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Running Water Literary Agency

T.L. Newberry

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Danger, Will Robinson.

Terry Dubbs (owner of running water lit) found ME over Y!IM, surfing through this board, saying she needed more sci fi and fantasy writers. I sent her my manuscript after looking at her website (http://www.runningwaterlit.com), seeing that she didn't scam writers I decided to give it a shot.

She accepted my manuscript and got back to me in a month, saying she would have a contract for me on Feb. 1st of 2006, since they were currently too full.

Well, Feb 1st rolled by, then Feb 2nd. I dropped her an email, asking if she'd sent me the contract soon. No reply. When I saw her online again, I messaged her and asked about the contract.

She actually sunk so low, that she pretended to be her 16 year old daughter, saying "Terry's in bed from a bad migraine."

I said that's fine, knowing it wasn't her daughter, and took her name off of my list. Since Feb. 2005, they appear to have not made ONE book sale, though Terry has told me she's made five. If that's the case, it should of been announced on their site by now. Anyone unprofessional enough as to shrug off a client in THAT manner does not deserve any talented writers.

You have been warned.
 

T.L. Newberry

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Only three weeks ago Terry was boasting how she made another sale. If they did close, why hadn't they alerted any of the people they were representing?
 

Julie Worth

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T.L. Newberry said:
Only three weeks ago Terry was boasting how she made another sale. If they did close, why hadn't they alerted any of the people they were representing?

How do you know she didn't?
 

T.L. Newberry

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Not only does her website say she's open for submissions in March 2006, but another person that is being represented by her says that they're still talking over e-mail and haven't made mention of the agency closing.
 

Julie Worth

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My understanding is that it closed a little over a week ago. Possibly the website isn't the first priority.
 

victoriastrauss

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I heard from a client who just got a certified letter from the agency saying that due to staff losses, they were letting some clients go. They didn't specifically say that they were closing, but it sounds as if the writing's on the wall.

Terry Dubbs, the owner, had no professional background in publishing or literary agenting when she set up this agency more than a year ago. She claims to be a published romance and SF author, but all I've been able to find under her name is some online fanfic. As far as I can determine, there are no sales, despite claims I've seen on writers' message boards.

- VIctoria
 

T.L. Newberry

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yeah. she has a fan-fiction story on some site about STARGATE. i guess thats what she meant by published. i skimmed through the first couple paragraphs and the writing's atrocious. i had red flags the moment i realized that the literary agent reading my manuscript had no ability to write.

Seemed like she was just a woman with high hopes. i dont necessarily think she was out to scam anyone, but she seems just absolutely unprofessional, and furthermore, hasn't a clue at what she's doing.

My understanding is that it closed a little over a week ago. Possibly the website isn't the first priority.

And where did you hear this? All I've seen was a post about how she's been letting authors go because she's lost some of her staff. Maybe you can enlighten me.
 
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Julie Worth

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An email forwarded to me says: In an upsetting turn of events, we are being forced to close Running Water Literary Agency. Terry Dubbs, the owner, has experienced a sudden, severe and debilitating illness.Strange that there are so many different stories about it.
 

T.L. Newberry

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If she has such a severe debilitating illness, how come she's on yahoo messenger right now, and has been every day since I've met her?

I think they just weren't making sales and decided to drop it. She had been putting a lot of her personal income into the side business, and i'm sure she was sick and tired of spending without gaining.
 

CaoPaux

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Well, http://www.runningwaterlit.com/ now reads:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Running Water Literary Agency has closed. All manuscript originals and file copies are being shipped to the authors, including a second copy of the Letter of Release, on or before February 21 by first class mail. All original files and copies of manuscripts have now been destroyed.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions, until March 31, 2006.
Why do I envision a bonfire? :poke:
 

dear.miranda

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Laughable

I doubt anybody cares at this point, but Running Water Literary Agency was a big joke. Terry Dubbs likes to get herself into a bunch of stuff so that she can sound like an amazing person. She over-exaggerates and talks up everything she does to impress people. I know for an absolute fact that the "agency" did pretty much nothing. She was running it with the help of her daughter who was a sophomore in high school and her daughter's friend who was a senior in high school. She would get unreliable help from other sources as well. As far as I remember, she helped ONE person get published. Terry Dubbs isn't a writer either. She just scams people. That's it. She just started something that she couldn't handle and couldn't/wouldn't make the time for. Then she let it fall by the wayside.