sàds

In an earlier column, Victoria brought up several reasons why the Internet should not be your first stop when it comes to finding a publisher or an agent. Yes, I know. It’s the 21st century and that statement seems counter-intuitive, but consider this before warming up your favorite search engine. Many new authors take advantage of places like Writer Beware, Predators and Editors and various bewares boards before starting their hunt. After all, an educated writer is harder to lead astray. I’ve seen people post, “I’ve done my research. I know what to look for. I’ll recognize any red flags I see.” Sounds good . . . But . . . (You knew there was going to be a but.) The internet isn’t static. In fact, one of it’s strengths is how easy it is to update information. Writer Beware takes advantage ourselves by posting new warnings and updates as soon as we can, but it isn’t a one-way street. When authors and advocates identify red flags, many questionable publishers and agent...

Introducing Zooty and Flappers , "The Worlds [sic] First Pre-Publisher." What's a pre-publisher, you may ask? On the writers' conference circuit, calling yourself "pre-published" is a delicate way of saying you have no writing credits just at the moment, but intend to get some, like, really soon. That's not what Zooty and Flappers means by the term, however. From its cryptically-titled Things from the Post page: The term Pre-Publishing, as used by Zooty and Flappers, simply means; If you have a good book, we will Publish and test it in the real world before a Standard Publishers [sic] comments [sic] to taking it on. Beta testing for your book, in other words. Here's how it works: If you have a good manuscript, and are unable to get published, Zooty and Flappers will publish your work as an ebook and CD. Readers will be allowed to down-load your book free, and give it a report and rating. If the rating is good, your book will be removed from the free...

Bits and pieces of news and information that I found interesting this week: Biblio Sold Via Tuesday's Publisher's Lunch: Small press distributor Biblio is being sold by its parent company, National Book Network , to AtlasBooks , the distribution arm of Bookmasters Inc. There's an announcement on the Biblio website. NBN, a distributor for independent publishers, started Biblio in 2001 to address the distribution needs of small presses with annual revenues of less than $50,000. Biblio rapidly signed up a large number of publishers--more than 900 at its height, according to PW--but then began to downsize, most recently in August 2007, when it announced that it would "substantially" cut its remaining client list. Again according to PW , AtlasBooks (which took on 70 clients last fall when small press distributor BookWorld went belly up) has hired Biblio's sales team, and Biblio's inventory is already being shipped to Atlas's warehouses. Atlas doesn't ...

Vezeo.com , a recently-launched ezine/blog focusing on reviews of retaurants and hotels, describes itself thus: Ve - ze - o (veh-zee-oh) -noun 1. a passion for living well. 2. an online magazine focused on international dining and travel. Based in beautiful San Francisco, Vezeo features articles about superior restaurants, hotels and resorts. Our readers know that if it’s on Vezeo, it’s worth visiting. Vezeo touts itself as "a modern day Michelin" and claims to be planning an eventual transition to print as a "high-end, glossy magazine." It's also actively seeking contributors. Its press releases invite submissions, and it is advertising on Craigslist , promising compensation of $25-$100 for articles with a 500-word minimum. Sound interesting? There's a catch. According to Vezeo's FAQ , One of the primary goals of Vezeo is to give aspiring writers a place to start. Your work will be read by thousands of people, including key players in the publishing i...

When Writer Beware first put its Thumbs Down Agency List online, we didn't think we'd have to spend much time updating it, except for maybe adding someone every now and then. We were wrong. Name changes and aliases keep us busy. We've just learned that Benedict & Associates/Phil Benedict, a.k.a. B.A. Literary/Phil Raia, is also doing business as R. Castro Literary Agency/Richard Castro. How did we figure this out? Mr. "Castro's" M.O. is identical to Benedict/Raia's (a fee of $8.75 for each 100-page submission, sent out to publishers in batches of eight or ten). His response to writers who query him is virtually identical to Benedict/Raia's. He's located in Micco, Florida, which is where Benedict/Raia started out, and is just down the road from Benedict/Raia's current address in Barefoot Bay. As far as Writer Beware knows, Mr. Benedict/Raia/Castro has no sales under any of his names. We first started getting questions about him in 2002. It...

When new writers ask me how they should go about looking for a reputable agent, I tell them to start with a print market guide such as Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents . They can then expand their search by reading industry publications, such as PW, that report on sales, and by identifying books that are similar to theirs in genre, style, tone, or content, and trying to find out who agents them. I finish with this piece of advice: "Don't look for agents on the Internet." This suggestion often meets with stiff resistance. What's wrong with the Internet? people want to know. What can you find offline that you can't find on the Web? Don't agents' websites and blogs provide more information than books? Aren't books, with their long publication schedules, more likely to be out of date than Internet resources? Besides, the Internet is easy. No poring through (not to mention spending money on) heavy tomes. No leafing ...