Thank you for the information. My gut was talking to me and telling me beware. I guess you should always follow your inner voice.
Sparkle
Sparkle
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Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.
Captial Literary Agency (formerly American Literary Agents of Washington, Inc.) - http://www.americanliteraryagents.com/
New World Media, Inc. / American Book Press (formerly Trident Media, Inc. / Trident Publishing / Washington House / Mandrill) - http://www.americanbookpress.com/
New World Media, Inc. / American Book Press (formerly Trident Media, Inc. / Trident Publishing / Washington House / Mandrill) - http://www.americanbookpress.com/
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Also Washington Literary Agency: http://www.usbookagents.com/. Their contracts are identical to Capital Literary Agency's.
- Victoria
- Victoria
Washington Literary Agency
I am a previously unpublished author of fiction.
Trying to find an agent to represent my Two novels, I’ve sent a number of e-mail queries. As expected, there were a lot of the standard “thank you but not interested”, but, also have received two offers to submit the manuscript.
Arthur B. Greene
Richard Knapp
Could anyone, please, tell me anything about these agents?
Pilot27407
PS. Just got a letter and contract from Washington Literary, but they’re asking for $ 250 (to defray submission costs).
I am a previously unpublished author of fiction.
Trying to find an agent to represent my Two novels, I’ve sent a number of e-mail queries. As expected, there were a lot of the standard “thank you but not interested”, but, also have received two offers to submit the manuscript.
Arthur B. Greene
Richard Knapp
Could anyone, please, tell me anything about these agents?
Pilot27407
PS. Just got a letter and contract from Washington Literary, but they’re asking for $ 250 (to defray submission costs).
Um, if your mean this Arthur B. Greene, he's small potatoes. Mostly just represents some horror writer from Maine!
Richard Knapp is with William Morris.
Both agents state in their bios that they're not accepting unsolicited queries. Congrats on the requests! Huge on both counts!
Walk away. Don't know anything about them, but you don't pay money to agents. An agent might ask you to help defray costs down the line, but the costs should exist first and be documented.
Richard Knapp is with William Morris.
Both agents state in their bios that they're not accepting unsolicited queries. Congrats on the requests! Huge on both counts!
Walk away. Don't know anything about them, but you don't pay money to agents. An agent might ask you to help defray costs down the line, but the costs should exist first and be documented.
Nothing on their website suggests that Washington Literary are worthwhile. They name no authors or books that they've successfully agented, they ask you to send the whole manuscript and they recommend you get a paid edit (preferably theirs). There are no references to staff members and their qualifiactions or experience (being an agent is not an entry level job).
Well, thanks guys. Talked on the phone with 'someone' at Washington Agency. Claimed that the've red the whole book... No suggestions as to editing, actually I asked if they'll help and got "that's something that's done by the publisher". Is THIS Washingtom Agency one and the same with the famousely infamous Literary Agency of Washington?
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Writer Beware believes that Washington Literary Agency is a clone of Capital Literary Agency (formerly American Literary Agents of Washington Inc.). Their contracts are identical, as are their upfront fees.
Writer Beware has been getting complaints and advisories about Capital for years, and we've gotten a number about Washington as well. As far as we know, neither agency has ever sold a book to a publisher of any kind.
Additionally, a vanity publisher (New World Media, a.k.a. American Book Press, formerly Trident Media/Washington House) is associated with the agencies. It charges about $3,000 for editing. Writers who've signed with either agency report getting solicitations from the publisher, without disclosure of the connection.
Pilot, we try to stick to one thread per agent/agency or publisher here, so please feel free to post your questions about the otehr agents in separate threads (but check the Index first to be sure there isn't already a discussion about them).
- Victoria
Writer Beware has been getting complaints and advisories about Capital for years, and we've gotten a number about Washington as well. As far as we know, neither agency has ever sold a book to a publisher of any kind.
Additionally, a vanity publisher (New World Media, a.k.a. American Book Press, formerly Trident Media/Washington House) is associated with the agencies. It charges about $3,000 for editing. Writers who've signed with either agency report getting solicitations from the publisher, without disclosure of the connection.
Pilot, we try to stick to one thread per agent/agency or publisher here, so please feel free to post your questions about the otehr agents in separate threads (but check the Index first to be sure there isn't already a discussion about them).
- Victoria
Clark, Mendleson & Scott
Clark, Mendleson & Scott information.
Silly me, I was jumping for joy when I got a contract from these creeps, then I did the research.
Check this out.. I asked them to give me a few books they have sold...
Thank you for your letter, I am in receipt of several offers and I am considering yours.
To help me make a good decision would you please let me know a little about your agency.
I see on your site that you have 650 books, would you let me know of about a half dozen or so that you obtained recent contracts for with some of the big publishers.
Would you also give me an idea of what extra's I might be asked to approve such as mail etc.
This is their reply:
We are not applying for a job, you are. You may decide to use our agency or reject us outright. We are a very busy agency, and unpublished authors don't request resume from us.
By definition when you pay someone a fee for a service don't they work for you?
Steer clear of these jerks.
Clark, Mendleson & Scott information.
Silly me, I was jumping for joy when I got a contract from these creeps, then I did the research.
Check this out.. I asked them to give me a few books they have sold...
Thank you for your letter, I am in receipt of several offers and I am considering yours.
To help me make a good decision would you please let me know a little about your agency.
I see on your site that you have 650 books, would you let me know of about a half dozen or so that you obtained recent contracts for with some of the big publishers.
Would you also give me an idea of what extra's I might be asked to approve such as mail etc.
This is their reply:
We are not applying for a job, you are. You may decide to use our agency or reject us outright. We are a very busy agency, and unpublished authors don't request resume from us.
