[Services] Marcus Bryan & Associates / Michigan Avenue Media LLC

Marcus Bryan and Associates

I guess no one ever heard of them ...

Marcus Bryan & Associates

An agent firm in (of all places) Illinois is requesting to see a couple of scripts from me. Has anyone heard of Marcus Bryan & Associates. They have a website (whoopee!) But it doesn't tell me much.

Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kevin Michael Vance
www.kevacho.com

I haven't gotten any complaints about this agency. However, I've visited its website, which lists mostly screenplays plus a few books. There are no apparent sales among the screenplays, and all the books are vanity-published. I don't see anything like a commercial track record.

- Victoria

Thanks Victoria,

Haven't spoken to you in some time. Hope things are going well. Is your second book out yet?

Sincerely,

Kevin
www.kevacho.com

the sweet dark elixir of life...

Seventh book, actually, but second in the current duology. It'll be out in March 2006.

- Victoria

Yay!

... this is me excited. I eagerly look forward to reading your new book. As you know I loved "The Burning Land".

I recently got a hit on one of my own novels. Here's hoping C.M.A. likes my 3 chap.'s.

Kevin
www.kevacho.com

I'm interested in this agent too. I see the WGA referenced, but i don't see anything about him being an AAR member. I just e-mailed a query to him.

From their website:

The following published books, all by Marcus Bryan clients, are available to production companies to review as potential films.

Click to expand...

LADY IN BLACK (Thriller by Craig Clyde) Writer's Showcase Press (March 2003) -- this is iUniverse, a pay-to-play vanity POD.


SALA, MORE THAN A SURVIVOR (True Story by Marsha Cook) Writers Club Press (December 2001) That's iUniverse again, still a pay-to-play POD vanity.

LIES AND LUST IN THE TUDOR COURT (True Story by Margaret Doner) iUniverse (April 30, 2004) Still a pay-to-play POD vanity.

CHILDREN OF ANGELS (Drama by Margaret Doner) Not found. Mentioned but not listed on the author's webpage.

INFINITE DARKNESS/INFINITE LIGHT (Drama by Margaret Doner) Authors Choice Press (April 27, 2005) This is, once again, iUniverse.

HOSTAGE: FIFTEEN DAYS OF HELL (True Story by Keith Rapp) Self-published? Not found at Amazon, B&N, or bookfinder.com.

DELIRIUM (Medical Thriller by Gil Snider) No novel by that author by that title found. Did find Brain Warp A Medical Thriller by Gil Snider. iUniverse (September 30, 2003). POD vanity.

EAST WING OF THE MERIDIAN (Drama by Max Irving) No book by that title by that author. Did find East Wing of the Meridian by Marsha Cook. Bookman Publishing (July 2004) Another pay-to-play POD vanity press.

MAGICAL LEAPING LIZARD POTION (Children's Story by Max Irving) Not found.
The only mention on the 'net is on the Marcus Bryan page.


This is not a very impressive list of book sales. Every one that I found was published by a pay-to-play vanity press.

You don't need an agent to submit your work to a vanity. All you need is a checkbook.

Marcus Bryan & Associates, Inc.

Forgive me if I've posted this on the wrong forum. Does anyone know anything about Marcus Bryan & Associates? They claim to be Chicago's top WGA signatory agency and I believe they help create queries and book proposals. Has anyone ever used them?

http://marcusbryan.com/

found this on an old thread from 2005 posted by Caopaux.

victoriastrauss also has a post about this agency from 2005 and here it is,
"I haven't gotten any complaints about this agency. However, I've visited its website, which lists mostly screenplays plus a few books. There are no apparent sales among the screenplays, and all the books are vanity-published. I don't see anything like a commercial track record.

- Victoria
__________________
Two of Eight
Website: www.victoriastrauss.com
Writer Beware: www.writerbeware.org
Writer Beware Blog: www.accrispin.blogspot.com"

That's too bad. Thanks for the info. btw, are there any services that have successfully helped authors put together proposals (assuming the books were salable in the first place)?

I live in Dallas. It's the 9th most populated city in the USA (albeit, behind Chicago which is ranked 3rd these day I believe). I only know of one legitimate agent in Dallas, and I think he's basically a one man shop.

