This old scam??

I think your chances of getting an accurate review would be better if you posted it in SYW or a crit group of your own. And just as an IMHO, I'd seriously reconsider sending my work to someone who answered your personal ad who alleges to be from an agency or publisher, no matter how legit it is. sounds too much like a predator to me.

You might want to post some in Share Your Work, and ask people who are interested if they're willing to beta read for you?

I've found over the years that when my readers can't get past the first fifty pages or so it's because I'm no longer telling the original story. *shrug* for what it's worth...I may just suck.

But, yes, SYW is the place to go. Post it there and find out what they think. I always resort to my crit group when I'm stuck or banging my head against a manuscript endlessly. It might work for you too.

Best of luck.

Yes, toss out a bite to bait a beta. The critters here don't go hunting, they must be enticed, but it's a safer place to fish than a personals site (gak).

Oddly enough I'm OK with posting my writing in public but would be nervous about fishing for someone to date on a personals site.

(Share Your Work is password-protected (password = vista) so webcrawlers can't see your material, so it's not really "public")

-Derek

Here's a idea. Maybe after you place your story in the share your work forum, that will lead into finding someone to date... Or you could pay god knows how much being screened by one of those elite dating services.

I would be extremely skeptical of any advice offered. That doesn't mean it's necessarily BAD advice, but consider the source: some random nobody who responded to an advertisement. A general rule of thumb is, reputable agents and editors don't come to you. They already have more people coming to them than they can possibly deal with, which is why a majority of submissions are rejected. The people who come to an author with such offers generally fall into two categories: the well-intentioned but inexperienced (whose advice is therefore questionable); and sharks (whose advice is to be shunned like the plague).

Another tip: don't worry about paying for professional review. You can do as others have suggested and submit it to a critique group. If you're uncomfortable about posting for an online critique group, you may consider looking for a local group.

The dangers of critique groups, though, are that their advice is not always professional, either, so you need to make sure you find a good one. Some consist of failed writers with their own axes to grind (avoid). Some consist only of beginners (avoid, not because of bad intentions, but because of inexperience). Whatever advice you get, take with a grain of salt. A general rule of thumb, though: if a large number of people suggest that, say, the ending is weak, it may be something to look at. If it's a mixed bag, you need to make up your own mind.

But the number one thing I recommend for you to do: read over it a couple times (run it through a critique group if you want), polish it up until it's as good as you can get it, then submit it to a professional market, and get started on the next one. That gets you started in the field of regularly writing and submitting, and it may get you some professional editorial advice. Most editors don't have time to offer personal advice, but some do. Though they're not always right, either, their comments, when offered, are worth considering.

I am curious about the guy you've found, though. If he has a fraudulent lit agency, that would seem to suggest that he's looking for money. But if he's going over things for you, that would seem to indicate the opposite. I don't know what's going on. All I can say is, read the comments he makes, see what makes sense and what doesn't. But if he offers any type of professional service, don't buy it. If he offers representation, don't take it. A bad agent or editor can do more harm than none at all.

Welcome to AW, confusssion!! Even if you don't feel up to putting your work on the SYW section just yet, please poke around here. There's a lot to learn here and people are friendly.

I also suggest trying to find a local critique group. I actually found two - one that's been around for a while (with experienced, published writers) and one that's just starting up. Fortunately, they're on different days. I believe that I'll get a lot out of both of them.

confusssion said:

Anyways, I find out that this lit agency is fraudulent.

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That's all you need to know. Block his email.

A lot of predators are patient and will lure you in. A smart predator is fully aware of the warnings out on the web and will do stuff to make himself look like less of a predator. That will include unsolicited advice that sounds good. Not to say that this is a predator for sure, but ...
And victims will always say things like he seemed nice, he never asked for money up front, and most importantly, victims will say "something didn't seem quite right but I didn't listen to my gut." I think your gut is telling you that something's not quite right. Stay far away. If your gut is wrong, honestly, you haven't lost much. You've lost one opinion, and one that you're not sure you can trust. (When push comes to shove it's only an opinion anyway.) If you're right, you've just saved yourself a lot of grief.

