Guest Contributor: Tired Writer, Take Care
How Vulnerability Can Increase Over Time and What You Can Do About It
Editor’s Note: Victoria Strauss has been illuminating publishing scams for writers via her website, writerbeware.com, since 1998. We’re honored to present her guest essay here, which nurtures a street-smart sensibility to counter the natural susceptibilities of the author in progress.
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The digital revolution has transformed the face of publishing. From the incredible growth of small presses to the new viability of self-publishing, writers have more options than ever before.
Some things haven’t changed, though: the challenge of finding an audience and the hard work of building a career. And where the road to success is steep, the way will be crowded with opportunists who will promise you the world but really just want to snake a hand into your wallet.
The industry is filled with many wonderful, reputable agents, publishers, self-publishing services, and others. But schemes and scams also abound. Inexperience is a major risk factor for falling victim to them: Too many writers rush into the publication search without taking the time to learn about their chosen career path. If you don’t know how things should work, it’s much harder to recognize shady ventures when you encounter them.
Just as dangerous is fatigue. You’ve been querying agents for months and have gotten nowhere; in fact, half the time you don’t get any response at all. You’ve lost count of how many publishers you’ve approached and been rejected by. You’re bewildered by the multitude of self-publishing options—which are reputable? How much (if anything) should you pay?
Frustration and exhaustion can spur bad choices. You may be tempted to settle for less (the track-record-less agent who loves your work, the publisher who tells you that success is all about purchasing your own books). You may be more vulnerable to misleading hype (the costly self-publishing service that touts its connection with a traditional publisher, the high-entry-fee contest that promises exposure but is actually just a way for the sponsor to make money). If you’re feeling worn down, it may become easier to ignore your gut feeling that something isn’t right.
You can protect yourself by taking a few simple precautions.
I can’t stress enough that these need to be done before you start your publication journey. It’s very hard to learn on the fly—plus, if you’ve already experienced a lot of rejection, even a bad offer may be hard to refuse once it’s made. Better to inoculate yourself against the bad actors from the start.
First, educate yourself. Others in this book have discussed the importance of being in the know, so I’ll just reiterate how essential it is to take the time to learn about the wide world of publishing. Knowledge is your number one weapon against schemes and scams.
Second, research the people and companies you want to approach. Look for evidence of professional competence, as well as for problems and complaints. Order books from the publisher or self-publishing service so you can assess their quality. Contact watchdog groups (Preditors & Editors and Writer Beware), and consult writers’ forums (such as the Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Check forum at the Absolute Write Water Cooler).
Third, know the warning signs.
ASSESS AGENTS
When my friend Ann Crispin and I founded Writer Beware in the late 1990s, agent scams were common. Now that the agent-to-traditional-publisher route is just one option for pursuing a writing career, they’ve become quite rare. They’re still out there, though—as are amateur agents, who pose less of a threat to your bank account but will waste your time just as thoroughly.
Watch for these warning signs:
- The agent has no (or a tiny) track record of sales. A worthwhile agent will have a record of professional achievement—verifiable sales to publishers you’ve heard of. Be wary if most of the agent’s “sales” are to non-advance-paying presses that accept manuscripts from writers. The whole point of having an agent is to get you through doors you can’t open yourself.
- The agent is new (on the job for less than a year) and has no relevant professional experience. Agenting is not an entry-level job. It requires specialized expertise and contacts within the publishing industry. New agents are more likely to succeed if they’ve worked in publishing or trained at a reputable agency. People who come to agenting without that background are at a major disadvantage.
- The agent charges fees or sells services. No matter what the fee is called, if it’s due up front, it’s a red flag. Fee charging violates the basic premise of the author-agent relationship: a shared financial interest in selling the author’s manuscript. If your agent makes money only when you do (via a commission), she’ll be highly motivated not only to sell your book but to make the best possible deal. An agent who makes money before a sale diminishes his incentive to pursue legitimate publication. (Note that most agents do expect authors to reimburse some submission costs, but these are usually nominal and paid only after they are incurred.)
Another red flag is any recommendation to use the agent’s own paid services. Increasingly this is a gray area, with more and more agents branching out into editing, consulting, and even publishing. But an ethical agent will separate her agenting from her adjunct activities—agency clients will never be referred for paid services, and clients of the paid services will never be eligible for representation. Beware if the paid service is a condition of representation or carries a promise of special consideration.
PONDER PUBLISHERS
Once upon a time, it was difficult and expensive to start a publishing imprint. These days, all anyone needs is a website and an Amazon account. This has made possible some truly amazing small presses. Unfortunately it has also fueled an explosion of amateur scammers.
Be wary of the following:
- The publisher expects you to “invest.” A reputable publisher (as distinct from a self-publishing service) doesn’t require authors to pay anything or buy anything as a condition of publication. If you must hand over cash in order to be published—whether it’s for some aspect of production or to buy finished books—you are dealing with a vanity publisher. Vanity publishers may claim that your “investment” funds only part of the expense of publication and that they will pick up the rest. But it’s far more likely that your fee covers not only all costs but the publisher’s overhead and profit as well. Some vanity publishers maintain the appearance of traditional presses, with writers only discovering that money is due after submitting. But if the publisher deceptively presents itself, how likely is it that it will deal with you honestly?
