Mary Rosenblum, your web editor, has published three SF novels, four mysteries, and more than 50 short stories in multiple genres, as well as nonfiction! She also teaches writing, and has for many years. She also has a real agent.

Doctor Doctor!

Great! You won’t have to write all those queries to agencies, and get all those rejection letters you’ve heard about. But wait. This firm is way out west. Didn’t someone tell you that your agent should live in or near New York City? The very professional brochure that accompanied the letter goes on to explain how this Agency is so busy that they had to move out of NYC so that their agents could get some work done in peace. They offer a long list of publications that have accepted work by their clients – a Who’s Who list of all the major book publishers and magazines. And they only charge a 10% commission, and you’ve heard that agents charge at least 20% of your gross income when they handle your work. This is just too good to be true! They even offer glowing testimonials from happy published clients. And they’ll work with you on editing and revising, if your book just isn’t quite ready for the market yet. You’ve been desperate for some professional input! Quick! Wrap up that manuscript and call Fed-Ex! This is just what you need!

Or is it?

Wait a minute. Let’s take a look at the rest of the brochure here – the part that you skipped over while you were reading about how they would surely get your beloved book published. Let’s start with the commissions. Yes, 10% on US rights and 20% on foreign rights. Well, that’s very inexpensive for an agent. But look – the client is charged otherwise only agreed-upon service fees and postage. Service fees? Agents don’t charge service fees. Ah. It seems that they offer Editing, which they describe as pen work and marginal notes, followed by the retyping of the author’s own rewriting. Hmm. Doesn’t say how MUCH they charge. Rewriting is another service. We work from the author’s basic material and our prior analysis but completely produce the final work, subject to the author’s approval or changes. Wait a minute. YOU rewrite my book for me? That sounds really expensive. But if they’re sure that they can sell it…

Oh. Right here, beneath the list of services. We perform no services on percentage or contingency arrangements. But if you’re sure you can sell it, or at least pretty sure, why not just charge a bigger commission? I mean, a regular agent isn’t sure his time and effort will sell the book, but he doesn’t get paid unless he does sell it. So why not just charge, say, a 25% commission if they need to edit first?

Don’t stop yet! Let’s read the part about the agreement. This contract gives us the privilege of placing the author’s entire output, except poetry, fillers, childrens material, gags, newspaper and trade magazine material, scenarios, plays, and client’s occupational writing. Wait! Privilege, ha! Wait just a minute here! You mean I can’t send my short SF story off to Asimov’s Magazine myself? I have to send it to you? And then you send it to Asimov’s? But I’ve already sold stories there! I don’t need an agent for that! And then I have to pay you 10% of what I get? Hey, that’s not fair! I’m agreeing that you get to sell everything I write, except a few short things that don’t pay anyway! What’s going on here?

This is a book doctor, a phony ‘agency’ that preys on the hopes and naivete of new writers. You really want to see that book published. You really don’t know how this works and you’re feeling very intimidated. Along comes this lovely letter…Friends in the publishing business have advised us… Doesn’t that make you think that maybe some editor was impressed with the story he rejected and mentioned your name to this nice agent? More likely, it came from the mailing list for a writers’ magazine or something of that nature. This ‘agency’ will happily revise and rewrite your book for a significant fee, whether it needs it or not, and then, yes, they will send it off to a New York publisher.

Well, your book did need some editing, and they are an agent, so they can submit to the publisher who won’t take an unagented manuscript, so maybe it’s worth the cash. If they accept it. But all the publishers know who the book doctors are. Agents and agencies earn their good – or bad – reputations by the works they represent. If a book comes in from a book doctor agency, it will most likely be returned by a junior assistant after only the most cursory glance, if any glance is given at all. It is unlikely the editor will bother with it. The agency will have a list of good reasons why your book just didn’t sell. Some firms may not even bother to submit your book. How will you know that it ever arrived at Random House or Putnam-Berkeley?

The problem with these ‘agencies’ is that they make their real money from charging you for submitting short works – which you can submit yourself – and by ‘fixing’ your book, whether it need fixing or not. The costs can mount astronomically. If you’re willing to pay money to see your book in print, try one of the reputable Print on Demand houses such as iUniverse or Xlibris. As of January 2003, it cost less than 250$ to have your book published at iUniverse as a Print on Demand book, with no editorial changes made at all. If you’re going to spend money on your book, spend it wisely. You certainly don’t want to sign an agreement that makes it ‘illegal’ for you to send your next story or magazine article to a willing publisher yourself!

No legitimate agency charges fees for such things as editing, set up, production, or any other term you might run across. Agents charge a percentage of any money the book earns, and that’s it. They may charge you for copying the manuscript or they may not, but any other charge should make you very suspicious. Never assign an agency the right to market ALL your work. Yes, it’s fine to sign an exclusive agreement about book length work. No agent wants to spend hours of time in NYC and on the phone selling your book, only to find that you gave it to another agent, too, and he sold it first! But market your short work yourself. There’s no benefit to having an agent when that story or query letter lands on the magazine editor’s desk.

There are a number of websites that offer lists of these supposed agencies and publishers that have cheated clients in various ways. Click on :

Agents are often listed in market indexes such as ‘Writers Digest’. They often attend writers conferences and conventions. But before you talk to an agent, visit the Association of Author’s Representatives. This is the professional organization of agents, and all members must abide by a code of ethics. If an agent does not belong to AAR, be suspicious, no matter what good reason that agent offers you. The AAR website offers a membership list, as well as topics that you should discuss with any agent you are interested in. They also offer an online newsletter. It is an excellent and informative site, and will armor you against the book doctors whose letters to you all begin with that Dear Author…

We all dream about our books’ success. We all hope for success so hard that it aches. In my opinion, there is nothing so reprehensible as taking advantage of that hope and those dreams. But there are many who do it profitably. You are the one who needs to learn the real facts so that you do not become prey to these unethical people. Spend some time at the AAR website and become informed!

Believe in yourself and your words. Don’t let someone take advantage of you and the book you worked so hard to create!

Mary Rosenblum

LRRG Web Editor