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Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agents

FluffBunny

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Why is it bad to submit to a bunch of publishers at once? What are you saving it for?

I'm not Victoria but I would guess that it's a sign of an agent who has no contacts and/or no inside knowledge of the industry. An agent, upon receiving a likely submission, should be saying, "Gosh! Gail over at ReallyBigPublishing is looking for something just like this!" rather than shotgunning submissions all over hoping that someone, anyone will bite on it.

Note, too, the use of the phrase, "...often without careful targeting." An agent who sends, say, a YA novel to a non-fiction publisher or SF to a romance publisher is not doing you any favors. They're just making it likely that the next submission, perhaps your submission, gets 86'd without a reading.
 
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AddiG

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Thank you, this is very helpful!
 

cornflake

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Don't most authors want to buy a bunch of their own books anyway? 100 copies is not a lot.

No, in my experience authors want other people to buy a bunch of their books.

A hundred copies is a huge amount. If someone just wants to have 100 copies of something they've written, which is fine, seems easier to just go to a straight vanity press and have them printed.

If someone is looking for a reputable trade publisher that will publish and distribute their book, someone demanding that is not representing one.
 

Deleted member 42

Don't most authors want to buy a bunch of their own books anyway? 100 copies is not a lot.

I don't buy any of my own books; my publisher gives them to me.

It's in the contract. There's usually also a statement about an authors discount at which you can purchase additional books, that you are not reselling—that is, you can give them away, or offer them for review, but you may not sell them.

In one instance, I gave away so many books that when I inquired about buying more, the publisher sent me more, at no charge.

Any contract that requires you to buy your own books is about making money for the publisher, not the author.
 

lindas

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Just what I needed to know. Who not to query. Also I have always wondered about the free books thing. Thanks all
 

Mushy

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Non-Response

How about not using agents who don't repond even after they've asked you to submit something??
 

mommygoth

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How about not using agents who don't repond even after they've asked you to submit something??

No kidding! I had an agent ask me weeks ago to send her a partial, and a pretty short partial at that. I know it takes them a while to get through stuff, but a quick "thanks, I got the email" would be lovely.
 

Filigree

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Expect months. Seriously. Many agencies get upwards of 15,000 queries a year now, while committing to the needs of existing clients.

When I queried a couple of years ago, I wrote off a non response as a 'no' in three to four months. If a requested full or a partial was at an agency, I gave the agents up to six months to respond before I decided it was a 'no'. They didn't get an exclusive longer than a month or so, and they knew other agents are looking at the mms, too.

I had an agent request a partial almost 8 months after l sent a query.
 

PlannerDan

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Thanks so much for all the research and effort that obviously has been put into creating and maintaining the worst literary agent list. Unfortunately, the list seems to be much, much longer than 20. I have been singed and burned a time or two by folks who are not on your short list.

Being new here, I am impressed with the wealth of information provided. Before sending another query I will certainly check them out here first.

http://danboutwell.wix.com/saying-it-with-words#!Credit-or-Not/c1q8z/1
 

Old Hack

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Thanks so much for all the research and effort that obviously has been put into creating and maintaining the worst literary agent list. Unfortunately, the list seems to be much, much longer than 20. I have been singed and burned a time or two by folks who are not on your short list.

Being new here, I am impressed with the wealth of information provided. Before sending another query I will certainly check them out here first.

http://danboutwell.wix.com/saying-it-with-words#!Credit-or-Not/c1q8z/1

Dan, there are far more than twenty BAD agents, it's true. But this list is the twenty WORST ones.

I'm sorry you've had problems with agents in the past but you're in the best place to find out how to avoid such problems now you've found AW.

(You could add your blog link to your signature, so you don't have to type it into every one of your posts.)
 

parumpdragon

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Expect months. Seriously. Many agencies get upwards of 15,000 queries a year now, while committing to the needs of existing clients. ...
I had an agent request a partial almost 8 months after l sent a query.

I totally agree.

The longest time between query and agent rejection I ever had was 13 months (I don't recall which agency it was). So yeah, you will wait at least 3-4months maybe longer to hear back -- no matter what the response, if you are going to get a response back.
 

Ed Olson

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I'm trying to find info about agents... who is best, where I find them, and who to watch out for.
sorry, I'm new to this
 

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For Ed Olson - try querytracker[dot]com. Each individual agent is vetted before being listed on the site, and each listing has up-to-date comments from site users who can give you feedback as well.

There are exceptions but between here and AW you should be looked after.
 

amberhuez

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Posted in wrong thread - can't find a way to delete comment. Sorry.
 
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zomby9333

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I don't buy any of my own books; my publisher gives them to me.

It's in the contract. There's usually also a statement about an authors discount at which you can purchase additional books, that you are not reselling—that is, you can give them away, or offer them for review, but you may not sell them.

In one instance, I gave away so many books that when I inquired about buying more, the publisher sent me more, at no charge.

Any contract that requires you to buy your own books is about making money for the publisher, not the author.
Not true...every house is different, of course, but it is not unusual for smaller houses to sell authors discounted copies of their books for signings, etc.
 

Old Hack

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Most agencies sell authors copies of their books at greatly discounted price for signings and cons, etc. It's really not that unusual...

Agencies don't publish books, so don't have the books to sell to authors even if they wanted to. Which they don't.

If a writer is having a book signing it's almost always the publisher which supplies the books to the bookshop, not the author. If the author has to buy the books and sell them on to the bookseller, it's likely that either the publisher doesn't have distribution (which means it's probably a publisher to avoid) or the publisher is not a good one for other more scammy reasons.

Not true...every house is different, of course, but it is not unusual for smaller houses to sell authors discounted copies of their books for signings, etc.

It might not be unusual, but that doesn't mean it's good.

I've worked with several smaller publishers and they all supplied books for their signings without requiring the authors to buy them. This is not usual, and buying books for retail in the way you describe is usually expressly forbidden by the publishing contract.
 

victoriastrauss

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Not true...every house is different, of course, but it is not unusual for smaller houses to sell authors discounted copies of their books for signings, etc.
That's true (and it can be quite a nice source of income for the publisher, which can lead to situations in which the publishers' authors become their main customer base--not a good thing). However, the publisher should never pressure the author to buy books (for instance, if a publisher makes a point of asking how many of your own books you plan to buy, be wary); and the discount should be reasonable (40-50%). A miserly author discount (less than 40%) may indicate a publisher that wants to use authors as a profit center. Publishers that turn their authors into customers have a seriously reduced incentive to get books into the hands of readers.

The Big 5, larger independents, and many smaller publishers also allow authors to buy books at discount--but they specifically prohibit authors from re-selling them.

- Victoria
 

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Not true...every house is different, of course, but it is not unusual for smaller houses to sell authors discounted copies of their books for signings, etc.

What exactly are you disagreeing with? You quoted my entire post; did you actually read it? I wrote:

I don't buy any of my own books; my publisher gives them to me.

It's in the contract. There's usually also a statement about an authors discount at which you can purchase additional books, that you are not reselling—that is, you can give them away, or offer them for review, but you may not sell them.

In one instance, I gave away so many books that when I inquired about buying more, the publisher sent me more, at no charge.

Any contract that requires you to buy your own books is about making money for the publisher, not the author.

What is "not true?"