There might be more, but he's the only one I know about and I've done a few searches since having an agent living in your city could make a few things rather handy.

The fact is, being the top agency in a non-New York city isn't much of a claim. There are certainly agents outside of New York, but they are small ponds compared to the ocean. And 'top' is subjective. A firm with 10 inexperienced agents without connections could claim to be the top agency in a city that had a legitimate agent running a one-man-shop, but that single agent would be infinitely better at actually selling a manuscript to a publisher.

(Okay, infiinty-minus-one better -- the bigger agency could always get lucky in the slush pile.)

The last inquiry I got about them as an agency dates from mid-2006.

- Victoria

Marcus Bryan and Associates

Thought everything was great. First script. Got an agent. She really seemed to want to sell it. Weeks go by, no word from her. Call. E-mail. Another couple weeks before reply.
"No bites yet. I'm sending you an itemized list of companies we sent your query letter to."
"Ok."
"We only charge 10 cents a copy. And the usual stamps and calls and what not."
"To be taken out of the sale, right?"
"honey, honestly...selling a script is so hard. Realistically the script wont be sold. But we still need to pay the bills."
"Why do you do it, if you dont think it will sell?"
"I'm about to go into a meeting. I'll call you back later."

Three more weeks.

I call a production company. Talk to the rep. Kiss ass and Sell myself.
"Get an agent and get back to me."
"I've got one."
"Have her send the script."
"OK. thank you."

I call Marcus Bryan...and get ahold of someone.
"This company would like a copy of the script."
"I'll send the query letter to them, but I would be too hopefull. It isn't really their cup of tea."
"They told me to send the script. not the query."
"It doesn't work like that. I'll send the query and we'll see."

Three weeks go by.

I call the company.
"I'm still waiting for your script."
"My agent wanted to send the query."
"what for?"
"she said that's how things work."
"time for a new agent."

Called Marcus.
"Did you send the script?"
"yeah...they weren''t interested at this time. I'm sending another list of companies. I think it would be best if we just settled up both of these now. No sense running them up. It would be about 150 dollars."

That was the last I heard from them.
I called on the one year date on my contract. I was double checking the expiration date.
I got..."I've got so many clients, I don't have the time to look it up right now. I'll be back to you."

It has been about a year and counting. Still no word from them.
My last email thanked her for her "time" and "effort"
No so much as a good luck and goodbye.
TRUE PROFESSIONALISM.

WGA signatory doesn't mean anything. Just that they pay their fee to be one. No background check. Nothing.
Just like a 45 dollar a year fee. and a promise that they won't act like Marcus Bryan does.
I called WGA to report them, and was told many a writers have already.

About Bryan Marcus, I sent an e-mail to him on Saturday, July 26 and left a phone message on Tuesday, July 30. I wanted to inquire if he would be interested in representing a nonfiction, social commentary book I wrote. Thus far, I have had no reply. I view that as rather rude or, I might say, loutish. I assume he is not away on vacation since his secretary tried to reach him before I left the phone message.

Perhaps it would be best to be wary of this agency.

Hal Kassel

thanku

I sent this company a query and they were quite promt in thier reply asking for my script. Usually agencies want some sort of a release form before you send them anything, this company did not ask for one.

I decided to look them up in more detail before I sent out anything and I wanted to thank everyone in this thread for helping me make the decision not to send my work to them.

Thankyou : )

Just recieved this morning

Dear name with held by me,

I received your email regarding your manuscript. Could you please send a copy to my attention at the following address so I may review it. After my review, I will contact you. Thank you.

1342 Brunswick Court
Elgin, IL 60120

Respectfully,

Vickie Russo
Assistant
Marcus Bryan & Associates, Inc.

Suspicions already rising

Michigan Avenue Literary Agency / Michigan Avenue Media (Marsha Cook)

Does anybody know anything about MICHIGAN AVENUE LITERARY AGENCY, run by Marsha Cook?:

http://www.michiganavenueliteraryagency.com/

Linked to Marcus Bryan & Associates, Inc., which doesn't seem to be a good sign.