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Charlotte Gusay Literary Agency

oonasong

Does anyone know anything about this agency? I read she charges a fee on Preditors and Editors.
 

cdg1951

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Charlotte Gusay

Any comments on this agency? I thought I had read something about her but couldn't find anything in a search. Any comments are greatly appreciated!
 

T42

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cdg1951 said:
Any comments on this agency? I thought I had read something about her but couldn't find anything in a search. Any comments are greatly appreciated!
When you say her are you speaking about yourself? The name, your user name with the C and G? What agency?
 

Kasey Mackenzie

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I don't have any personal experience with this agency, but a google search turned up some hits, including this website: http://www.mediastudio.com/gusay/ which appears to indicate that the agency has had at least some legitimate sales. However, I also checked it out on Preditors and Editors and they have a "Charges fee. Not recommended." rating so that would tend to make me shy away from them, especially without truly in-depth information on that website.
 

cdg1951

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I am asking about the Charlotte Gusay Literary Agency. I am not Charlotte Gusay, although my initials are the same.

They have asked for my first 3 chapters and I recall reading something about them but cannot remember what it was.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
 

James D. Macdonald

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Here's what Agent Research says:

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We have picked up some sales for the requested agent, but we are also aware of reports that this agent makes upfront charges (i.e. levies costs before a ms is sold). This practice is outside the norms of the industry, contrary to the highest standards of agent behavior, and highly disapproved of by publishers. As a matter of policy we at AR&E do not recommend any agent indulging in these shenanigans, however many books that person may have sold. If a dubious agent can sell your work, rest assured someone with more acceptable ethics can do so also....
[/font]
 

Maryn

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Wow. Scathing. (And isn't scathing a lovely word there just aren't enough opportunities to use?)

Maryn
 

victoriastrauss

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This agency has a respectable track record of commercial sales, but it also charges a $35 "processing" fee (which it goes out of its way, via a page-long disclaimer, to proclaim isn't a reading fee). It's not a lot of money, and a handful of reasonably well-established agents do charge small fees like this, supposedly to help cover processing costs and/or to ensure adequate return postage.

The danger, of course, is that the agency will request submissions it's not really interested in, in order to get the fee. I've gotten several reports that seem to indicate this is the case with Gusay--submissions rejected so quickly they couldn't have been read, that sort of thing. In one case, the rejection letter was dated the same day the writer’s submission package was received (she’d sent it with a tracking number).

So in situations like this, you can't really know for sure whether a request for a submission indicates actual interest in your work.

- Victoria
 

cdg1951

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Thank you all!

Victoria, I remember reading this a little bit ago and it stuck in my mind. Not sure what to do. They do have a track record, but I don't like paying a fee. Hmmmmmm . . .
 

michaeloppen

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Charlotte Gusay

I queried her maybe five years ago and received a request for $35. When I questioned this, she claimed it was to keep nonprofessionals from bothering her. My long list of publications did faze her. It was $35 or don't bother me. I classify her as a sleazeball.
 

Julie Worth

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I too received a request for a processing fee. It wasn’t that much, so I sent it in. Ten days later I received a form letter in my SASE, saying I hadn’t enclosed postage for the return of my submission. They were going to discard it without review unless I sent them a priority stamp, or contacted them within ten days. I dutifully emailed them, saying I hadn’t included return postage because I didn’t want it returned. Now it’s months later and I haven’t heard anything more, so I suppose they discarded it without review. I’m not sure what the $35 was for. Lunch money, maybe.

 

Dave Sloane

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Someone calling herself "R.C." rejected the first 50 pages
of my novel in 2003--then this year I sent them my completed p.o.d. book with a nice letter and
Julie McReynolds said she read it cover to cover--which was pretty cool, but she wasn't buying, saying she was "ambivalent." Okay. At least she read it and I appreciate it. That was very nice of her. For real. They claim they only take on projects they really, really believe in, so good luck. At least I got my $35 bucks worth.
 

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Dave Sloane said:
At least I got my $35 bucks worth.
Dave, I don't understand what you got that was worth $35.
 

Dave Sloane

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Reply to Aconite

I got my thirty-five bucks worth because Julie read my book, "Methadone
Clinic" from cover to cover. She wrote me back to tell me so and I believe
her because there was nothing in it for her to tell me this. Gusay was the
only agency that bit when I sent out all of my original queries, so I sent
them a copy of my book and she read it. Good karma. No?
 

