S.T. Literary Agency / Stylus Literary Agency

James D. Macdonald

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On the other hand, if you did sign a contract with these people, it may well mean that you'll have to pay them 15% of the income when you sell the book yourself. (Available evidence is that the only way ST sells books is by the author selling them him/herself.)

Cancel that contract before you start sending the manuscript around. No need to make them agent of record.
 

CaoPaux

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Meh, it comes in waves. One month it's ST, another it's Robins, the next it's Desert Rose. Although I must say it's been pretty quiet since Mills went down. :)
 

stonefly71

The New York Literary Agency

I'm confused, is the New York Literary Agency also ST Lit Agency? Please inform, recently my manuscript has been accepted by The Children's Literary Agency, its sister company. Are these guys creditable.
 

James D. Macdonald

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The Christian Literary Agency, the ST (Stylus) Literary Agency, the Children's Literary Agency, and the New York Literary Agency are all one and the same, and what they are is a total scam.

They have never in their lives sold a book to a commercial publisher. They're a scheme for extracting money from authors, nothing more.

See also: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8286

Pay particular attention to the posts from Ms. Georgina Orr.

There is no independent evidence that Georgina Orr actually exists.
 
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Stealth66

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Georgina

James D. Macdonald said:
There is no independent evidence that Georgina Orr actually exists.

Actually, I spoke with Mrs. Orr on the phone during a conference call. She has an English accent and doesn't really let you get a word in edgewise.

So many new authors to screw over...so little time.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Okay, Stealth66 -- someone who said she's Georgina Orr popped up on the phone. Where did she work before? Who does she know? Who does she talk to on a regular basis? Is she in a bowling league? Does she collect stamps? Why isn't there any mention of her except in relation to ST Literary?

Agents have to be visible. It's their job. She hasn't left any tracks. That's -- unnatural.
 

DaveKuzminski

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James D. Macdonald said:
Agents have to be visible. It's their job. She hasn't left any tracks. That's -- unnatural.

Oh... my... Gawd, Jim. You just gave them an idea for another agency. They can call it Supernatural Spirits Literary Agency and specialize in occult works. Georgina can head it up. ;)
 

James D. Macdonald

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Heck, they've hardly gotten started.

There's the Albatross Literary Agency, for books about birds.

There's the Abattoir Literary Agency, for books about meat packaging.

There's the Awful Literary Agency for books that make you want to go "Awwww....."

There's the Bogus Literary Agency for books about guys named Gus and Bo who live in the South and like to drive fast cars.

There's the Baleful Literary Agency for books about hay.

Y'see, Bobby can just keep going.
 

Stealth66

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James D. Macdonald said:
Okay, Stealth66 -- someone who said she's Georgina Orr popped up on the phone. Where did she work before? Who does she know? Who does she talk to on a regular basis? Is she in a bowling league? Does she collect stamps? Why isn't there any mention of her except in relation to ST Literary?

Agents have to be visible. It's their job. She hasn't left any tracks. That's -- unnatural.

Ah, I understand what you are saying now. I could have been talking to anyone for that matter.

That agency really ticks me off, but an author does have to take the blame when they do not do sufficient research. I have learned much from my fiasco with ST and PublishAmerica. I had to learn the hard way, but I hope that others won't have to.
 

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That Stylus Literary Agency--always movin' and shakin', shiftin' and changin'.

OK. So we know that Stylus Literary (and its clones, Children's Literary, Christian Literary, New York Literary, and Poets Literary) has recently shifted its emphasis from upfront "submission" fees to critiques and editing. Everyone who's signed by these agencies has to get a critique; the critiques (I've seen a bunch of 'em) usually lay the groundwork for recommendations of further editing, ranging from $99 to over $2,000 a pop.

We also know that the Stylus empire uses a "sister" company ("sister" in the sense of multiple personalities--yeah, it's got its own name, but it's all hangin' out inside the same brain) called The Writers [sic] Literary Publishing and Services Company to do the editing.

We also figure it's a good bet that Stylus, in its neverending quest to expand and improve its services (at least, to the advantage of its principals), is going to continue to...well, expand and improve. Right?

So, what should I find this morning but this interesting job listing from Writers Literary at Publishers Marketplace. Can you say kickback?

Because I just can't resist (and in case the job listing mysteriously vanishes--but I have a screenshot, heh heh):

Attention Publishers - Are You Exploring Co-Publishing Yet?

Copublishing addresses reducing your risk as a publisher. We have authors that desire to avoiding the self-publishing stigma and wish to work with a qualified publisher.

Furthermore, we have determined that they have the quality and the money to match their desires.

Our authors and their works are completely edited. We vouch for the quality of the work and the professionalism of the author.

We have exceptional work in every genre including children's, self-help, gardening, science, romance, history, Christian, etc. ....

Why shoulder all the risk? We have authors that will pay you to work with you. We believe that this is the new model for the future.
Lovely, no?

- Victoria
 

James D. Macdonald

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victoriastrauss said:
Lovely, no?

So Bobby-boy is trying to reinvent himself as a packager?

What joy!

PublishersMarket said:
Why shoulder all the risk? We have authors that will pay you to work with you. We believe that this is the new model for the future.

Paying to get published is still paying to get published. Vanity is vanity. Don't think you're fooling anyone, Bobby.
 
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Roger J Carlson

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Cathy C said:
No.:mad: Hopefully, the small presses out there have more sense.


Sigh. . .Thanks, Victoria, for the warning.
Unfortunately, I've run into several small publishers who have gone to this model. It's very tempting from the publishers perspective, and I think some have even fooled themselves that it isn't really vanity publishing...
 

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I think Bobby is taking lessons from PA by looking to place the costs on the services he recommends so his agencies will have no fees up front. If he thinks that's going to undermine the negative recommendation at P&E, he hasn't read through all the P&E criteria. It ain't gonna work, Bobby. No way, not today. Not tomorrow, either.
 

Adslut

ST horror story

I submitted two scripts to ST, spent about $650 doing "flights" to agents and production companies and then found this site and realized that I had been taken. After realizing this, I asked ST (our relationship was still friendly at the time) for a list of companies who had received the script. I got a list of companies but was told out of 20 "queries" only 3 had requested and been sent a script. (They imply that they send your script to their "contacts" but they really send query letters (if they do that even, I'm not sure they really do). Being a seasoned query letter sender I realized looking at the list that they had obviously used writersmarket.com to get their info. I knew every company on the list and had even queried some of them on past projects. The funny thing was that I knew that two of the companies listed had gone out of business yet it was noted they had requested a script. I called the company who was still around and asked if they had requested and received a script and they said no. I reported this back to ST and the fun started. They wigged out on me saying that I was blowing it for other writers by making them look bad to clients, that I had broken my contract by contacting these people, that they were going to sue me and blah blah. I demanded my money back threatening them with exposure to the FBI, the BBB and every blogg site on the planet. A flurry of nasty emails flew across cyper space (I got a particularly amusing one from Fletcher himself - what a class act!) and in the end, they refunded half my money. At least I got something back. How can these people still be getting away with this?

Adslut
 

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Ad, I'm so sorry you got ripped off. It sounds like you saved yourself more money and time by being smart enough to check out what they said about sending out your ms. That is so crazy that they threatened you! Best wishes on moving on.
 

Adslut

Thanks. They're very good, though. They really act like they're doing something and their lies are subtle and difficult to spot at first. I hope this helps others.