On this lovely Halloween, a scary story…
Once upon a time, there was a scam literary agency named Hill&Hill. Like all scam literary agents, Hill charged a fee, though it was one of those “reasonable” fees. [Ed note: no agent fee is reasonable; they make their money by commission.] The agency signed up a lot of clients, and spent long hours working with the clients to prepare their manuscripts for submission. All clients received a copy of the submission package, with the glowing pitch letter, as well as a list of the houses the work was supposedly sent to.
As time passed, writers received word from the agency of houses that had, sadly, rejected the manuscript (Hill even forwarded their short rejection notes), as well as more in-depth information and notes from houses that were apparently still interested or were passing the work up along the chain of command. Hill even told some that a publisher had made “a verbal offer.” Occasionally, the agent himself even met his clients for lunch.
[Ed. Note: If someone told me about an agent behaving as described in the paragraph above, I’d say he was behaving exactly as he should.]
However, all was not what it seemed. However, this scam could only go on so long, and writers waiting for contracts from houses like Crown, Spyglass Entertainment, and others, realized that these promised contracts would never materialize. And then, abruptly, the agency shut its doors and claimed to have “frozen” all its accounts and pending contracts as it relocated to Spain.
Recently, an editor from the UK Harper Collins wrote a column on the fifth estate blog talking about the rush of letters from Hill’s former clients wondering where their forthcoming contracts are. As the editor dug deeper into the mystery, she discovered that these writers were told by their “agent” that in order to get their book deal, they’d have to fill out an elaborate author survey (click on the link to see it; it’s really quite unbelievable).
The comments section of the post was filled with more horror stories as Hill’s victims chose to speak up. My heart broke for them, which is why I am posting, yet again, on avoiding scam agents. I feel like such information needs to get out there so I’m strapping on my metaphorical sandwich board and handing out pamphlets.
People like different qualities in agents. Some want editors, or hand-holders, or neither. Some want to be told when they get a rejection, others hate the idea. But there are two absolutely non-negotiable terms:
1) Agents make their money on commission. They don’t have marketing/agent/retainer/what-have-you fees. Period.
2) Agents should have a record of sales. Even if they are new, they are likely to be working at a respectable agency who will be showing them the ropes or they have come from some other aspect of publishing or another agency, or they are announcing they are open for business in conjunction with their first sale. Yes, everyone has to have a first; I don’t deny that. But I’d only volunteer to be that person’s first if the agent was at an established agency with senior agent’s guiding the process, or similar exception. And if the agency is in business for a year or more and still shows no sales? Yeah. No sale.
I don’t want any writers taken in by this kind of scam. I’m on a lot of writer loops, and a member of RWA, and though there is so much good information out there, I am regularly shocked by people who convince themselves that this agent fee is different. As people are writing out their checks they are nodding at me and emphatically agreeing that no agent should charge fees. And I’m like, “Um, what’s that you’re doing?”
But we’re all very good at self-delusion. We’re also supremely adept at putting the blame somewhere else, as this comment on the Fifth Estate blog shows:
I too was a victim of Chris Hill. I do not excuse or forgive him. He was guilty but we were gullible! The publishing industry must accept some of the blame for this. While they are grabbing at big sales for trash written by celebrities and ghost-written autobiographies of juvenile stars the unknown imaginative or creative writers are completely ignored. Do publishers feel no responsibility for encouraging new writers? Where are the Bronte’s, the Jane Austens or the Dickens of today? Is someone going to say, they are all writing for Eastenders?
Of course, this argument is not unusual. I see it all the time, in all manner of arguments, blaming the industry for favoring all kinds of writing in lieu of all other kinds. “Why doesn’t the publishing industry/the readership get me?” the rejected writer asks. “Why are they so obsessed with potboilers/celebrity bios/sexy romances/chick lit/Oprah-style weepies? Why don’t they publish good books, the kind I write?” This argument is not valid. It’s not valid when it’s about some sort of imagined drop in fiction publishing in favor of (!!!) ghostwritten memoirs, and it’s not valid when it’s some MFA holder saying no one takes women writers seriously because some of us like comedy. It’s just not valid. Books shouldn’t be any one thing, and publishers publish what people will read. Read more of what you want, and perhaps they’ll see the market for it. It’s happened before (cf. erotic romance).
“Do publishers feel no responsibility for encouraging new writers?” In a word: no. They are thrilled to take them when good new writers come along (after all, new=cheap), but they don’t have any need to encourage them. They’re already there in droves.
And these money-making books, these celebrity bios and such, are an amazing way for publishers to be able to encourage good new writers. They keep the publisher in the black, so they can do the most encouraging thing of all: they can buy the books of new writers, new writers who are nto a sure bet, new writers who may not make any money but have a story that people will want. Publishers moonlight too. They do some work for money, and some work for love. So if you want the love, stop dissing the money. Different books have a place. Respect that.
And do not feel entitled by the industry, or expect to be spoonfed your how-tos, or assume that any of this is going to be fair. Publishing is tough, confusing, and nothing even remotely related to fair.
5 Responses to Horror Stories