[Editing] Streamline Words / Kimble-Mckay Literary Arts Group

[Shayk1951]

Hello, Everyone,

If you ever get an e-mail or a IM from someone named Jillanne Kimble, RUN, do not walk, to the nearest exit. She is a con artist. She contacted me through another friend and I paid her $350 for editing fees. It was supposed to be $1 a page, but during the nine months I knew her, she only edited about 100 pages.

She was doing business as Kimble-Unger, but has since changed it to Kimble-McKay.

Take Care, everyone and have a good day.

Shay

[NickDangr]

I was approached - so naturally I'd like to see if anyone has heard of these folks:

Streamline Intrenational Literary Management.
http://www.streamlinewords.com

Person popped up on ICQ of all places, Jillanne Nehls... never heard of them so I was skeptical. I didn't see anything about them here, but am always scratching my head.

Here's their website. Has anyone here heard of them?

Ben / ND

[Sassenach]

Sounds like an editing service:


Contact us for a free, no obligation evaluation of your
manuscript. Your request will be answered within 3 days.

Once the author accepted, the work will be professionally
edited not only for grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but also
for all of the important story dynamics (characterization, dialogue
strength, point of view, plot strength, etc.) that makes a good story
inviting to agents and publishable.

While the author is inserting revisions, the query and synopsis
will be perfected. These are your most important sales
tools, and they must shine.

After the perfecting process, a list of agents/publishers will be
sent to you with names and addresses for submission. This list
consists of only reputable agencies/publishers that we know won't
charge our clients extra fees. Our contacts are thoroughly researched
and added weekly.

[victoriastrauss]

This is a new, or additional, incarnation of an enterprise run for a number of years under several names by a woman called Jillanne Kimble (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=773). How do I know? Check out the address for Streamline's Jillanne Nehls, here (http://www.streamlinewords.com/contact_us.html). Now check out the address for the Kimble-McKay Literary Arts Group's Jillanne Kimble, here (http://www.kimblemckay.netfirms.com/Guidelines.htm) (at the bottom of the page). Also, Streamline offers a newsletter (http://www.streamlinewords.com/newsletter.html) called The Emerging Times. Kimble-McKay offers an ezine (http://www.kimblemckay.netfirms.com/Ezine.htm) with the same name.

Jillanne Kimble or Nehls or whatever her real name is began as an editing service sometime during the 1990's, despite having no apparent qualifications to be an editor. She then morphed into a literary agency with a succession of partners--again despite having no apparent relevant professional qualifications. Most, if not all, writers who submitted to the agency wound up with a recommendation for Jillanne's own paid editing (Writer Beware got a number of advisories)--not surprising, given her past history. It will probably surprise no one to learn that she never made any commercial book sales.

In 2004 or 2005, she morphed again, turning Kimble-McKay into an editing/agent-matching service (exactly what Streamline is now claiming to be). Apart from her experience with her own company, I'm still not aware that she has professional qualifications as an editor, agent, or author (I don't know about her partner in Streamline, Lin Treadgold, about whom the site provides no information).

The Kimble-McKay website is still extant, but its copyright notice goes to 2005 only and it looks rather neglected. I'm guessing that Streamline is a replacement operation, with a name change for Jillanne as good measure to escape the warnings she knows that Writer Beware has provided about her.

Ben, you mentioned that she'd popped up on ICQ...I know of at least one case where she joined a writers' listserv ostensibly to participate in discussion, but mainly to tout her editing services, which she did in private email behind the listserv owner's back.

- Victoria

[NickDangr]

In truth it seemed pretty odd. If I want an Agent, I'll go looking for one. If they're looking for me? They need some serious business. :) Thanks all.

B

[victoriastrauss]

Nick, I'd like to know more about how you were approached, and also to have documentation if possible, since it looks as if I need to start a file on Streamline...could you contact me at beware@sfwa.org? Thanks.

- Victoria

[NickDangr]

I'll send you an e-mail from my NickDangr@myexcel.com account.

Ben/ND

[CaoPaux]

Streamline is gone, and the Arts Group site comes up "forbidden".