More On IILAA
Well, with all the furor over the last couple of days regarding the newly formed International Independent Literary Agents Association, it appears they've closed down their brand new website. (At one point yesterday, they (and the more I read I believe the site was built by Barbara Bauer, who is in the "Twenty Worst Agents" list at Writer Beware) replaced the website pages with a ranting message and a "kiss my ass"--literally, complete with a picture. Talk about poor grace and extreme unprofessionalism. Which should make anyone think more than twice about using the sodding bastards. Okay, sorry about the foul language, but this kind of thing just pisses me off. It's unethical, immoral, and just downright evil. When I went back later, there was only a "I'm currently working on the site... Thanks for visiting" message. Guess she rethought the whole "kiss my ass" thing.)
The sad thing is, they'll be back. Under some other name, some other guise. Because they make money exploiting people's dreams. So they'll be back. That's what scam artists do. Someone else likened them to cockroaches--smoosh one with your shoe, and another one just scurries around, taking its place.
They make money because there are a lot of people out there who are desperate for their manuscripts to be published. Some of those people (not all, by any means) don't want to take the time or spend the money or effort it takes to hone their craft and do the research. If they did, and if they have the talent (which I believe is one of those "you either have it or you don't" kind of things), they'd be able to secure a reputable agent without paying any fees to the agent.
In case you don't understand the basic message of all this hubbub: Money flows to the author from the agent, not the other way around. A reputable agent will NEVER charge money upfront to his/her authors.
NEVER. EVER.
So... writer beware. If you're at a point where you're looking for an editor, be sure to check Preditors & Editors first. And do some research on the internet. If the agency you're looking at charges upfront fees, run away. If they don't list their current authors/sales on their website, run away. If they change their website and tell you to kiss their ass... RUN AWAY VERY FAST!
Be smart. Do your homework. And be ready to run.
Part 5 of our Halloween story is running today at the Amber Heat blog. All leading up to Part 6--my contribution and the end of the story--tomorrow!
"A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives." ~Albert Schweitzer
10 comments:
Thanks Sherrill, I need all the help I can get ;-)
You're welcome, Sam. :)
Thank You SO Much for the warning Sherrill!! I can't - well honestly I can - believe someone would do such a scam! But I really shouldn't be surprised its just one more way for people to make easy money *sigh*
Though I have a few new writers friends out there they're not ready for agents yet but I'll make sure to pass this on to them I wouldn't want this happening to anyone!!
Sherrill, I'll tell you what I could use is a good example of a query letter for an agent. But since I mainly write poetry and short-stories I know it's hard to find one (an agent). I have submitted a few stories recently to 2 print mags and 1 online one, so we'll see. :-)
Stephanie, you're welcome! Another bit of advice--if an author is writing romance, join RWA now. There are a ton of resources available, and the networking opportunities are priceless. If an author writes sci-fi/fantasy, join SFWA now.
Sam, agent Kristen Nelson has great information on her website:
http://nelsonagency.com/faq.html
Author Charlotte Dillon has some great links on her website. Try this one: http://charlottedillon.com/query.html
Also, try this one:
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/query.htm
Whether the samples are targeted to an agent or editor, they pretty much are interchangeable. You want to open with a hook to get the agent/editors interest, tell what the book/story is about, give your writing credentials, publishing credits, etc., then close nicely. The letter needs to be a business letter--professional, no typos/grammatical errors, etc., no cutesy stuff.
Good luck!
You tell them, Sherrill!
These bloodsuckers always have a scheme to extort money from people trying to make a living honestly.
Yes, they do, Estella. And it's really pitiful, that they would put all their effort into defrauding people. But I guess it's easy money for them and they don't worry too much about their conscious. As if they had one...
And I'm seeing today that the website is completely gone. Hooray!
Thanks, Sherrill!
Ya know, I really appreciate you and the other published and successful authors that take the time to share your knowledge with the rest of us. Obviously it's good PR for you, but you don't HAVE to do this, you obviously do this because you WANT to.
Thanks again! :-)
You're quite welcome, Sam. I'm just giving back what's been given to me. :)
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