Good luck!

What those types of operations tend to do is give you very broad stroked advice that could apply to almost any piece of work out there, but it LOOKS good. It looks so good and you think "Gee, these guys are giving me such great advice for free, their paid service must be fantastic." And that's how they get people to bite.

confusssion said:

I'm kind of embarrassed to post my story here. And I tend to get similar reactions. People like the first 50 pages or so (at least they claim) and then they don't get through it and I don't know why. Maybe they don't know why either. I need someone who can tell me why. This is why I need someone with real background in giving constructive feedback. Not just "well, I liked your story..."

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confusssion said:

Ok, gosh, Im really nervous about posting it in public. Really, it's embarrassing.

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confusssion said:

Ok...ok...I break down. I cringe but I will post it in the share your stuff section.

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After rereading everything I realized that I'd like to address this also. You plan on getting published someday, right? I know it's very hard to post your story for other people to review, believe me. You sound shy and it's natural to be apprehensive about how people will react to your work. But if you get published your story will be out there all naked and alone and you'll be getting reviews from people who make a living by being funny, sarcastic and snarky about books. It's a pretty harsh world out there. I know it's tough to put your work out there and face possible negative comments and to have all your flaws flapping in the wind, but that's the nature of writing. This is a nicer, safer environment than the world at large. Best of all, you get a chance to learn and grow here. Once a work is in print it's set in stone, for all intensive purposes.

So I like to view AW and critique groups as places where I can spare myself needless embarrassment in the cold, sometimes cruel world. Maybe I'm just weird, but I'm not embarrassed if I make mistakes here or put up something that's poorly written because we're all in the same boat. We're writing the best that we can, and we help each other to write better. To me, AW feels like a school where everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. I'm glad you're giving it a chance. I hope it works out for you.

He's a predator and eventually aims to get something for himself out of you. If not money, then attention. Whichever, he's wasting your time. Block him, ASAP.

There's plenty of crazies out there who are as hooked on getting a response via e-mail as any drug junkie. I'm sure their keyboards are in need of a good cleaning. Ew.

Block him, and get your ad off that personals list. On last night's news I heard the story of a young woman who was about to meet a guy who contacted her via a singles list.

Turns out that he's (his DNA matches) the "Blue Bandana rapist" who's been preying on North Texas woman for the last two years.

Another show I watched showed a dive team operating in LA. A segment had them searching the harbor for the body of a young woman who met her date through Craig's list. Her date was a registered sex offender and he very probably raped and killed her.

Singles listings can be a "come and get it" endless buffet for serious sickos, not just scammers.

Be careful, 'k?

Gillhoughly said:

He's a predator and eventually aims to get something for himself out of you. If not money, then attention. Whichever, he's wasting your time. Block him, ASAP.

There's plenty of crazies out there who are as hooked on getting a response via e-mail as any drug junkie. I'm sure their ... <deleted>

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TMI! TMI!!!

Gillhoughly said:

He's a predator and eventually aims to get something for himself out of you. If not money, then attention. Whichever, he's wasting your time. Block him, ASAP.

There's plenty of crazies out there who are as hooked on getting a response via e-mail as any drug junkie. I'm sure their keyboards are in need of a good cleaning. Ew.

Block him, and get your ad off that personals list. On last night's news I heard the story of a young woman who was about to meet a guy who contacted her via a singles list.

Turns out that he's (his DNA matches) the "Blue Bandana rapist" who's been preying on North Texas woman for the last two years.

Another show I watched showed a dive team operating in LA. A segment had them searching the harbor for the body of a young woman who met her date through Craig's list. Her date was a registered sex offender and he very probably raped and killed her.

Singles listings can be a "come and get it" endless buffet for serious sickos, not just scammers.

Be careful, 'k?

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A guy in St. Paul was shot in the jaw by an escort he'd met through craigslist because he'd changed his mind but couldn't get in touch with her until she showed up at his place.