Children's Book Publishing Agency / WL Children's Agency

Terie

Writer is as Writer does
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
4,151
Reaction score
951
Location
Manchester, UK
Website
www.teriegarrison.com
This question was posed on a Yahoo group I own:

Does anyone have any information about the Children's Book Publishing Agency? Their site is here. There are a few signs that suggest caution (such as not listing any clients or sales--tho' that could just be because they're new), but some real info, either yay or nay, would be appreciated by my group members.

Please note that this is not the Children's Literary Agency. Well, not unless they've repackaged themselves yet again.
 

jamiehall

Bereaved Snarkling
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
5,220
Reaction score
264
Website
www.jamiehall.org
This question was posed on a Yahoo group I own:

Does anyone have any information about the Children's Book Publishing Agency? Their site is here. There are a few signs that suggest caution (such as not listing any clients or sales--tho' that could just be because they're new), but some real info, either yay or nay, would be appreciated by my group members.

Please note that this is not the Children's Literary Agency. Well, not unless they've repackaged themselves yet again.

From reading their website, I don't see any names whatsoever attached to it. They list the occupations of clients, but not their names, and they claim their agents are experienced, but don't say how, and they don't list any names there either.

Also, they seem to have an adult arm called "Writers Book Publishing Agency" at http://www.writersbookpublishingagency.com/ which is a redirect page to the notorious Writers Literary Agency.

My guess is that this is yet another attempt at re-invention for the notorious octopus-like group of bad literary agencies.
 

Richard White

Stealthy Plot Bunny Peddler
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
2,993
Reaction score
600
Location
Central Maryland
Website
www.richardcwhite.com
Jamie

I clicked on your link and didn't get redirected.

It appears Robert Fletcher has a new site with a new name and a new web design. Same exact information and same layout as the old one.

(I know, I have screen captures.)

*sigh*
 
Last edited:

AvantiAvanti

Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
Myrtle Creek, OR
Website
www.talesoftamoor.com
Question of ligitimacy of Childrensbookpublishing.com

One of our members asked this question just last night. I wrote directly to the organization after checking network solutions for information about their domain name, which was just established on April 5, 2008.

Here is the note I sent to them:

[FONT=georgia,serif]To Whomever is behind the domain:
childrensbookpublishingagency.com
[/FONT]

[FONT=georgia,serif][/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]I am writing to you as member of a Northern California group of professional publishers and authors.
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif] Some of our members have come across your query for authors through Yahoo, and would like to know more about who you are, what your business name is, and how long you have been in business.
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]Our research indicates you have just started using the internet with this new domain name, so this does not give us a lot to go on.
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]Since there is a whole new group of internet scams targeting small businesses in the arts and culture sectors, we would like to know more information about your company so that we may refer our members to you, if indeed, you are legitimate.
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]If your company is a member of any major publishing organizations, or better business bureaus, please let us know.
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]Thank you for your time,
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]Sincerely,
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]Michele Avanti
Secretary
Northern California Publishers & Authors[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,serif]GreeHee Publishing
TalesofTamoor.com

[/FONT]Here is the reply I received:

We are so new that it shows I guess.. .. here is some more information about our group... we are certainly not a scam, we're just new. Please feel free to pass this along. Please tell your publishers to visit our marketing company and your authors to go through the proper agency.

The Acquisitions Team
Bill Williams - Senior Director


Please let me explain a bit about our philosophy and how we are organized. If you work with us, you will be working with the Strategic Publishing Group and all of the resources within our company will be available to you and your work. At this time we approach the book market with the following entities.

The Global Book Agency (www.theglobalbookagency.com) - TGBA works the international marketplace, either taking books from the US to other countries, or bringing books from other countries to the US.

Strategic Book Publishing (www.StrategicBookPublishing.com) - SBP is our traditional publisher. We pay all costs associated with bringing a work to market. In general we accept work across all genres where the pathway to 5000 sales within 12 monthis is clearly defined.

Eloquent Books (www.eloquentbooks.com) - EB is our Joint Venture Publisher. It handles works that SBP likes, but where the pathway to 5000 sales is not as clearly defined. EB will take a risk, SBP will not.

