As of last night, Absolute Write has gotten its virtual plug pulled. Read about it here.
Thanks, Barbara Bauer. You're in a class all of your own.
For context, here's the reason why she complained. I posted this originally on Backspace a few weeks ago. Here is the post again in its entirety. (I'm assuming that by copying my own post, I ain't in copyright trouble.) Thanks to Jim C. Hines for mentioning this on the Speculations Rumor Mill, and to Teresa Nielsen Hayden for blogging about this.
This post appeared on Absolute Write, from Victoria Strauss. She and Ann Crispin run Writer Beware, one of the fabulous watchdog sites out there that help authors navigate the shark-filled waters of agentdom... NOTE that some of the formatting was lost when I copied the post; a number of these agencies all fall under one umbrella name (which is why there are more than 20 listed).
Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agents
Below is a list of the 20 agents about which Writer Beware has received the greatest number of advisories/complaints during the past several years.
None of these agents has a significant track record of sales to commercial (advance-paying) publishers, and most have virtually no documented and verified sales at all (many sales claimed by these agents turn out to be vanity publishers). All charge clients before a sale is made, whether directly, by charging fees such as reading or administrative fees, or indirectly, for "editing services."
Writer Beware suggests that writers searching for agents avoid questionable agents, and instead query agents who have actual track records of sales to commercial publishing houses.
EDITED to include the following paragraph:
Note that while the 20 agencies listed here account for the bulk of the complaints we receive, they're just the tip of the iceberg. Writer Beware has files on nearly 400 questionable agencies, and we learn about a new one every few weeks.
THE LIST:
The Abacus Group Literary Agency
Allred and Allred Literary Agents (refers clients to "book doctor" Victor West of Pacific Literary Services)
BARBARA BAUER LITERARY AGENCY
Benedict & Associates (also d/b/a B.A. Literary Agency)
Sherwood Broome, Inc.
Capital Literary Agency (formerly American Literary Agents of Washington, Inc.)
Desert Rose Literary Agency
Arthur Fleming Associates
Finesse Literary Agency (Karen Carr)
Brock Gannon Literary Agency
Harris Literary Agency
The Literary Agency Group, which includes the following:
- Children's Literary Agency
- Christian Literary Agency
- New York Literary Agency
- Poets Literary Agency
- The Screenplay Agency
- Stylus Literary Agency (formerly ST Literary Agency)
- Writers Literary & Publishing Services Company (the editing arm of the above-mentioned agencies)
Martin-McLean Literary Associates
Mocknick Productions Literary Agency, Inc.
B.K. Nelson, Inc.
The Robins Agency (Cris Robins)
Michelle Rooney Literary Agency (also d/b/a Creative Literary Agency and Simply Nonfiction)
Southeast Literary Agency
Mark Sullivan Associates
West Coast Literary Associates (also d/b/a California Literary Services)
--
One more thing. Spread the word. A number of Absolute Write posters are blogging about this, including Dawno and Blue Texas. Read what happened. Spread the word. And click on this link to view the Twenty Worst Agents and Barbara Bauer in all her glory.
9 Comments:
Hee! So Ms. Bauer manages to get the AW board shut down for what, maybe 24 hours?
In return, how many new copies of this list are proliferating across the Internet?
'Round these parts, we call that karma.
Damn straight, Jim. It looks like the site will be up in 24 - 48 hours; they're giving updates on Making Light.
Thanks for blogging this Jackie - the more the merrier!
You're a doll for posting a list of agents to be wary of; I remember when I first navigated those rough waters and the dangers of scam agents.
Also sorry to hear about what happened to Absolute Write, but glad to hear it'll be up again soon!
And finally, may I say that I borrowed your spiffy word count thing on your sidebar. It was just too cool to pass up. :) Hope you don't mind. ;)
Thanks, Kira -- spread the news!
And Marie, you're welcome! Glad to share the info. And no fear -- AW will be back up and running. And heck, I borrowed the spiffy wordcount thing from Heather Brewer! Use it in good health! Here's the URL:
http://www.zokutou.co.uk/wordmeter/index.php
Separately...Loving Husband knows a lot about the DMCA. And he says what Barbara Bauer claimed (in Teresa's post) is a crock of you know what. Jenna (the owner of AW) could sue her for damages.
Thanks for posting this. I had no clue on what was happening.
Pencilone
You're welcome, Pencilone. Barbara Bauer should not be allowed to get away with this. Spread the word!
Thanks for posting about this! Down with the scammers!
You're very welcome, Laurie. Spread the word!
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