No fee Literary Agents-or-ones you pay up front ,to join

Never pay. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever.

Your agent takes a cut from the final sale of the book - if you're willing to pay them up front, apart from anything else, there's much less reason for them to actually try to sell your book. Charging signing fees is one of the biggest RED ALERT! AWOOGA! AWOOGA! signs around when it comes to looking for a scam.

ashlee111 said:

I do want my book published, but if the "traditional agents" want only the best sellers, what do you do then?

Click to expand...

You're starting from a fallacy. Getting an agent may be hard, but it's not impossible. New authors do it every day.

Ashlee111 said:

In addition , these agents will not take on new writers who are not already best sellers. Does anyone know, if this is true, or not? Thank you.

Click to expand...

I'm looking, just like you, Ashlee. Tempting though it may seem, paying an Agent is NOT a solution. It should not even be considered. And to tell you that reputable Agents will not take on new writers...as quoted above...is utter nonsense. Logically, someone had to take them on before they became best sellers - no?
Patience and perseverance will pay off for both of us in the end.
Kindest,
Bufty

Ashlee, there are traditional agents who are willing to take a chance on an unpublished author. Both Writer's Market and the Agents section of the Preditors and Editors website list agents who charge no upfront fees and are looking for new clients.

While an agent is needed to get into the big publishing houses, smaller publishers will accept unagented querries or manuscripts. Good luck, whether you choose to go with an agent or do your own legwork.

Ashlee, I'd like to add my voice to the others. Agents who take a commission are legit; the others are scammers. Don't listen to the lines that they only take best-selling authors. I was taken on as an unknown by a major agent because she liked my book and thought she could sell it, and did. They are always looking for talent; that's their job.
Don't blame them for making money; they have to live like al of us and that's just the way put bread on the table!

Read the thread!

CaoPaux said:

There is NO "lesser of two evils". Agents who charge upfront are NOT interested in selling your book. I strongly suggest you read these to avoid being scammed:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=978
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=746
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=528
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10170

Click to expand...

Hello, I just read the first of those links (well, the first two pages), and want to thank you for posting it. ANYONE considering a fee paying agent should read that thread; that Newsflash guy makes my skin crawl! Excellent stuff there.

ashlee111 said:

Either way, they are both making money.

Click to expand...

The difference is that one earns it, the other does not.

ashlee111 said:

if the "traditional agents" want only the best sellers, what do you do then? How does a new writer, ever get established?
ashlee111

Click to expand...

That busines about traditional agents only wanting best sellers is one of those hokey pieces of fiction scam agents use to try to get you to pay them. Tradtional agents do not only want established bestsellers - established bestsellers most likely already *have* agents. I was/am a completely ordinary nobody with no publishing history beyond a short story in an anthology; I got an agent. My agent got me a publisher. I paid my agent nothing up front. It can be done.

In addition , these agents will not take on new writers who are not already best sellers. Does anyone know, if this is true, or not? Thank you.

Click to expand...

Clarevoyant is dead on. A bestselling author doesn't need an agent. Either he or she already has one, or is doing quite well with the publisher without one. Writers who fit into the latter category are rare.

Ashlee, would you mind telling me where you got that piece of information? If you don't care to state it publically, feel free to PM me anytime. I have a feeling one of those "fee chargers" may have planted that notion with you.

MONEY FLOW TO WRITERS.

That's how legit agencies work. I don't have a literary agent yet (although I did sell my book on my own to a small traditional publisher), but I am an agented actor/model, and I don't pay my agents anything. They get me jobs, and commissions are invoiced. Nothing out of my own pocket. Nuh-uh. Money flows to me, not from me.

Ashlee, trust me. I learned my lesson the hard way. I was all excited a few years ago to get "signed" with an agent who only charged me $145 every six months for representation. This was, allegedly, to cover copying, mailing, etc. After a year and a half of no sales at all, for EITHER of my two manuscripts, I wised up and started doing some research.

I learned long after the fact that this particular agent is on the list of Agents that Publishers Toss Into The Slush Pile, as well has having a "not recommended" on Preditors and Editors. Over the course of time, I paid this woman nearly $900, and had nothing to show for it. To this day, she does not return my phone calls, emails or letters -- which is fine, because I really don't want anything to do with her, I'd just like a list of the places she sent my mss. At any rate, I will never again pay for representation -- I wish I had known then what I know now.