Strategic Book Marketing (www.StrategicBookMarketing.com) - SBM is the marketing arm of all the companies in the group. It offers services to both in-house, and non-group published authors. We believe that SBM is one of the best book marketing consultancies in the world. If you will read the Marketing Questions on the site, you will see what we mean. ( http://www.strategicbookmarketing.com/marketing-questions.html )

Strategic Book Agency: The Strategic Group brings in authors through four different agencies organized around genre and our business teams. They are the Childrens Book Publishing Agency, the Writers Book Publishing Agency, the Screenplay Writers Agency and the Poetry Book Publishing Agency. Authors that meet the criteria of Strategic Book Publishing, our traditional publisher, are passed directly to SBP and a list of those authors with whom we have helped sign contracts is located at http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/featured.html

http://www.strategicbookmarketing.com/marketing-questions.html . We think those questions are as leading edge as you can get in today's world and show our prowess.

I hope that helps give you an overview of our corporate philosophy and structure.


I will most probably write back to them again because it would nice to get to the bottom of who they are and where they are from.

But for now, I recommend caution, this man has given me a name and that is that. Quite meaningless since I asked if they were members of any known publishing organizations or better business bureaus. That question was totally ignored.
 

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
17,864
Reaction score
4,639
Location
dunking doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts
Not much information is available through whois.net, except the domain was just registered April 5.

From what I can tell from AvantiAvanti's email and clicking various links, they're offering agenting, marketing, and publishing services (sometimes "traditional", sometimes e-book, sometimes vanity, sometimes self-pub) under one roof. Huge red flag.

Oh, look Strategic Book Publishing has a page stating they have contacts with the film and TV industries, and is dropping serious hints they're the place to go with your novel.

Good grief, Strategic Book Publishing and Global Book Agency look like they were assembled using copy-'n'-paste technique.

I'm getting a headache from the alarms going off.
 

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
2,536
Reaction score
522
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
Website
www.carlaharker.com
Bill Williams? So the name he's using now is... William Williams?

And it looks like he's expanding from just agenting to publishing AND agenting. Gee, I wonder where Strategic Book Agency and its tentacles will be recommending its clients to. Anyone want to place bets on which publisher will get recommended more frequently, Eloquent Books or Strategic Book Publishing?
 

jamiehall

Bereaved Snarkling
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
5,220
Reaction score
264
Website
www.jamiehall.org
It's the "If you have an adult book..." link on their sub page: http://www.childrensbookpublishingagency.com/submission.html

ETA: And the "Writers Book Publishing Agency" is rife with links to The Literary Agency Group, WL Agency, The Screenplay Agency, etc., etc.

Thanks for clearing that up! I was sure wondering whether they'd changed it real quick or I'd made some weird mistake or what!

:Headbang:

It's not a redirect, it's a link saying it goes to writersbookspublishingagency.com in the link's text but when I hover the cursor over the link I see it goes directly to Writers Literary Agency, without an actual redirect.
 

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 2, 2007
Messages
6,449
Reaction score
1,321
"We're new"?!?! HA!

Same old bad sour wine in new bottles. Good catch, jamiehall.
 

cethklein

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
3,453
Reaction score
452
Location
USA
Ok so this IS in fact one of bobby's projects then? That figures. You'd think the guy would at least come up with more creative names for all of his "agencies". But then again I don't think we're talking about a rocket scientist here (or even a bottle-rocket scientist for that matter.)
 

NavyOne

Registered
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Somewhere between DC and Baltimore
(Hmmmm, here goes my first post on a new forum and I am already feeling puckerish.
Is that a word, puckerish? Ah, &*^%, these are writers, they know how I am feeling.
Wait, is &*^% capturing the exact cuss word I want? &*^% and $^#&! I give up with this graceful prologue business. . .)

Folks
So, I just got an email from the above gentlemen, gentle or otherwise.
My question, I sent him my work, am I in trouble?
Can he use my obviously brilliant prose and publish it under his own name?
Should I wait and see what he has to say for himself?

(Ahhh. That was not hard. Breathe. Okay, now let these pleasant, genteel folks answer my question without a longwinded epilogue. Breathe. Withdrawing hands from keyboard. Going over to "Post Quick Reply." Tenderly pushing said button. Returning to my damp home under a large rock with my dog, Sam the Spiderfish.)
 

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
17,864
Reaction score
4,639
Location
dunking doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts
Don't worry. The only thing they're after is your money. If you haven't signed anything, just tell them you aren't interested any longer and move on.
 

