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[Publicist] Scoggins Management Group (formerly BresslerScoggins Lit. Mgmt.)

Pookee

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Anyone have more information on Bressler Scoggins Literary Agency. http://www.bresslerscoggins.com/
They are new. Becky Scoggins is a 25-year-old with little experience in publishing so it looks. No book sales on their website and it says they are a partner in publishing with MamaPUBlooza.
 

victoriastrauss

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MamaPUBlooza is about music publishing and placement--at least according to its website--and wouldn't look to have anything to do with book publishing. But hey, it looks like they're expanding. From the Mamapalooza website:
Pop! Goes the Novel
MamaPUBlooza Book Publishing/ BresslerScoggins Literary Management
Becky Scoggins


Self-publishing is still an enigmatic, but rapidly growing part of the publishing industry. Becky Scoggins, Managing Partner of Bressler|Scoggins Literary Management and MamaPUBlooza (insert title or what in the world you can summarize me as), will take a simple approach to the ins and outs of self-publishing, including new technology and printing options, self promotion 101, the pros and cons to self-publishing and how authors like James Redfield and Graham Taylor have sold millions of their books, starting from the trunks of their cars. Learn about Print on Demand, example scenarios of book sales and how to make sure your manuscript is ready. If you have a book or idea waiting to be published but don't know how to get the wheels in motion, this is the class for you. www.bresslerscoggins.com
Ruh-roh.

BresslerScoggins also appears to offer PR services, which literary agents don't generally do (and would pose a conflict of interest if clients had to pay for them).

Becky Scoggins worked in Sales and Marketing for Borders. No word on the website on who Bressler is, but this article sheds some light, and also maybe explains the emphasis on PR.

It's at least possible that working at Borders might give someone enough publisher contacts to make a go of it as a literary agent. Then again, it's a shaky background for a new agent, and I'm concerned both by the PR angle and the apparent emphasis on self-publishing. Plus, where a new agency is iffy, I always suggest that writers don't volunteer to be guinea pigs.

They are already looking for interns.

- Victoria
 

WestofMars

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I met Becky at RT and was quite impressed with her. She's focusing entirely on romance right now and is in New York frequently, but lives in NC. She really knew the markets she was interested in and the people involved (at least in the case of the publisher we were discussing, she knew them personally).

I didn't know any of Victoria's concerns to voice them to her, or I would have. I hope they wind up coming to be nothing.
 

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I've met with her, and she's earnest and eager, that's for sure. Her Borders experience gives her a good sense of the romance market, but she still comes off like a newbie. (And her e-mails come with striped wallpaper backgrounds, which put me off.) Her vibe doesn't say "scam" to me, but I'd suggest that authors watch and wait for a year or so and see if she can actually sell anything.
 

Crinklish

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One agent down...

An author of my acquaintance signed with Becky Scoggins a few months ago, but has just informed me that she has rather unceremoniously quit the business. Apparently she wasn't as eager as she appeared.
 

CaoPaux

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Crinklish, do you know whether Jordan Bressler is carrying on without her?
 

bresslerscoggins

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From Becky Scoggins of BresslerScoggins Literary Management

As the Managing Partner of BresslerScoggins, I would like to personally clear up any miscommunications on behalf of our company.

I am unsure which author that I previously represented stated that I have left the company or are no longer associated with BresslerScoggins, but I want to state on the record two things:

1. I own the company. I am definitely still with BresslerScoggins. If I wasn't, it would be because we are no longer in business. Business with our company is great and growing rapidly and we are in no danger of going out of business.

2. It is privilege of agents to let represented authors go for any number of reasons. BresslerScoggins also operates as a publicity and marketing firm for authors (our website includes this information). Due to the fast and immense growth of this division, our firm decided to cut back on the agency side of BresslerScoggins. Unfortunately, this meant cancelling contracts with some of our currently represented authors. What this particular author failed to mention was that we did indeed refer them to another agency to pick up representation for them, so that they wouldn't be left out in the cold, so to speak. This in fact is something that many agencies, most to be specific, would never bother with doing. I treasure the relationships I have built with my authors and am beyond upset that rumors have begun circulating regarding a business that took me years to build with integrity and honor.

Jordan Bressler is a silent partner and has been actively involved with submissions since the beginning. He is still with the company as well, along with our 15 employees. Let me reiterate that we are doing well and are not out of business. Our business model has simply shifted to focus on our publicity and marketing division more exclusively. I could not in good conscience keep all of our signed authors and allow our client service to diminish because we could not give it due attention. It's not fair to the author and it can be detrimental to their career. Rather, I connected with another agency and pitched them on every single author we were letting go. They agreed to consider each and every one. I would ask that if there are every questions about the company or its doings, that you would contact us directly at [email protected] before posting threads. I am always happy answer questions about BresslerScoggins, our mission and vision and our upcoming events.

