I read this thread and am still laughing. If an agent can't use proper grammar, syntax, spelling et., then keep away. Still, I'm glad it was here to keep us from being duped.
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Murray's Literary Service (formerly Murray's Literary Agency) (Eunice Murray)
- Thread starter Anjulee
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At the risk of breaking the 'respect your fellow author' rule, I have to admit that I'd love to read Murray's self-published book The Death of Lisa. Sadly there's no 'look inside' feature on the xlibris site but the blurb has Murray's fingerprints all over it:
Laure,
I would just move on. She seems inept and has several businesses. It is almost like she is taking books, sending them on your dime, and hoping one sticks. You can be just as successful sending them to small publishers.
I have asked her several questions after being sent a contract, avoiding the $200 dollar fee because she refuses to answer it. I asked which publishers she's worked with or any novels she's sold and the answer was very broad.
Like Victoria stated, she isn't scamming just inept.
I would just move on. She seems inept and has several businesses. It is almost like she is taking books, sending them on your dime, and hoping one sticks. You can be just as successful sending them to small publishers.
I have asked her several questions after being sent a contract, avoiding the $200 dollar fee because she refuses to answer it. I asked which publishers she's worked with or any novels she's sold and the answer was very broad.
Like Victoria stated, she isn't scamming just inept.
Hi-new to forum
Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with an agent named Eunice Murray...just wonder if she is legitimate. Also wonder about a company called Donnaink Publications?
I appreciate any info...
Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with an agent named Eunice Murray...just wonder if she is legitimate. Also wonder about a company called Donnaink Publications?
I appreciate any info...
Nice to have you here, Janet. You can seek further information at AW's Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Checks board.
If you see nothing there, you can start a thread for each one, with whatever information you have, like their websites and such.
Maryn, sharing her popcorn
If you see nothing there, you can start a thread for each one, with whatever information you have, like their websites and such.
Maryn, sharing her popcorn
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Welcome to AW, janet! 
I hope you take some time to look around, because it's pretty hard not to fall in love with this place
I hope you take some time to look around, because it's pretty hard not to fall in love with this place
Welcome. You can enter her name and the publisher's name into our custom Google search at the bottom left of each page. You might find what you're looking for that way.
Eunice Murray has her own thread here:
<snipped>
I suggest that you start a thread for Donnaink Publications:
http://www.donnaink.org/
<snipped>
I suggest that you start a thread for Donnaink Publications:
http://www.donnaink.org/
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How could anyone take this woman seriously as an agent?
More to the point, Ms Murray, do you know what it takes to get published? How many of your clients have been published by reputable presses? Do you really work as an editor?
I also came across this 2005 thread:
http://www.writers.net/forum/showthread.php?99647-Serious-Writers-Needed
More to the point, Ms Murray, do you know what it takes to get published? How many of your clients have been published by reputable presses? Do you really work as an editor?
I also came across this 2005 thread:
http://www.writers.net/forum/showthread.php?99647-Serious-Writers-Needed
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I've just come across a couple of things on Murray's site that make me inclined to think she's more than simply inept.
The only Black Throne 'series' - actually two volumes - with which I'm familiar is that by the prolific Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who I'm quite sure isn't one of Ms Murray's clients. The second volume was published in 2000. I was unable to find any other books of the same or similar title.
Well, it's almost 2014 and I can find no trace of Minutes to Death by either Lesile or Leslie Bells, nor can I identify 'Clarion Books Inc'. I find it hard to believe that a 'hard ball' mystery about a serial killer would be published by Clarion, which is the kids' books imprint of Houghton Mifflin, and Clarion Publishing only accepts 'speculative fiction and quality non-fiction'.
That was posted in February this year. Sonja James and her book appear to have no internet presence outside Murray's blog, and however funny and 'gut retching' Pray for David may be I couldn't find any other references to a book of that title.
Finally, posted in June this year:
From the Strategic Media Books website:
So you don't need an agent to submit to Strategic, which makes sense as they don't seem to have any distribution worth speaking of and don't pay an advance.
The only Black Throne 'series' - actually two volumes - with which I'm familiar is that by the prolific Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who I'm quite sure isn't one of Ms Murray's clients. The second volume was published in 2000. I was unable to find any other books of the same or similar title.
Well, it's almost 2014 and I can find no trace of Minutes to Death by either Lesile or Leslie Bells, nor can I identify 'Clarion Books Inc'. I find it hard to believe that a 'hard ball' mystery about a serial killer would be published by Clarion, which is the kids' books imprint of Houghton Mifflin, and Clarion Publishing only accepts 'speculative fiction and quality non-fiction'.