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
1,692
Reaction score
252
Location
near Atlanta, Georgia
Website
madscientistmatt.blogspot.com
NavyOne,

Just don't sign a contract with them, don't send them any money, and let it drop. For the LAG's groups to actually sell a book (either to a commercial publisher or to the book-buying public with their own "traditional publisher") would be too much like work for those guys. If you just ignore them they're not likely to take any serious action that could damage your writing career.
 

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
13,952
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Coastal Desert
Just to confirm: this "Strategic Publishing Group" adds another dozen arms/affiliates to Fletcher & Co., yes? :Headbang:
 

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
13,952
Reaction score
1,746
Location
Coastal Desert
In my opinion, yes. I'm waiting for some confirmations, then I will make some posts.

- Victoria
Kewl. I'll hold off on Indexing 'em until they're properly classified.

<50's SF> "Egads, Doctor! We've discovered a whole new species, and it's mutating at an alarming rate!" </50's SF>
 

Marcram

Registered
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
So where does one go......

to find a decent, reputable agent? I'm a novice too and this is very confusing.....
 

MadScientistMatt

Empirical Storm Trooper
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
1,692
Reaction score
252
Location
near Atlanta, Georgia
Website
madscientistmatt.blogspot.com
to find a decent, reputable agent? I'm a novice too and this is very confusing.....

Find books in the same genre as yours, recently published, and look on the Acknowledgements page. Often you'll see the author make a note, "I'd like to thank my agent, _____ ______, for landing me this deal." That's one good way to learn who agents that can deliver on their promise to sell your book are.
 

scifi97

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
52
Reaction score
4
Location
Portland, OR
Strategic Book Publishing info

I know this post is a bit long, but considering the importance of the topic, I figured all the details were necessary.

Since this forum saved me from the Children's Literary Agency, I thought I might help research this Strategic Book Publishing thing. I sent them my non-fiction "How to be a New Unpublished Writer" manuscript about a month ago. (No fees paid of any kind) Since that manuscript has nasty details of vanity publishing in it, I did not expect to hear back. But I was surprised. Below is what I got back.

Now, I'm sure that editor they refer to at the end would charge a hefty fee. However, the manuscript does need that work. The question is, would they really pursue this if I got the editing done somewhere else (or did it myself) and would they make any effort to sell it?? Hard to see how they could make a buck in this. Maybe charge marketing fees???

Maybe I'll polish this manuscript up and see what they really do with it. (No money or contracts coming from me though! Been there done that!)

From: "Joanne - Client Liaison" <[email protected]> [Add to Address Book]
To: <[email protected]> Subject: Butler Manuscript Review Date: Friday, May 02, 2008 4:45:28 PM [View Source]
Good day, James
I have received your manuscript for review. Thank you and congratulations on its submission. The purpose of the Manuscript Review is to assure that we are understanding and realizing the same goals in the production of your work. This Review covers the manuscript received on the date below. It should be understood that time does not permit an entire read-through of your manuscript. However, our skill allows us to perform an excellent analysis of your manuscript and determine if it is in need of an edit, and in some cases, a rewrite. Please reply to me with any comments that you may have. After we have discussed the Manuscript Review, we will begin the next steps in preparation of your manuscript into a finished book. Please understand that the logistics of the process will involve a large number of factors. It is important that we keep things in sync so delays don’t occur. Be sure that you provide us with correct information at the outset. Your assistance will help the process run far more smoothly. Carefully review your manuscript prior to submitting it for an edit or, if you opt to edit it yourself, that you have made certain it is perfect because the next step on its journey will be production, and any changes will slow it down. If you are diligent in the process, you can ensure that your final product will top quality.
Warmest regards,
Joanne – Review Manager
Date manuscript received:
April 8, 2008
Author name:
James L. Butler
Book Title:
How to be a ‘New Unpublished Writer’ for 30 Years
Sub Title:
Manuscript Assessment ----
Word Count:
36,362
Formatting - okay?
( ) yes ( x ) no
Comments: In particular the paragraph indentation and spacing.
Are all elements of the manuscript in one file? ( x ) yes ( ) no
Are the margins set at 1"? Can they be easily changed if not? ( x ) yes ( ) no
Is the font at 12pt Times New Roman for all elements? ( ) yes ( x ) no
Are there any strange breaks in sections, pages, paragraphs? ( x ) yes ( ) no
Are paragraphs formatted correctly? ( ) yes ( x) no
Are headers and footers, if used, easily removed? ( x ) yes ( ) no
Is the title page correct? ( ) yes ( x ) no
Are illustrations, photos, graphs, etc. removed from text and available separately, and clearly marked? ( x ) yes ( ) no
Formatting is (check one): ( ) Perfect ( x ) Normal ( ) Needs Extensive Work
Editing needed?
( x) yes ( ) no
Comments: James, first and foremost, I laughed out loud many times while reading your manuscript. You have an extraordinary wit. Every "would be writer, working writer and most importantly, has been writer will love this book. With that said, I recommend a complete edit as I noticed errors in punctuation throughout. I question the use of both ? and / in the first introductory paragraph. The impact of the sentence stands alone. I would recommend leaving the “though” out -
I have become something of an expert at ‘keeping writing’ over the last 30 years. Not many writers would want to wait thirty years to become a ‘New Published Writer’ though.
Comma use - I think there is one and only one reason real writers write; they love to do it, no matter what the outcome.
It is very hard to get a great story, even perfectly prepared, published.
They do not understand that the internal satisfaction of creating something of their own has to be rewarding enough, on its own, to keep them going even as the cold and cutting rejection letters come pouring in.
At a minimum they will be amazed at how one writer could step on so many of the mines without losing a limb or at least his sanity, and forgotten memories of their own fear filled encounters in the minefield will surely be viewed in a new light.

