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Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware   Once upon a time, there was a self-styled literary agent named Cris Robins who ran a purported literary agency called The Robins Agency. For more than ten years, Robins charged editing fees, levied various upfront fees, and, as far as Writer Beware can determine, never made a single verifiable commercial book sale. Complaints about her were among the first Writer Beware collected when we began operation in 1998. Due to the volume of these complaints and the length of time over which they were received, we placed her on our Thumbs Down Agency List in 2006. That same year, shortly after an unhappy recipient of her editing services won an $8,000 judgment against her for breach of contract, fraudulent business practice, and consumer protection violations, Robins closed her agency's doors. For a time, she continued to solicit her services to writers--in 2007, I got a number of reports from authors who received emails with offers of editi...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware In a video posted to YouTube on Friday, and in an accompanying press release , the CEO of Author Solutions , Kevin Weiss, invited the Romance Writers of America , the Mystery Writers of America , and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (which he incorrectly dubbed the "Science Fiction Writers' Association"--though I can't fault him for this, as PW regularly gets it wrong as well) to sit down with him and other AS representatives to discuss the recent debate over AS's "partnerships" with Harlequin and Thomas Nelson . (Weiss didn't mention another professional writers' group, NINC , which issued a strongly-worded statement in response to the debate.) (To recap, if you have been living in a cave for the past six months: This fall, Harlequin and Nelson--both major commercial publishers--launched "self-publishing" divisions, whereby aspiring authors could pay a fee and have thei...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Writers: Another Google Book Settlement deadline is fast approaching. Per the amended Settlement agreement , January 28, 2010 is the last date you can opt out of the Settlement, or opt back in if you previously opted out and have since changed your mind. ( Note: The Settlement covers only US copyright holders published on or before January 5, 2009 , and only books or inserts published in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia.) Here's the deal: - If you want to opt out of the amended Settlement , you can fill out this online form . Opting out means you will not be included in the Settlement and will receive none of its benefits (including cash payment for any books or inserts of yours that Google may have digitized without permission), but will retain your right to sue Google for copyright infringement and other claims related to the Settlement. Google is currently "voluntarily" promising to remove the works of opt-outers from ...

Posted by Richard White for Writer Beware Dear New Publisher: You may have noticed people discussing your company on various web sites. Normally, this would be a good thing, I mean, free publicity, right? But, when you go to these sites, they may be discussing your company in unflattering terms and asking all kinds of questions about your ability to get books into bookstores. "But, wait. They can't say that about my baby." Actually, yes they can. See, just as every writer does not "deserve" to be published, not every person who dreams of being a publisher deserves to hang out a shingle and call themselves such. Publishing is a unique critter. Even so, one thing it has in common with other businesses is you need experience. Period. This cannot be overstated. If you have no experience in the industry (and being an unpublished or even a published author does not equate to publishing experience), what are you offering your authors? Sorry, good intentions are not eno...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware An article in the North Devon Journal reports the court appearance last week of UK literary agent/film producer Robin Price, who is accused of stealing more than half a million pounds from clients. Price is alleged to have "encouraged authors to pay exaggerated literary fees and invest in non-existent film deals," and has been charged with six counts of theft, most committed over the course of several years: ● £293,603 from Cecil Humphery-Smith OBE between 2001 and 2007. ● £99,335 from Judith Day between 2001 and 2008. ● £120,000 from Dr Bryan Walton between 1999 and 2006. ● £14,250 from Chris Bailey between 2001 and 2004. ● £4,200 from Michael William Hawkes between 2004 and 2006. ● £646 from Evelyn Joyce Jolley in 2005. Price has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A date for his trial will be set in February. I first heard of Robin Price in 2001, when I began receiving questions about a literary agency called Avalon Associates,...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware The following message was sent to Authors Guild members this week. If you've chosen not to opt out of the Settlement and haven't yet claimed your works on the Settlement website , this should make things a bit easier. ---------------------------- Claiming a lengthy list of your books, short stories, essays, poems and articles for Google settlement benefits just got much easier. You can now start the process by simply submitting your bibliography to the claims administrator. You need only e-mail -- or send by regular mail -- a list of your books and shorter literary works (poems, short stories, articles) that may appear in books covered by the settlement. When in doubt, we suggest you submit everything. Although the author's name and the title of the work is enough to get the ball rolling, it's helpful to include this additional information you can find in or on your books: ISBN, publisher, place and year of publication. E-mai...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware No way, you say? Well, fee-charging literary agent Eddie Kritzer begs to differ. Since Writer Beware's founding, I've been getting questions and advisories about Mr. Kritzer and his company, EKP Productions . In 1998 and 1999, most involved Kritzer's referrals to Edit Ink , a fraudulent editing service that paid kickbacks to agents who sent clients its way. More recently, I've begun hearing that Mr. Kritzer is asking for a $500-600 "advance on commission." (I have documentation of these fees, but you don't have to take my word for it--a number of writers have blogged or posted about their encounters with Kritzer, and there's a whole thread on him at Absolute Write.) Mr. Kritzer's bio and credits drop some well-known showbiz names--Art Linkletter, Bill Cosby, Burt Reynolds, Christina Aguilera, Phylicia Rashad--and cite a number of TV and radio production credits. Though most of these do check out, ...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware The National Writers Union , the American Society of Journalists and Authors , and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have written to their author peers in Congress, seeking their support in encouraging the Department of Justice to continue its opposition to the Google Books Settlement. The text of the letter is embedded below. The Los Angeles Times reports that Google has declined to address the letter's concerns, and the Authors Guild did not respond to a request for comment. Writers to Congressional Authors

Happy New Year, everyone! To kick things off for 2010, we have a great guest blog post from multi-published author Cathy Clamp. The distinction between a wholesaler and a distributor is an important one, especially for writers who want to get their books onto physical bookstore shelves. Too often, however, writers and startup publishers aren't aware of the difference, and don't realize that a wholesaler like Ingram is only half the distribution picture. Below, Cathy describes what distributors and wholesalers do, and the implications of each for writers (and publishers). ------------------------------------- On nearly every thread in all the rooms of nearly every writer site I visit, the issue of the difference between Distributors and Wholesalers comes up. It seems to me like it's time to discuss the distinction when it comes to getting your books on the shelf. And I mean all books, because ultimately, it doesn't matter whether your book is self-published, or with a m...