This page is likely not helping matters.
Changemakers Publishing and Writing said:
If you haven’t yet written your book, she can help you write one or two chapters, as well as prepare the proposal.
If you have self-published a book, unless it has high sales, it is better to change the name and treat this as a non-published book or indicate that what you self-published was only a part of the book and in limited distribution. Then, pitch the new book.
We can help you find a mainstream publisher or agent, too, by sending a query under your own email to several hundred editors or agents. The letter is personalized to them and targeted to contacts interested in your type of book, using our special software for sending out personalized queries from a selected email address.
For more details, visit publishersagentsandfilms.com.
Promoting Your Book page said:
To send your query letter to thousands of media contacts, use one of our affiliate companies, Publishers Agents and Films publishersagentsandfilms or PR and Networking Connection.
So many questions. Note my bolded--still offering the email blasts, and calling the other companies mentioned here "affiliates".
If that book being shopped has "one or two chapters" written by Graham Scott, is she listed as a co-author? Is the author signing a contract certifying that this is original work when it's been ghostwritten?
Ditto taking a self-published book and re-titling it. While that's a bit more common, there's more than just changing the name. If you're signing for first rights, those had better be the first rights.
As has been mentioned, this "special software" is called mail merge or a mailing list client, they've been around forever, they are
not what "personalization" means in a query (e.g., there's a difference between "Hi, [Agent Name]," and "I'm interested in your agency because I saw you at a conference," or "You've said you really liked Book Y and I've written a ten-part fantasy series inspired by Book Y; help me edit and sell it, please?"), and they're very easy to spam-block not just for the end-user but for the email clients themselves, which often use algorithms to detect masked mailing lists and block at the source.
Note that, as Marlys says, the URL is the same--the "old company" is therefore managed under the same domain. I.e., owned by the same person, as you would generally need the domain log-in info in order to manage either company's web presence. So it can't have been sold, or the domain would have either changed or been part of the sale. The old site looks like a separate CMS installation so I don't doubt that it's 'old' and perhaps not offered anymore. It should be removed. It should
really have been its own sub-domain, at least, which could also have been removed. It also doesn't seem to materially differ from the new service, but perhaps it does in key ways, I can't say. What I can say is that basic web management is something a company offering to manage your emails and promotions should have a grasp on. Even if a promoter is 100% legit with testimonials coming out every meta-corporeal orifice, if it can't figure out sub-domains, let alone comma usage, I ain't working with it.