That SASE came back pretty quickly, with nothing in it but a yellow Post It, with a hand written note scribbled on it.
You get the idea.
I love most of the fragmented sentences. They make a humorous - impact statement. There are times when it may be very slightly overused as in - Well, a story long enough to be a book. Or Probably a privacy thing.
You may not want to diminish the impact when the fragments are necessary by overuse.
I found a few spelling errors and mild grammar errors as in :
For those eight weeks I could care less
Beep, beep, beep, beep. Sounds like a timer counting dow
I would recommend a full edit to simply have another set of eyes making sure this beautiful manuscript gets the exposure that it deserves. The paragraphs must all be reformatted.
Being an ex-humor writer (not currently being published) myself, I fell in love with the minefields. Your style is extremely readable and funny. The transition between the minefields and the story of your life is excellent and I thought the publisher replies were great --- but without a doubt my favorite is your unique genre descriptions. I would personally love to see this book in print.
We know that you do not want to be embarrassed by mechanical errors within your text (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) As your production liaison, it is important to me that your book is error-free. However, the choice for editing is ultimately yours. As you know, you are responsible for the content within your book. Further along in the production process, you will be required to sign off that you understand this, and that we are not held responsible for errors. Therefore, I would like to suggest that you consider having an editor go over your work one final time. You can choose any editor you wish, however, we do have a referral with whom we work who will do the work in a timely fashion. We trust them and their quality. Let me know if you would like to work with them, or how you would like to proceed with corrections to your text. We are happy to advise you whatever you decide. We want the book to be as professional as you do!

Dedications?
( ) yes ( x ) no
Comments: Can be added
Acknowledgements?
( ) yes ( x ) no
Comments: Can be added
Table of Contents?
( x) yes ( ) no
Comments:
Index?
( x ) yes ( ) no
Comments:
Introduction?
( x ) yes ( ) no
Comments:
Illustrations?
( ) yes ( x) no
Comments:
Googled Author Name
( x ) yes ( ) no
Comments: No conflict
Googled Title
( x) yes ( ) no
Comments: No conflict
CONCLUSION:
A book from a writer about writing will naturally have more scrutiny with regard to grammar and punctuation. This is a tremendous view in to the reality of the publishing (or lack of publishing) industry and the obsession of the true writer. This is the perfect companion (to make up for the average writer having no social life) for every would be writer I know!
THE OPENING PARAGRAPH
Good introduction. The minefields are brilliant.
THE TITLE
Good title – I hope it conveys the essence of the humor.
THE COVER
Please share with me your ideas / vision for the cover.
Please provide me with your feedback on these comments.
I look forward to working with you and creating a beautiful book of which you can be proud.
Joanne – Review Manager