[Services] Author One Stop (Randy Peyser)

AsianAmerWriter said:

Hi, has anyone heard of or dealt with a Randy Peyser of Author One Stop? I hear she provides many services for writers from editing and critiquing to presenting authors' work to agents and publishers at Book Expo America.

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Hi Asian!

Does she have a website, and does she charge money for these services? I've never heard of her or a person offering to be a middleman between you and an agent. It's really unnecessary, IMO. My advice would be to pass, and if you stick around here long enough you'll find all the resources you're ever going to need. This board is a great resource for writers, so do look around.

Well... She apparently admonishes her cats for failing to understand her business model before hitting you with the $19.95 for an autographed copy of her book at the bottom of her page. The cats reportedly understood it by the end of her post. I'm afraid I didn't.

What is it you're hoping she can do for you?

Yeah, I'd not bother with her to be honest. There's a critiquing board here on AW, I'd go with that instead. And it's free Trust me when I say you'll get a lot more out of this forum than anywhere else.

Well, looking at your correct, concise, grammatically correct posts thus far--and the rambling content on her site(s)--I can only think to advise one thing...

Send me the $150! I'll draw you a pretty picture and wash your car, too!

Look to other writers. Look to the resources here, as MRJ LeB suggested. If you can write, others can help you polish as needed without taking your money.

Srsly.

She has three separate websites:

Looks like her personal site.
This one is hawking her recent book.
And this one is for Author One Stop, doing too many things under one moniker. Serious red flags on this:

Author One Stop is a national publishing consulting firm that specializes in helping authors through every aspect of the publishing process. Whether you want to write a book, self-publish or find a publisher, are searching for a literary agent, or need a book editor, book coach, ghostwriter, cover designer, or marketing or publicity support, our spot-on advice and services will help you bring your book successfully to market.

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I just don't know about this one. Personally, I'd skip it. Too much potential for conflict of interest/paradox here; if they're so great at helping people find agents, why do they also offer self-publishing services?

And the warning alarms are starting to wake up the neighbors. Check out the "cons" of "traditional" publishing:

1. You must put together an extensive book proposal to sell your book, which can be costly and/or timely to create.
2. You will make approximately .75 cents to a dollar, or so, for every book the publisher sells.
3. Once they've bought your book, a publisher might take a year or two, or longer, before they print your book and it actually makes its way into the bookstores.
4. Editorial and sales staff can come and go, which means your project can be sacked.
5. You have zippo control over your cover design and title.
6. A publisher can insist on edits that you might not agree with.
7. You own the copyright, but often not much more, unless you or your agent have negotiated otherwise.
8. Publishers will typically let you buy your book at 40-50% off the cover price, so if you want to order a case of books for yourself you can, however, they will charge you for shipping. Example: if a book sells for $12.95, and you have a 50% discount, you can expect to pay about $7.50 per book with the shipping cost, leaving you a small margin for profit.

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Nothing like preying on the fears of somebody who's inexperienced and/or hasn't done further research!

AsianAmerWriter, the Share Your Work boards are located here. (The password is "vista".)

"Don't have time to write your book? We'll write your book for you!"

Oh my stars! Ghostwriting happens, I know. But...

Don't "have time" to write you book? That's okay. You're not a writer, and you don't gotta be. If your celebrity or platform is awesome, and your writing isn't, someone'll hire a ghostwriter to fix it up for you. No worries. I'm pretty sure it won't be at authornestop.com, though. I could be wrong.

I'm also pretty sure I've veered off-topic. Sorry, AAW. PenPanced has supplied the link you requested, I see, and I am cranky pants tonight.

I took some DayQuil too late and I haven't breathed through my left nostril in 4+ days. Apologies to all.

Awakening, I discover Angel, the white Siamese, sitting on top of my stomach

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I know this is off-topic, but you don't get white Siamese cats. You can get white Oriental cats, but Siameses are all colour-pointed (thanks to their Himalayan gene). I like to have my facts straight.

Moving on: if you look here you'll see that Ms Peyser's book, The Power of Miracle Thinking, was published by Author One Stop in March 2008. So she self-published her book, and is now trying to build a publishing business on the back of it.

As others have said, there are too many errors in her writing to make me think that any of this is a good idea. Move right along. There's nothing worth stopping for here.

Anyone else get the feeling that when she says order the autographed book that she means it'll be autographed by the cats?

Even if you can't use her literary services you needn't leave empty handed.

Randy is also a silk artist!
Check out Randy's whimsical handpainted silk!

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Good Lord! I've seen plenty of bad fabric art, but her silk painting is horrendous. If she utilizes any of them as book covers, no one will touch the books.

Hi, AsianAmerWriter, and welcome to AW!