That was posted in February this year. Sonja James and her book appear to have no internet presence outside Murray's blog, and however funny and 'gut retching' Pray for David may be I couldn't find any other references to a book of that title.
Finally, posted in June this year:
From the Strategic Media Books website:
So you don't need an agent to submit to Strategic, which makes sense as they don't seem to have any distribution worth speaking of and don't pay an advance.
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Strategic Media Books isn't another of Robert Fletcher's companies, is it?
If not, it's an unfortunate name for a pub.
If not, it's an unfortunate name for a pub.
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No, there's no connection. The company has the same address as Ron Chepesiuk, who has published six books through SMB.
By the way, I've only just realized that by 'hard ball' Murray means 'hardboiled'!
By the way, I've only just realized that by 'hard ball' Murray means 'hardboiled'!
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I think it's Murrayspeak for 'gut wrenching'.
And I can't work out how long she's been in business as her LinkedIn profile is a bit confusing:
The question is, of course, how many books by this 'large scale of writers' have actually been published, and by whom. Murray's own book was self-pubbed through Xlibris, although she claims to have got a publishing contract for it.
And I can't work out how long she's been in business as her LinkedIn profile is a bit confusing:
The question is, of course, how many books by this 'large scale of writers' have actually been published, and by whom. Murray's own book was self-pubbed through Xlibris, although she claims to have got a publishing contract for it.
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That's 'hundereds' more sales than anyone has yet been able to verify. I'm beginning to wonder if she's steering newbies towards PublishAmerica and Tate.
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Please, please, PLEASE tell me that Eunice won't be the one doing the editing.
FAO anyone thinking of attending one of her meet-ups or using her editing service: ask Ms Murray to provide a list of all the books she's sold in almost twenty years as a literary agent. Not just the titles - you need to know the author, publisher and ISBN. With the sole exception of Elliot Goldenberg's The Spy of David there is no evidence that any of the books named on her website even exist.
Real literary agents don't moonlight as:
paralegals (http://justice4alllegalservice.blogspot.co.uk/)
jewellery workshop instructors (http://shawjewelrystudio.blogspot.co.uk/)
hair stylists/Mary Kay representatives (http://www.bloglines.com/company/39629733/Shaws.Stylish.Braiding.Salon.954-612-1982)
or herbalists (http://shawherbalhealinggarden.blogspot.co.uk/)
...unless of course they can't make a living wage by selling books to reputable publishers. Nor do they write at the level of a high school drop-out.
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I was going to comment on those links, but a quick look at each one found multiple red flags above and beyond the 'agency' shortcomings. Leading me to invoke Filigree's Rule immediately. If not sooner. I have no further observations to share about this person.
Murray's Literary Agency is now Murray's Literary Service. Yesterday Murray created a new group, Editing Done For Success:
Alas, the refurbished blog doesn't give the impression that Murray has stopped pretending to be an agent:
So far she hasn't revealed what her 'Editorial Rate' is, but we know it'll be too much.
Murray tells us that she has 32 clients, some of whose work appears in a 'Book Listing':
I await the forthcoming 'Testimonal' with bated breath!
Alas, the refurbished blog doesn't give the impression that Murray has stopped pretending to be an agent:
So far she hasn't revealed what her 'Editorial Rate' is, but we know it'll be too much.
Murray tells us that she has 32 clients, some of whose work appears in a 'Book Listing':
I await the forthcoming 'Testimonal' with bated breath!
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Does make you wonder about the manuscripts she rejected. Maybe she couldn't work with someone who didn't share her abhorrence of the letter 's'??
Yes, I wondered about that! You'd think that Murray's instructors at University of Maryland University College, where she claims to have obtained an Associate's Degree in Paralegal Studies, would have discouraged that weird habit.
Another recent addition about Editing Done For Success:
Do you want to write successful? Do your homework and avoid vanity-published authors claiming to be agents, especially those who 'sell' their clients' books to CreateSpace.
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There have been a few additions to Murray's list:
A couple of days ago I left a polite comment on Murray's blog pointing out that a list of titles without the names of the authors and publishers didn't mean much. She deleted it almost immediately.
A couple of days ago I left a polite comment on Murray's blog pointing out that a list of titles without the names of the authors and publishers didn't mean much. She deleted it almost immediately.
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