[Agent] Anthony Paluzzi

ROFL

*sigh*

*snicker*

*sigh again*

Let me get my checkbook.

lol. you'd be surprised how many people fall for this

I don't know what era he's talking about but during my career--30+ years--reputable agents haven't charged fees.

Oh brother...

Do you think he'd pay extra attention to my work if I gave him a credit card number?

Saskatoonistan said:

I am seriously contemplating doing a blog posting with the top ten excuses for charging fees along with links so people can see I am not making this up.

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Yes, please.

I wonder how creative his in depth form letter rejection is?

IDK, I just couldn't get past an image of a big guy in a sweat suit with a cigar stub in the corner of his mouth, typing that crap out to send to his web designer cousin.

Anyone who wants to know why reputable agents and publishers send form rejections should read Slushkiller.

Has this guy ever actually sold any books? I couldn't find any evidence of it.

Listening to his interview--with a marvelously inarticulate and clueless interviewer--it does appear that he has some background--he may actually have worked in an agency or publisher at some low level. But mostly he's appears to be just another writer/artist who, unable to find an agent, has decided to become one himself. He seems New Yorkish, young, and energetic--he talks like he's doing an elevator pitch and only has thirty seconds...except he goes on for an hour.

He says his fee is $150 for reading the MS and reporting back, and 12% for commission. His line editing rate is equally low, roughly a dollar a page. You might actually get something for your money, I suppose, but you'd be crazy to sign a contract.

He also offers a head shot package for actors--this for $200.

His bio: http://www.paluzzi.net/anthony_paluzzi_bio.html

And the street address appears to be that of an apartment complex gone to seed--"Your best day there will be the day you move out."

colealpaugh said:

I wonder how creative his in depth form letter rejection is?

IDK, I just couldn't get past an image of a big guy in a sweat suit with a cigar stub in the corner of his mouth, typing that crap out to send to his web designer cousin.

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So you think everyone with an Italian name is Tony Soprano? Not too much racism where you live, eh?




Has anyone here had any contact with this guy besides me?

I actually went with his line editing about three months ago and I was really happy with the results. One of the things I liked is that he didn't try to change my voice to his own and he did clean up the manuscript a lot. I'm not sure what type of an agent he is, but I'd be a liar if I said he didn't do a good job for a fair price.

I have no idea if he would give a good detailed review if I submitted to him for represetnation, but at least with me he did exactly what he advertised so I'm not going to assume he's a liar.

And lets be honest. How many of you like form letters? I agree there are scam artists out there, but a form letter never helped any of us so the idea of suggesting reading Slushkiller is idiotic.

Hmm, I may not always agree with the Haydens, but I have a feeling they've read and dealt with a lot more slush than I have.

Personally, I learned a lot reading through Slushkiller.

I hardly found the information in there idiotic.

Idiotic for the purpose mentioned here.

To stay on topic, Writer Beware does not recommend any agent who charges fees, no matter how pleasant they may have been to work with. Agents should make their living by selling their clients work and collecting commissions. If the agent is collecting fees up front, it doesn't matter to them whether the book sells or not . . . they've made their money. Agents shouldn't be selling editorial services, own their own publishing company nor should they submit their client's work somewhere where they're getting a kick-back. All of these things are detrimental to the author who's counting on the agent to look out after their best interest.

Actually, we don't recommend agents either, but that's because every author's needs are different. We do recommend focusing on agents who've actually sold books in the area you're interested in writing in. If the agent isn't selling books to advance paying publishers, it doesn't matter if they're charging fees or not. An amateur agent is just as dangerous to a manuscript as a scamming agent.

It is not in any writer's best interest to pay up-front fees to an agent.

_______________________________________

Now, with regard to Slushkiller and formal rejection notes:

Slushkiller describes the Hayden's experiences with dealing with slush. It's echoed in Miss Snark's experiences, Colleen Lindsey's experiences, Janet Reid's experiences and many other agents who blog about dealing with slush.

Given the volume of queries, partials and fulls that agents receive from non-clients, there simply isn't enough time in the day for them to go through every submission and give detailed personalized critiques. Period. They deal with these after they finish working on their current clientele's projects - usually at home after hours. The only way they can go through the hundreds of queries they receive is to identify those they want to read through later and those that are not what they're looking for. The ones that get rejected way outnumber those they want to review later. The most efficient way for an agent to deal with something they don't want to represent is a form rejection letter.

This also helps avoid getting into arguments with the rejectee. Many agent blogs mention that personalized rejections seem to encourage the rejected author to write back, imploring the agent to re-read the query/partial/full, counting on the fact that if the agent only "spent more time with it, they'd see the (fill in the blank) that they missed the first time. When the agent replies that no means no, then the writer gets combative, which, of course, solves nothing and encourages the agent to forgo personalized rejections and copy a form rejection from a fellow agent from then on.

The pictures in Slushkiller show the volume of mail that the Hayden's had to deal with at Tor. It's sometimes quite instructive to actually see what an agent or editor may receive in a very short period of time.

