Advice needed for scammed new author

Point her here. Whatever they've sent her has probably already been demolished line-by-line.

Tell her that books get sold out of the slush more often than WL sells a book -- if they've ever sold a book in their miserable lives, for which, despite their claims, there is precisely no evidence. Tell her that they accept anyone and anything, including (literally!) gibberish. Tell her that if they ask her for money, or tell her that she needs to pay someone else money, that it's proof that they're a scam. Tell her that their head man, Robert Fletcher, is an adjudged scammer who was forced to pay a $50,000 fine plus restitution for defrauding folks. Tell her that every time WL makes a statement that can be fact checked that it turns out to be a lie.

When she decides to bail out, it's this easy: send them a registered letter telling them that they do not represent her.

If she decides to keep going with them, tell her to take good notes; they'll come in handy if she gets called as a witness for the prosecution the next time he's hauled into court. Fletcher is a scammer and has never been anything else.

You can point her to other sources on how to find agents.

But be aware that the psychological force of someone saying "I love your book as much as you do" may well make your words fall on deaf ears.

Alas, when someone puts on the Captain Lemming outfit and heads for the roof there isn't much you can do.

Point her to the discussions at Making Light: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008839.html and http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007246.html

Perhaps she doesn't understand that the money she spent on the critique (and will spend on the webpage, the edits, the Aggressive Agent program, and whatever else) really is a fee, even if the name "WL Writers' Literary" isn't on the pay-to line. It's the same people using a different e-mail address.

You are a bigger person than I. If someone I was trying to help gave me that line about being more particular I would be tempted to let them find it all out for themselves. Good luck!

scully931 said:

You are a bigger person than I. If someone I was trying to help gave me that line about being more particular I would be tempted to let them find it all out for themselves. Good luck!

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Yep, I'm ashamed to say that was my exact thought. (But part of it was how hard it's going to be to convince this woman, and how much family trouble you're likely to stir up.)

mscelina said:

she's my mother in law.

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oh ... my.


...godspeed.

Might it be wise to hand everything over to your husband, and let him present it to her? Sounds as though she'll listen more readily to him, and if she's anything like my MIL she'll really appreciate the trouble he's been to on her behalf.

mscelina said:

probably a lot. *sigh* she's my mother in law.

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...oh dear. Good luck.

Ouch. That is a very unfortunate situation! good luck.

Just make sure you also tell her that you really care about her and don't want to see her taken, and that her work deserves the best it can get, and these people aren't it.

More flies with honey and all. Just make her feel she's better than WL. I don't know her level of talent, but no one deserves that bunch. Then maybe give her the link to P&E, so she can research new agents. Give her an open window, so she doesn't feel the door is being shut in her face.

If she has signed a contract and gotten a critique, she's almost certainly paid money. Writer Beware has examined many of those critiques and they are almost always useless...generic boilerplate that is just cut and pasted.

If your MIL finally sees that she has been duped, please have her write to me. ESPECIALLY if she's from Florida.

There are laws against conning people, especially senior citizens.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com
[email protected]

It's Jane, mscelina. Thanks for asking. And I hope that you manage to resolve this without too much pain--it's a horrid situation.

What Berlin book fair? Does she mean Frankfurt? Because that was a few weeks ago.

mscelina said:

probably a lot. *sigh* she's my mother in law.

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Oh, you have my deepest sympathy. My mother-in-law, trying to be "helpful," once got me the name of the agent of someone at her church and said she'd have them recommend me. Guess who.

She didn't understand when I politely declined and thought I didn't appreciate her efforts. When I told her what I knew about them, she got offended because she was certain her friend couldn't have been scammed because she was a clever and good person who was only going out of their way to help me.

Thanksgiving was...uncomfortable that year, especially since my father-in-law kept asking me questions about the publishing industry (in which he's started to take an interest because of my efforts to be published).

At least she listened. Whew.

Don't feel guilt!

Eat cake!

mscelina said:

probably a lot. *sigh* she's my mother in law.

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Good luck! I agree with giving all the printouts to your husband and having him talk sense to her. There's only so much you can do.