Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®
In the past week, I've gotten two questions about solicitations from a literary agency called Fact & Fiction.* As I've mentioned many times on this blog, it is rare for agents to cold-call writers...but that's not to say it absolutely never happens.
Here's the solicitation.
Unlike other solicitations I've been writing about lately, this one is actually somewhat credible--at least if you don't look too closely. It mentions the writer's work (I've redacted their book title, along with their name). It provides a rationale for reaching out that's not blindingly bogus on its face. Aside from the one typo, there are no glaring English-language errors. It doesn't ask for money.
Of course, it's odd that a literary agent would boast about being top of the slush pile--since the whole point of having an agent is avoiding the slush pile. And a request that a manuscript be "professionally edited" should always spark caution (for reasons that are explained here).
Still, an eager or inexperienced writer could be pardoned for mistaking this for a serious approach. Even I, when I first saw this email, didn't immediately tag it as a scam; I thought it might be a marginal agency looking to expand its client list. There are a lot of these; since they lack contacts and expertise, they specialize in placing books with smaller publishers, including many that don't typically work with agents. Whether it's worth paying a 15% commission for placement with a publisher you could have approached on your own is an open question--but at least (most) such agencies aren't overtly fraudulent.
.#YA authors and agents, you might want to check this page: https://t.co/ARtExAB8M9 . Apparent scam "agency" Fact & Fiction claims to rep multiple books it does not actually rep. Pls contact me if you or your clients are there--I'm planning a blog post at #WriterBeware this week
— Victoria Strauss (@victoriastrauss) September 14, 2020
I don't know if any of the authors or agents contacted Fact & Fiction themselves (there is an email address on the website), or if whoever's behind the scam watches Twitter--the many Philippines-based scamsters are well aware of me and my warnings--but when I checked in on Wednesday afternoon, poof! The "Gallery" link was gone. (Though not the page; it's apparently just the link that has been removed.)
The only thing missing from this so-fake-it's-almost-awesome picture was a demand for money...though I was sure I'd hear about that in due time. And I did--that same Wednesday, even sooner than I expected--from a writer who was asked for editing fees. Fortunately the writer smelled a rat, and was able to initiate a dispute with their credit card company to get their money back:
And here's Andie Millstone, the day after the writer got their refund, trying to salvage the scam by persuading the writer that it was all a big mistake, and their "dues" actually needed to go somewhere else:
"Partner editing firm" Beacon Books Agency is--you guessed it--one of the Philippines-based publishing and marketing scams listed in the sidebar of this blog (also in this post). It's not uncommon for the scams to operate under multiple names, and for writers recruited by one name to be routed to a differently-named company for payment.
I've amended my scam list to include Fact & Fiction and its relationship to Beacon Books Agency.
Writers, I can't say it enough. While it is very rare for reputable agents, publishers, or PR companies to phone or email authors out of the blue with offers of service, invitations to submit, claims you've been recommended by nameless book scouts or referred by Amazon (yes, I've seen this), or anything else--for scammers, solicitation is a primary recruitment tool.
Any contact of this type should make you extremely cautious. Resist the appeal to your emotions (the scammers are counting on you not doing so), and don't respond before thoroughly investigating whatever company or individual has targeted you. Carefully peruse the company's or individual's website (and be wary if they don't have one). Do a websearch; are there complaints? If there are claims of success, can you find independent evidence to corroborate them? Ask a question on social media. DM me on Twitter or drop me a line at Writer Beware.
The best remedy for scams is not to fall victim to them in the first place.
* Not to be confused with the identically-named advertising agencybased in Boulder, CO.
10 comments :
Thanks for the timely warning. These scammers are always improving their scam.
I have a friend who signed up for this company. They did fulfill the service, not to mention the editing went quite well, so I'm not sure about this being a scam.
Poet_Deanna, can you be more specific? What was the service? How much did your friend pay? (Real literary agencies don’t charge fees.) Didnthey sell your friend’s book?
@Victoria Strauss, he mentioned the fee was for the editing of the book - something like manual or style of the book and not to the agent. I guess my friend asked for help from his agent to have someone edit his book before they pitch it to traditional publishers. that's what he said..
Thanks for responding. Unfortunately, your friend got ripped off. Real agents work directly with their clients on pre-submission editing (at no cost to the client). They don't routinely refer clients to expensive outside editing services.
What Fact & Fiction is doing is a classic referral scam: the agent refers the client for editing to an associated business, which they either own themselves or that pays them a kickback (see Writer Beware's Literary Agents page for discussion of this and other disreputable scam tactics). In this case, the company to which writers are being referred, Beacon Books Agency, is itself a scam. If Beacon Books performs the editing at all--which many of these scams don't; they just take the money and run--they probably just run the manuscript through a spelling and grammar checker. That's not even remotely worth the four-figure fee your friend probably paid.
Victoria, what do you mean got ripped off? As I said, his manuscript was edited following Chicago Manual. He didn't pay much, he said. I don't know why you keep insisting on it being a scam. you should go make yourself an agent if you're so bitter. you're probably just assuming every agency you see online is a threat.
It’s not that uncommon for agents to contact author-illustrators, not necessarily offering to rep, but asking to see manuscripts. I can see how they would be less likely to contact just-writers as writing is less likely to be displayed online. As an author-illustrator I’ve had it happen twice, and one was a well-known agent. I did not end up with representation from them,, but they are out there prospecting.
It does happen, but it's rare. In any case, a direct contact is statistically much more likely to be scammish than real. As I mentioned in my post, reputable agents don't often direct-solicit--but direct solicitation is one of a scammer's main tools.
Poet_Deanna, what do you mean by your comments? As Victoria said, your friend paid for services he would have gotten for free from a reputable agency. I don't know why you keep insisting that you know better although you quite clearly dont't know much about the matter under discussion. You should go make yourself an agent if you're such a smartass. You're probably just assuming that every valid criticism online is a threat because it doesn't agree with you.
Authors with prizes from Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, Orange, National Book Award, Man Booker, Pen-Faulkner, and a grant from the MacArthur Foundation and mention in Oprah's book club.
I can't believe I've never heard of these guys before! < sarcasm
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