AsianAmerWriter:
I hear she provides many services for writers from editing and critiquing to presenting authors' work to agents and publishers at Book Expo America.

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How did you come to hear of AuthorOneStop and Randy Peyser? Were they recommended to you by someone or did you see an advert for them?

I've been taking a look at their website and some of the services seem a little kooky to me:

AuthorOneStop Website:
1. BEA Representation - Unpublished Authors ($2000+commission/Individual, $3500/Corporate)

[SNIP]

We will personally pitch your book to publishers and literary agents! You will receive:

Contact information package of targeted literary agents and publishers who have specifically expressed interest in seeing your book
A query letter to send along with each of your submissions.

In addition to the $2000 Representation Fee, individual clients will pay a 5% commission on the advance, provided the advance comes as a direct result of a contact Author One Stop has made on your behalf.

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This basically looks like a query letter service, but there's no guarantee that they will actually find you an agent or a publisher (and 2 grand is a lot to spend on a maybe). Plus they want a 5% commission on any advance you get - assuming you get an agent through them that would suggest you'd lose a percentage of the advance to both the agent and AuthorOneStop.

Personally, I don't see what this does that you couldn't do yourself by spending a few hours researching agencies and publishers and honing your own query letter.

Also, I checked out the testimonials for the services on this page and could only find book listing for two of the people mentioned - one of which is out this year with a small publisher that I'm having difficulty finding a website for and the other for a book that came out in 2005.

All very strange, if you ask me.

MM

AsianAmerWriter said:

How do I access the critiquing board?

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Scroll down through the forums list and look for one called Share Your Work. The password is under the description, I think it's vista. Read the stickied topics at the top for guidelines on how to post and such, and go from there

AsianAmerWriter said:

I am looking for an opinion of the marketability of Asian American fiction. Is it considered a niche market and therefore better to self-publish than try to look for an agent?

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No.

Seriously, no.

The "niche markets" in which it might be a good idea to self-publish don't include mainstream or literary fiction (in the US at least).

And it is never a good idea to self-publish before you've explored the options of commercial publishing: first, by looking for an agent who can sell your work to larger presses; second, if you haven't found an agent after 50-100 queries, by submitting your work to small presses and perhaps university presses.

There are several writers on these boards whose published or soon-to-be published work deals with Asian American characters and culture: xiaotien and maestrowork are two who come to mind, and I know there are others.

If you're good with approaching strangers by email, I also recommend you contact Don Lee (you'll find his website at don-lee.com); he's a very distinguished Asian American novelist who's also a teacher of creative writing, and if he has time to respond, he might be able to recommend some resources that I (America's Whitest White WomanTM) have no idea exist--conferences or workshops specifically focused on Asian American authors, for instance.



And, in general, if you want an opinion of the marketability of a project, query an agent or a publisher. Heck, query a bunch of them: one of New York's fanciest big-name agents told me in 1998 that I was a great writer, but my vampire project was a waste of my time because "vampires were over." Apparently, he didn't get the memo to Laurell K. Hamilton's agent. Or Charlayne Harris's agent. Or Stephenie Meyer's agent. :grr:

AsianAmerWriter said:

Sounds like a consensus on Ms. Pesyer. She spoke at a local writers group at a meeting I missed. However, my friend did attend and thought she gave a good presentation of what she does. I am looking for an opinion of the marketability of Asian American fiction. Is it considered a niche market and therefore better to self-publish than try to look for an agent?

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I'll second IceCream and add: check out agent Kristen Nelson. She has handled Asian-American fiction quite successfully in the past.

Self-published author offers to spam query letter to agents for low low price of $2,000.

AsianAmerWriter said:

Thanks Khazarkhum! Do you happen to know Ms. Nelson or any of the agents at her agency personally? If so, would it be okay when I query her to mention you? ( I guess I would have to get your real name for that--not sure if that's allowed on the forum.)

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Just based on my readings around here, agents and publishers don't really want to hear about who you know - they want to hear about your story. If you've had good publishing successes in the past they want to hear about that too, but the focus of your query is to sell the story. If that hooks them, it's not going to matter who you know.

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

Just based on my readings around here, agents and publishers don't really want to hear about who you know - they want to hear about your story.

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From the other side of the issue--someone with a personal relationship with an agent--whether a client, colleague, or friend--isn't very likely to let you use their name, unless they know you and your work pretty well. Asking an agent to pay special attention to someone's work--which is the use of a friend or client's name implies--is an imposition on the agent's time, and it's unlikely that a friend or client will be willing to make that imposition unless they're pretty sure you're someone the agent might be interested in.

Another agent suggestion: Sandra Dijkstra, who reps Amy Tan.

- Victoria