You'll have to read this to believe it...

Mharvey said:

Yeah, she'll post them... as soon as she's done writing them.

On another note, I just can't see the motivation for someone "scamming" her... I mean, did it go something like this...

"Hi, Jodi Reamer here - I would like to represent u in the published! Your bock is good and I liked your words. Just send me $500 dollars to this random address in the Congo and you will be business with me! Thank you and God Bless."

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Ha ha- My thoughts exactly! We've been scammed! I've seen people do way crazier stuff than this to get attention. One person in the Twi fan fic world faked her own death so more people would read her snizzle.

New update from the author's blog:

After many comments about my supposed book deal I called Writer's House and I was, basically (this is what I'm taking from the conversation), told that some email hackings have been going on. I let them know I was offered representation yesterday and I was told that I had a book deal; they let me know this was something they needed to know about it and that they would get to the bottom of it.

I DO NOT have a book deal from Harper Teen for Lorelei and the Sirens
I am NOT represented by Jodi Reamer from Writer's House, LLC.

​

I am so sorry to everyone who felt inspired by my story, but it turned out to be false. I will still continue even though it's hard, but I won't let a scammer take my power away.

​

Things to look out for from scammers:
Name's spelled wrong (I completely over looked this)
Emails from multiple accounts
Fast representation offer
Fast deal offer​

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Update! She's got a new post.

Note the accusations of hacking - will we hear from the agency themselves about this, I wonder?

EDIT: Whoops, Kitty_Pryde got there first!

Sean Wills said:

I'm not ruling out the idea that it really was someone playing a trick on her...but it would be a lot of trouble to go through just for a hoax.

missesdash, one of the suspicious things about the whole situation is that it was all (supposedly) done through e-mail. Obviously, real agents generally make offers on the phone.

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Not always. The first agent who offered on me (legitimate agent, big agency, still working, selling a lot) did it through email and, when I said I was getting on the phone with other agents, and was she interested in doing a call? she said she didn't think it was necessary.

So yeah, it happens.

STILL. That has nothing to do with ANYTHING. Man this is exciting.

Shady Lane said:

Not always. The first agent who offered on me (legitimate agent, big agency, still working, selling a lot) did it through email and, when I said I was getting on the phone with other agents, and was she interested in doing a call? she said she didn't think it was necessary.

So yeah, it happens.

STILL. That has nothing to do with ANYTHING. Man this is exciting.

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Oh, I have wondered if this ever happened! Thanks for clarifying

Still, though, you can see why a scammer would want to avoid a phone conversation like the plague.

what a mess...

Yeah, this is very interesting.

Did any of you download the first chapter this morning for kindle? If the book sold yesterday, wouldn't the publisher have demanded the ebook's removal if they owned the rights? Just curious.

thebloodfiend said:

Yeah, this is very interesting.

Did any of you download the first chapter this morning for kindle? If the book sold yesterday, wouldn't the publisher have demanded the ebook's removal if they owned the rights? Just curious.

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Yeah, they probably would have. I downloaded the first chapter (no comment), and as far as I can see it's still available on Amazon.

thebloodfiend said:

Yeah, this is very interesting.

Did any of you download the first chapter this morning for kindle? If the book sold yesterday, wouldn't the publisher have demanded the ebook's removal if they owned the rights? Just curious.

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I DLed it. I read lots of YA but I will say I didn't find it very compelling or polished, certainly not enough to delight such an awesome agent. I also found it very weird that a book would "sell" to a major publisher while simultaneously being for sale for $1.

Oh man. I just checked in on this thread again. Ouch.

The story seemed a little suspect, but I confess to having believed it. Whether she was trying to pull a fast one remains to be seen. If it was an actual scam, you can't help but feel for her. Either way though, the controversy is definitely going to draw at least a few eyes to her book.

What a bad situation. She just can't come out with a positive image after this, regardless if she was scammed or not.

I saw the original blogpost when I saw this thread a few hours ago, but it's gone and I can't find it in the usual archives. Here's the Google entry for it with the first sentence or two:
http://www.google.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simplyaaronni.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fmy-journey-to-publication.html

Yes, this is definitely a very rare situation, even bizarre.

ETA: The second link is where someone posted the blog link to Nathan Bransford's blogpost this morning as an example of a "fast sale" of a book, so it looks like this really got around.

ETA: Popcorn, anyone?

BethMac said:

Ha ha- My thoughts exactly! We've been scammed! I've seen people do way crazier stuff than this to get attention. One person in the Twi fan fic world faked her own death so more people would read her snizzle.

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LOL!

Okay so lemme get this straight: Now she's claiming Writers House got hacked, they offered HER representation, and she's since called them, and *they* will get to the bottom of this? This is after they gave her a book deal and representation without speaking to her or signing contracts within a 24 hour period. Oh yeah, and these startling developments only happened after Jodi Reamer herself personally told one of her clients this woman was a fraud...

I suppose it could happen. I mean, either that, or she just wanted publicity for her ebook.

Take your freakin pick.

She says in a comment to the "yes, I was scammed post" that she'll post the emails after she hears from Writers House. Could be interesting.

Shelley

Incidentally, I do hope you all realize this writer IS a member of Absolute Write.

Just saying.

Shelley

I've seen her blog before and read a few posts and I'm probably going to have to give her the benefit of the doubt. Judging by her personality on her past blog posts as well as the posts on AW that I've seen, it doesn't seem like something a person like her would do. That's just what I think, anyway

I'm just glad Tahereh saw my status update on GR before this got out of control.

Let's not engage in wild speculation. I would encourage everyone to wait and see before just piling on.

Kindness said:

and I'm probably going to have to give her the benefit of the doubt.

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I second this motion. You know what they say about assumptions. =p

Soccer Mom said:

Let's not engage in wild speculation. I would encourage everyone to wait and see before just piling on.

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You're right

benbradley said:

ETA: The second link is where someone posted the blog link to Nathan Bransford's blogpost this morning as an example of a "fast sale" of a book, so it looks like this really got around.

ETA: Popcorn, anyone?

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That would be me. I was hoping this was one of those real, lightning strike moments and that she actually had a contract in hand when she made the post. It's very possible that this was a scam or even a cruel joke carried out by someone she knows. It's not hard to register a fake email with a name similar to someone well known, and when you're all excited over the prospect of a dream-come-true moment, sometimes you don't do things like check for legitimacy.

I just hope the writer doesn't let this affect her to the point she gives up. Scammers hit everywhere and some are both subtle and skilled. Things like this are sad for everyone; I'm just glad they didn't ask her for money.

She may be confusing "hacking" and "spoofing" there--I can imagine someone spoofing a Writers House email address to lend credibility to a prank.

As for why someone would go to the trouble of pulling such a prank, people are cruel and will go to any lengths to pull cruel pranks, no matter how pointless. (And have been doing so for hundreds of years, witness The Great Berners Street Hoax.)

If this is, on the other hand, a self-publicizing move, there really is such a thing as bad publicity...

Cyia said:

It's very possible that this was a scam or even a cruel joke carried out by someone she knows.

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That's my vote. We all know of instances where someone steals a rival's cell phone and text all sorts of stuff just to ruin the victim's social life. I've considered doing similar stuff to people, although we didn't have cell phones back then (it would come in the mail). Not exactly this, of course, but I recognize the "Haha! Gotcha you miserable SOB!" attitude the perp might have had.

I looked at the WH website. It seems if there was some email scam going on, they would have posted a disclaimer or something. I also thought Writer's House was big on not using email, even though they might use it for generating interest of offers. Just some of my thoughts.

Since the person is question is a member here, perhaps she will respond.