So, while you may not find using Slushkiller useful, it is hardly "idiotic" to suggest that authors, especially new authors, review the information in Slushkiller to help understand why an agent might use a formal rejection letter.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

colealpaugh said:

I think anyone with the sleezy come-on such as what I read on HIS website is like a Soprano character. But call me a racist again and you'll wake up at the bottom of the Passaic River, there tulip.

BTW, the first words Paluzzi says in his radio interview:

"Hey, hooowwwwwzzzzzz it goin'."

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I've been looking over these threads on and off for a few months now, reading advice and what not, and yeah I did listen to the interview and laughed since he sounded pretty light hearted about it, but you sir are a disgusting racist! It was your revolting comments that finally incited me to post after all of these months.

Then again Pennsylvania has a pretty good KKK organization.

colealpaugh said:

Forgive the interruption, but there's a more than even chance you're trying to convince Mr. Paluzzi or one of his close personal friends.

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No. I'm simply an Italian who is disgusted by you, which is what drove me to comment in the first place. It's a shame lynchings are illegal or you would have something to do this upcoming weekend.



Richard White, I wouldn't pay for an agent to read my material either, which is why I only stuck with the editing services. He did a good job at that. Is he a good agent? I have no idea. For all I know he sucks at it, but nothing he did would lead me to believe he's not being up front and honest.


If he did a crappy job I'd have a different opinion. Is there anyone here who was actually burned by this guy?

I didn't get the image of a 'Sopranos' character when looking at the page.

For me, it was more of an image of the likeable 'Arthur Daley' from the British TV Series 'Minder'.

2003: His website was devoted to showing models who had posed for him. He was selling photos of them.

2005: He published a book with Cafe press "CONTEMPLATIONS OF A DISTURBED MIND".

.. and now he's a literary agent !

Curiously, the person defending him here has the username 'AKONI'. This 'AKONI' is a satisfied customer who 'went with his line editing about three months ago'.

Want to see an amazing coincidence - AKONI is the EXACT SAME USERNAME that the owner of the website 'http://paluzzi.net' uses on other message boards!

That's right - the one happy customer just happens to have the EXACT SAME USERNAME as the person who runs the website ! We know it isn't just a random person who loves putting a link to a totally unrelated site in their signature, because at one stage they update the site with a picture to explain a point.

Wow. That's an amazing coincidence.

What are the odds ?

To make it even more amazing ... both of these entirely separate individuals just HAPPEN to like putting their usernames in All Caps ! That's even eerier ...

Mac
(eg: http://www.bautforum.com/astronomy/6860-dark-space.html#post120421 )

colealpaugh said:

I forgot to mention I'm half Italian. Mmmm...pizza and lynchings!

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So you're self hating as well? That's going to get great PR for you!


Mac C.

That was funny! We share the same first name... I know... Being Italian it's shocking. Look up the English version of the name Akoni. I stole the idea from him.



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=akoni&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10



I love how you're freaking out when I already said I was pissed over the racism and said I wouldn't use him as an agent. Bitter bitter bitter.


I just sent him an email about this. Maybe he can come here and you published people can all attack him.

Where did you see that stuff?

AKONI said:

That was funny! We share the same first name... I know... Being Italian it's shocking. Look up the English version of the name Akoni. I stole the idea from him.

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Including the all caps style?

The two people who use that username on message boards with that exact style just happen to be a guy and his satisfied client?

You must be some fan !

Mac

colealpaugh. Honestly? You want Evil Alien Face Thongs You're weird, but mostly creepy. Looking forward to when your circus book comes out. Let us know.

Why can't I find any of your books listed here http://www.colealpaugh.com/books.html anywhere???



Mac H. Not a fan. I really dug the way the first name translated from Hawaiian and made a joke about it. You think me posting in one place with a user name in caps is weird. I've come across about 5 different people who use the name DRUNKMAN in all caps.

Again. Nice editing work. Wouldn't hire him as an agent because there's no need for me to do so and the line editing served a greater purpose than an opinion on the work.

So you didn't know him before your worked with him?

This is a honest question, BTW.

Mac

Mac H. Okay, that's fair enough.


I did searches for an editor because I love to write but I sometimes get the words backwards. I paid one person who did a crappy job and then found this guy. I told him what happened and he agreed to edit the first chapter for free and if I liked it he would then do the rest of the manuscript for pay. It worked out.

He told me he's new at the agent thing and does more work with scripts so he doesn't have a track record as an agent, I didn’t want to take a chance on a new agent, but I can't argue with him for wanting to be paid for his work if he's actually going to read the whole thing if most agents reject stuff after a page or two.

We still correspond from time to time because I've had a few questions about the business. He once told me what our first names mean in Hawaiian Anthony = Akoni. I thought it was funny so I used it when I came here. (and it's apart of my personal email address) That's not some grand conspiracy.


Honestly, don't go with the guy if you don’t want to, but to assume someone I worked with who didn't rip me off is a scam artist got me posting,and the racist Italian comment didn't help, because I’ve been on the receiving end of it, but I guess some people like Cole Alpaugh thought the Sopranos was a documentary when they watched it and they let their ignorance show.





Cole Alpaugh, if that's the case then why on your website are you pretending you have THREE books?