BresslerScoggins will be relaunching our website in the next 2 months to reflect our focus on the publicity division. Check back with us and we hope it will clear up any confusion! Thank you for your understanding.

Becky Scoggiins
Managing Partner/Senior Publicist
BresslerScoggins Literary Management
 

CaoPaux

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Thank you for clarifying, Ms. Scoggins. We look forward to checking out your new website.
 

IceCreamEmpress

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Ms. Scoggins, I'm confused. Is BresslerScoggins getting out of the business of literary agency so that you all can focus more closely on the business of publicity and promotion? I seem to be taking that message away from your post, but I'm not 100% clear.
 

bresslerscoggins

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Misc. questions

Thank you for your questions! I'm always happy to help. In response to the first question regarding agents letting authors go: Yes, there are times when authors decide to leave their agent for many reasons. In that case, per the contractual obligations, they may choose to release or "fire" their agent. However, there are definitely times when agents release their authors. Most contracts state that either party can cancel the contract with a written or specified notice. Reasons that agents may release an author range from editor feedback declaring the assigned project not ready for publication to a difference of personalities, and everything in between.

To answer the second question, my company isn't necessarily "letting go" of the agency side of the firm. We are just scaling back. We will focus on romance only. The authors that I released from their contracts were not romance authors but that wasn't the only factor that was considered when choosing which authors to introduce to another agent. Some were literary fiction, mystery/thriller, memoir and children's, and while some of them wrote elements of romance into their novels it was not driving the plot. Our company has more contacts in the romance industry and therefore find it a faster and smoother area to focus our efforts. We will also keep a smaller clientele and not promote our agency as one that takes unsolicited submissions.

BresslerScoggins also will not provide dual representation for any author. In other words, if we represent someone as their agent, our publicity division can not be associated with them at any time during our relationship as their agent. And vice versa. We cannot shop a manuscript for one of our publicity clients. It is a conflict of interest. We have had people ask to do both and we have never and will never do it. The agency doesn't charge up front fees of any kind. Some of you might have wondered about that.

At any rate, I'm happy to communicate with such a caring and thorough author community. I admire your tenacity and drive to make sure that professionals are promoted. I can assure you that my company and staff is a dedicated team of experienced and caring people. The decision to let some of our authors go was not an easy one. We have built relationships with these talented individuals and would have found an alternative had there been one that was best for the company as a whole.

You may feel free to visit both my personal myspace and the new myspace for BresslerScoggins (still building, bear with me) at http://myspace.com/gallerycache (personal) and http://myspace.com/bresslerscoggins (company). I will be sure to post on the Water Cooler when our new website goes live so that you can visit and be further informed of our services. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to comment. Thanks again for reading and hope to chat with some of you soon.

Regards,

Becky
 

IceCreamEmpress

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To answer the second question, my company isn't necessarily "letting go" of the agency side of the firm. We are just scaling back. We will focus on romance only.

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Let me just make sure I'm getting this:

You have a literary agency side that represents romance authors only.

And you have a publicity/promotion side that works with authors in all genres (except for the authors for whom you are the literary agent).

Is that correct?
 

Turtle's_Daddy

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Wow. http://www.bresslercoggins.com/ now seems to be a blog whose only entry, dated 1/23/09, is below:

The Disney Experience

It is the theme park where kids have the interest to visit this place and it is the group of Walt Disney Company. Most of the adventure things are happening in this resort. Many games are conducted for the visitors and the prizes are distributed. There are various entertainment zones in the Disneyworld. One can enjoy a lot visiting this place.

I take this as a sign the agency is no longer in business.
 

Jay042

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Sorry about dredging up this old post, but I do have an update on Becky Scoggins. While she no longer seems to be directly involved in publishing, her business activities in recent years are worth noting.

Apparently she's moved from being a publicist to organizing fandom conventions. She and her partner Jordan Bressler teamed up with a pair of well know Twilight fans to organize Twicon in 2009. The event itself was a less than roaring success. For 2010, they had plans to expand and do two shows in different cities; Toronto and Las Vegas. The Toronto show fell through due to Toronto being chosen to host the G20 summit the same weekend. They moved the show to Ottawa, but apparently their fan base did not return for the second year and ended up canceling both shows in the middle of March.

Meanwhile, she has another fandom event in the works The Hillywood Show Cruise. The Hillywood Show is a comedy troupe that's become well known on the Internet for their Twilight parodies, and have become a regular feature on the Twilight fandom convention circuit.

Some of the people who went to Twicon have gotten wind of her connection with the Hillywood Show cruise, and the bad word of mouth is likely to put an end to this event before it happens.
 

CaoPaux

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GetYOUFound continues, however Ms. Scoggins left to go into video production (Bressler is currently V.P. Marketing for a Real Estate company).
 
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