A Cappela Publishing / Advocate House / eLitAgent (Patrika Vaughn)

RicMarion · Mar 1, 2005

Hello Everyone,

Sometimes you stumble across something that is just too amazing not to share.

http://www.elitagent.com
Came across this agency listing on Brady Magazine - who sent me an unsolicited email to have a look at her ezine.

The concept is interesting. Pay $400 to have them 'evaluate' your manuscript, then, if accepted without resorting to a referred book doctor, pay another $1000 to have a web site built that will then be emailed to 100 publishers.

Okay, after that shiver subsides, go to the Publisher side of the web site and take a look at what is being offered.

The first book excerpt I pulled up would not make it past an eighth grade English teacher. I counted 14 errors in the first paragraph.

Victoria, any word on these folks? I couldn't find a thread anywhere with the search engine.

Ric

pepperlandgirl · Mar 1, 2005

Wow they'll do all that for $1400?

I don't think you need to find "word" on these folks. Your answer is right there.

JennaGlatzer · Mar 1, 2005

Good Lord

Thanks for pointing that one out. Amazing. Unscrupulous people never cease to amaze me with how low they will go.

victoriastrauss · Mar 1, 2005

Patrika Vaughan has been around (and charging fees) in one form or another for as long as I've been collecting data on agents. As far as I know, she has never made a sale (and why should she, with the money her clients are paying her?

- Victoria

Daughter of Faulkner · Mar 1, 2005

Send me two e-mails too!

Thanks for the information!

MacAllister · Mar 1, 2005

From their website:

In the old days, if an agent asked you for a reading fee or "processing fee," I'd have advised you to find another agent. Agents made their money by getting your work published and taking a percentage of the sales (usually in the region of 10-20%). That was back in the days when there were fewer than two dozen major publishing houses and publishing was a gentlemanly endeavor.

er....uh...back in the "OLD DAYS"???????
:roll:

RicMarion · Mar 1, 2005

Wow!

Join the Absolute Message Boards and get all kinds of feedback.

This is really quite wonderful.

And to hear from not one, but both, of the Grand Masters.

Jenna and Victoria

You folks have been watching out for us - seems the least we can do is help.

Ric

Richard · Mar 2, 2005

I don't know whether to be more offended by the scam or the web design.

Wait, I do. Seriously, how the HELL could someone look at that and think "Today I did a good job..."

Uncarved · Mar 4, 2005

You're upset that its not serene blue I take it?

James D. Macdonald · Apr 7, 2007

Patricia has this on her front page:

Our first client's results:

Hello,

My name is Frederick Zappone. I'm the first author who found a publisher through the eLitAgent's electronic method and I'd like to tell you how that happened.

Like most writers, I hate dealing with query letters, submissions and, most of all, with rejections. So I was delighted to find a way to contact lots of publishers at one time, leaving it to those interested to get in touch with me. In just seven weeks, six publishers requested a copy of my manuscript. I selected the one I felt would have my best interests at heart and negotiated a contract with that publisher which pays me a 15% royalty.

In the process of seeking a publisher for my work, I contacted Patrika Vaughn, the Author's Advocate. With her background as a literary agent, a published author and ghostwriter, plus her experience as an editor and publisher, she was impressed with the possibilities of finding a publisher using 21st Century electronics. She asked if I would be interested in pioneering this method with her. I agreed, and you see the results. She is now making this method available to other talented emerging authors.

Sincerely,
Frederick Zappone

Unfortunately, I'm unable to discover exactly what Mr. Zappone has published.

CaoPaux · Apr 7, 2007

One of the first hits on the name is http://frederickzappone.com/, with a glowing testimonial from "Patty"....

So, presuming that is the guy:

http://www.selfgrowth.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=471&page=17

htcommunications.org is defunct, but the Wayback Machine gives us:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030711184542/htcommunications.org/homepage.html

Specifically:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030122234531/htcommunications.org/master.html

(HT Communications, LLC is now here http://www.kennethharperfinton.com/, with no sign of the book in question.)

victoriastrauss · Apr 7, 2007

I'm pretty sure that testimonial from Mr. Zappone has been on her website at least since, oh, 1998 or so.

Patrika Vaughn also runs A Capella Publishing Inc., which features a vanity publisher called Advocate House.

- Victoria

e.dashwood · Apr 7, 2007

"Representation, however, has also changed. There are now hundreds of small to mid-sized publishers out there, most of them catering to a single niche market. Agents have to work harder to find the best home for each work they represent. And they have to get up to speed, meaning they have to go electronic. This is where our ability to present your manuscript to as many as 100 publishers at a time comes in."

In other words, they have no contacts in the real-world of publishing, and if they do anything for you, it would be to send unsolicited submissions via spam-type mass mailing. You would do better to set this up this type of sham on your own, and save the fee.

CaoPaux · Jan 30, 2011

Although eLitAgent still has a page at A Cappela (http://www.acappela.com/useagent.htm) the site itself is gone.

CaoPaux · Mar 7, 2016

A Cappela gone now, too. Tw/FB/blog ceased '12.

Smashwords page, for the record: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/acappela

A Cappela Publishing / Advocate House / eLitAgent (Patrika Vaughn)

RicMarion

pepperlandgirl

American Aquarium Drinker

JennaGlatzer

wishes you happiness

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

Daughter of Faulkner

Always a writer

MacAllister

'Twas but a dream of thee

RicMarion

Richard

13th Triskaidekaphobe

Uncarved

I aim to misbehave

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

e.dashwood

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless