building where the security guard had never heard of said-Agency. The office located at that number is an ‘address for home-based businesses that wish to have a more official-sounding business address.’ Right.

OK. So, enough is enough. Even if all the accusations against the Agency are not true, it’s still too evasive for me. I sent an email requesting references and background info for their editors. In response, I received a “check out our website” – where there is no specific info, just “great job on my edit!”-type comments. I said that I would not sign a contract until I was able to have direct correspondence with my future agent. (Why would I sign up with someone who will represent me without finding out if we work well together, if I like their work ethic, etc.)? I was told, “all correspondence is done by email.” I asked for a list of authors and books that their agency has helped publish. Again, I was told random and evasive things, (“we don’t like to share that information because then our authors are harassed by wanna-be-writers.”) This is a business. Names are everywhere, so that you can clearly boast the actual success that you’ve had. Total bunch of hooey.

Alright, so I’m embarrassed that I did get fairly excited before doing extensive enough research. As they say, if it seems too good to be true, than it probably is. And of course, questions of self-doubt come knocking at the door: why would a “real” agent pick up my story so quickly? It’s not that good.

I am proud of myself that I didn’t get completely suckered in (just partially suckered). It didn’t cost me a dime; I paid them nothing. I still don’t know how I didn’t find this out though before sending them my story. So, while they do have my work (and it’s not copyrighted), I’m not concerned that they (or he, Mr. Robert-Bad-Fake-Agency-Man) will do anything with it. It’s a lot of work to get something published, and he’s out for some quick money from clueless wanna-be-authors.

Alas, no agent for me. I learned a very good lesson. It’s back to the grindstone…or in this case, my pretty new laptop.