By definition when you pay someone a fee for a service don't they work for you?
Steer clear of these jerks.
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Franklin-Madison Literary Agency
Franklin-Madison Literary Agency
No luck on P&E,
Didn't find them on this forum,
No record on ripoffreport.com
I don't know where else to look, but I did check the page.
http://www.franklin-madison.com/index.html
I didn't find any 'reading fees' or anything, but I am very nervous of any agency that is not on P&E. If anyone has worked with them, please let me know!
~Thank you!
Franklin-Madison Literary Agency
No luck on P&E,
Didn't find them on this forum,
No record on ripoffreport.com
I don't know where else to look, but I did check the page.
http://www.franklin-madison.com/index.html
I didn't find any 'reading fees' or anything, but I am very nervous of any agency that is not on P&E. If anyone has worked with them, please let me know!
~Thank you!
No sales listed on their website. No sales listed on Publishers Marketplace. No google footprint. They do say on their website to contact them for a list of recent sales, but I think if they had any, they'd shout it from the rooftops. I'd pass.
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No agent name(s)? No info about the books they've sold? Seems....odd.
Their "resources" page starts with
The website was created in July 2011, so they must be very new indeed. My guess is that they have zero sales and zero experience, but I could be wrong.
Adding: Which makes their claim of "For many years, The Franklin-Madison Literary Agency has been guiding authors to publishing success" even odder.
Their "resources" page starts with
All of the text on their website, in fact -- e.g., "we do not accept works on hardcopy", "the highest amount of royalty" and "propel my work into a bestseller" -- suggests "non native English speaker", which again seems odd for an agent acquiring works written in English.
The website was created in July 2011, so they must be very new indeed. My guess is that they have zero sales and zero experience, but I could be wrong.
Adding: Which makes their claim of "For many years, The Franklin-Madison Literary Agency has been guiding authors to publishing success" even odder.
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The P&E site at http://pred-ed.com/ is not accepting updates so be sure to check the mirror site at in Virtuo because it is still fully functional and up to date.
Dave, if this is the case, a couple of things. I had to google that and scroll down a bit to find the site you're referring to. The link (I hope) is: http://invirtuo.cc/prededitors/pubagent.htm (Yes, on my address bar, it's coming up ".htm" and not ".html". It works.) Your site is bookmarked on countless writers' computers. If an out-of-date version is live, it's disseminating out-of-date material. Can't you take the old version down and set up a re-direct to the up-dated site?
People (like me) trust your pred-ed site. If it's no longer valid, why is it still live?
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I haven't gotten any complaints about this agency--yet. I'm expecting them, because I have a hunch this is a new or additional name for an already-existing fee-charging agency. I'll post again when I find out more.
- Victoria
- Victoria
I'm still trying to get it back into operation. Only limited success so far. Is anyone interested in hosting that site?
Dunno if this helps, V, but they seem to have two websites: one at http://ideaandsolutions.com/Franklin-Madison/submission.html and one at http://www.franklin-madison.com/contact_us.html
And to my eye their website seems to be reminiscent of this one: http://www.newyorkbookagent.com/?q=node/2 (Clark, Mendleson and Scott).
I know *nothing* about web hosting, but what's needed? My website is in my own domain name, but created by wordpress (through bluhost, which has been fairly do-able for a techno-twerp like me).
Have you asked on the tech help forums here? I'm pretty sure you'd get many a quick and smart response. PredEd has helped many. I'm sure many would love to help keep it consistent. Dude, yours is one site that doesn't want to be inconsistent on the interwebs.
Sorry for the derail.
Weirdly, the Franklin Madison website has this on their "resources" page:
I wondered who the "I" was in that. My friend Google shows that the above text was in fact copied and pasted from an article by Dell Smith on the "Beyond the Margins" website:
Since Mr Smith's list includes Writer Beware, I'm guessing Mr Smith is not associated with this agency -- and doesn't know he's been plagiarised.
I wondered who the "I" was in that. My friend Google shows that the above text was in fact copied and pasted from an article by Dell Smith on the "Beyond the Margins" website:
Since Mr Smith's list includes Writer Beware, I'm guessing Mr Smith is not associated with this agency -- and doesn't know he's been plagiarised.
Oh, dear. The next section of their "resources" page says:
They seem to have, er, borrowed the list from Scott Waxman's agency. They tried to borrow his opening text, too:
followed by a list of reference books.
They seem to have, er, borrowed the list from Scott Waxman's agency. They tried to borrow his opening text, too:
Which just goes to show why you shouldn't "improve" on someone else's work when they are far more literate than you.
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Definitely beware
Actual email correspondence with Franklin-Madison Agency
Me: Hi - What are your submission requirements?
Franklin-Madison: please submit the entire manuscript
Me: I noticed on your website you can provide a list of recent publications and agents who work for you. Can you please provide a sample of each?
Franklin-Madison: We will provide that information after contract.
Me: I'm sorry - I don't feel comfortable sending you my entire manuscript without more valid information about your company.
Them: NO REPLY
I then realized her email address is spelled wrong. Franklin-Madsion Agency
BEWARE...........
Actual email correspondence with Franklin-Madison Agency
Me: Hi - What are your submission requirements?
Franklin-Madison: please submit the entire manuscript
Me: I noticed on your website you can provide a list of recent publications and agents who work for you. Can you please provide a sample of each?
Franklin-Madison: We will provide that information after contract.
Me: I'm sorry - I don't feel comfortable sending you my entire manuscript without more valid information about your company.
Them: NO REPLY
I then realized her email address is spelled wrong. Franklin-Madsion Agency
BEWARE...........