Bufty

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I must be missing something, Dave - what value did you get for your $35 apart from her claiming she'd read it?
 

Aconite

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Dave, I still don't understand why you think it's great that you paid someone $35 to say they read your book. Even if she did read your book, it cost you $35. Surely there's no reason to think you have to pay to be read.
 

MadScientistMatt

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Dave Sloane said:
I got my thirty-five bucks worth because Julie read my book, "Methadone
Clinic" from cover to cover. She wrote me back to tell me so and I believe
her because there was nothing in it for her to tell me this. Gusay was the
only agency that bit when I sent out all of my original queries, so I sent
them a copy of my book and she read it. Good karma. No?

Uh, Dave, normally your goal should be to have people pay you to read your work, not the other way around. :)

Right now it sounds as though you are out $35 and no closer to being published. I can't say that is getting your money's worth.
 

Julie Worth

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Gussay is a verb. To gussay is to say you will read a submission if the writer gives you money. It is always a lie.
 

Dave Sloane

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Look everybody

In authors heaven there would be no need for agents. I guess most of 'em are
just self-serving bloodsuckers but they seem to be a necessary evil. In the
old days when there were all of these small publishing houses it was much
easier to get your novel published. That was like fifty years ago.

To set the record straight, Gusay got back to me in 2003 requesting the
fee and the first 50 pgs. Sent it out and got a no. Two months ago, using
guerilla tactics I sent my finished p.o.d. book out expecting no response.
I didn't send any more money, and they didn't ask. What I did get was
a no-nonsense letter from Julie McReynolds saying she was "ambivalent"
about my novel, "Methadone Clinic."

She didn't pull any punches in her evaluation either and it was the best
rejection letter I ever got. She read my book, she didn't have to and
she wrote back. I'm sure she had better things to do. And, yes, I'm
sure she read it, which had to take at least a few hours.

So that's why I think I got my money's worth--the second time around.
I certainly didn't feel that way the first time, when someone with the initials "R.C" didn't even sign his/her name on a perfunctory rejection note--not
even a letter--just a note.

One more thing--how may of you guys would not gamble the thirty-five
bucks if Gusay invited you to send in the first fifty? How ya gonna know
if you're gonna get the deal if you don't? Remember, Gusay is no fly-by-
night agency based on all I've read about 'em.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL !!!
 

DaveKuzminski

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Mr. Sloane,

Legitimate agents do not charge reading fees. Their own organization bans those. What makes you more of an expert than the agents themselves when it comes to such fees?

Furthermore, what you paid for is a critique. However, critiques are subjective because those depend strongly on the individual preferences of the critiquer. You could get a dozen such critiques pointing out problems with your manuscript and still get represented by a legitimate agent and even published by a legitimate publisher because it may still be marketable in their opinion. Likewise, you could get a dozen such critiques that gush over your manuscript, but still get rejected simply because there are other manuscripts just slightly better or more marketable in the opinion of those doing the representing or buying.

So, don't waste your time being Gusayed. Send your work to agents who don't charge reading fees. I think you'll find that you stand a better chance that way then trying to rewrite your manuscript to match what one critique suggested only to be disappointed later when you discover that you're trying to make one size fit all when in publishing it can't.

Remember, your objective should be gaining acceptances, not rejections.
 

victoriastrauss

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Dave Sloane said:
IIn the
old days when there were all of these small publishing houses it was much
easier to get your novel published. That was like fifty years ago.
Actually, it was about 25 years. I know 'cause I was there.

And it wasn't "easier" back then. It was just a different process.
One more thing--how may of you guys would not gamble the thirty-five bucks if Gusay invited you to send in the first fifty?
Hopefully, as few as possible. When an agency wants money to read your manuscript--no matter how small the amount--you can never be sure they're asking to read because they're interested, or because they want the fee. If you pay up, you really are gambling, and odds are you'll lose.

- VIctoria
 

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I've had three different agents during my writing career and not ONCE have I been asked to pay them--it has always been the other way way round, in that they've paid ME. That's the way it is done. If an agent asks a writer for money, then I'd avoid them at all costs, no discussion.