Pro Tip
Watch for these code words that are synonymous with vanity: partnership, co-op, joint venture, collaborative, subsidy, and the newest, hybrid.
- The publisher’s staff has no relevant professional experience. Hopefully the publisher will provide staff bios on its website. (Be wary if it doesn’t.) A publisher staffed by people with no previous professional publishing, writing, editing, or design experience is far more likely to have problems: bad contract language, inexpert editing, unprofessional cover art, poor marketing support, and more.
- The publisher or self-publishing service is new. There’s a high failure rate among new small presses, many of which start up without a business plan or adequate funding. Such publishers often go out of business abruptly, leaving writers high and dry—especially if the publisher doesn’t bother to revert rights before vanishing. It’s a good idea to wait on approaching a new publisher until it has been issuing books for at least a year. This gives time for problems to surface and also allows you to assess things like quality and marketing.
SUSS SELF-PUBLISHING SERVICES
Like publishers, self-publishing services have proliferated over the past decade. Some are excellent and cost-effective (or free), others are inefficient mom-and-pop operations, and a few are unscrupulous profit engines that overprice their offerings and use hard-sell sales tactics to convince writers to buy extras they don’t need.
Be cautious if you come across these scenarios:
- The self-publishing service pressures you to buy or tries to upsell you. Even the free self-pub platforms sell additional services, but you should never be pressured to buy. Be skeptical also if the service tries to get you to purchase a more expensive package than you originally planned or contacts you repeatedly to urge you to buy marketing services. Most marketing services sold by self-publishing companies are overpriced, of dubious value, or both. Unscrupulous self-publishing services may try to dazzle you with visions of book sales, worldwide distribution, and all the other things writers long for. Never forget that you’re not a writer contracting with a publisher but a consumer buying a product. Be a smart consumer: Don’t be swayed by sales pitches.
- The self-publishing service is new. As it is for new publishers, early failure can be a problem for new self-publishing services, especially if the service is an effort of tech entrepreneurs to cash in on the self-publishing boom. The same warnings apply.
APPROACH CONTESTS WITH CARE
Now more than ever, one of the major hurdles of a writing career is finding an audience. Dozens of contests and awards programs promise to help with that, claiming to provide prestige and exposure to winners. Many, though, are nothing more than profit-making schemes that cash in on desperate writers’ hunger for recognition.
Watch out for these red flags:
- The contest charges a high entry fee. Profit-making contests charge sixty dollars, seventy-five dollars, ninety dollars, or even more. Reputable contests’ entry fees are typically much lower.
- The contest offers dozens or scores of entry categories. Some profit-making contests offer more than one hundred entry categories to maximize income.
- Judging is performed by anonymous individuals. Judges are described as experts, but their names aren’t provided. In fact, the judging may be done by the contest’s staff, who may simply pick winners at random.
- You win “faux” prizes. Moneymaking awards offer cheap prizes that don’t cut into their profits: press releases, website listings, features in self-owned publications, and so on. Some offer little more than the “honor” of winning.
- The contest gives you plenty of opportunities to spend more money. Profit-making contests vigorously hawk extras: stickers, certificates, critiques, plaques, and more.
WEIGH WRITERS’ SERVICES
As the self-publishing and small-press worlds have grown, so, too, have the number and variety of services for writers—from freelance editing to cover art and illustration to e-book creation to publicity and marketing. Writers can also pay for review services, author website creation services, blog tour services, services that promise to get your small-press or self-pubbed book into libraries, services that will run your social media for you … the list goes on.
These services run the gamut from worthwhile and professional to outright scams. Here, again, research is your friend. Make sure the person you’re thinking of hiring actually has professional expertise. (A freelance editor should have verifiable editing experience, for instance.) Carefully assess quality (artists and illustrators should have portfolios; PR services should provide sample campaigns). Ask for references, but also try to contact other authors with whom the individual or company has worked. If the company or service makes a promise, don’t take it at face value: Look for proof that it actually delivers. Search for complaints.
It’s just as important to ask yourself if the service is a good use of your money. Could you get as much benefit from approaching book bloggers as from buying a Kirkus Indie review? Wouldn’t your social media be more, well, social if you managed it yourself? Is a blog tour worth the work if your book appears only on low-traffic blogs? Make sure you know why you’re buying the service, and have a solid idea of how it may benefit you. Don’t be swayed by sales pitches—and remember: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
Writing is a tough career, and you’re bound to make some mistakes on your publishing journey. But along with the bad, you’ll come across plenty of good. If you fortify yourself with knowledge and keep an eye out for the warning signs, you should be just fine.
Publishing Contract Pitfalls to Avoid
by Susan Spann
Dangerous contract language comes in many forms, from overreaching grants of rights to predatory publisher requests for fees and copyright transfers. Always have an industry professional—an agent or lawyer who works for you—review your publishing contract before you sign. That said, here are a few of the most common contract pitfalls that authors should look for and avoid:
- Copyright transfers to the publisher: A legitimate publishing contract will never include a grant of copyright ownership to the publisher. Contracts involve a license of publishing rights (and, often, certain subsidiary rights), but the author should always remain the sole owner of copyright to the work.
- Author payment of costs and fees: Traditionally, the publisher is responsible for the costs of producing the author’s work for sale. Legitimate contracts should never require the author to pay (or reimburse the publisher) for artwork, publishing, distribution, marketing, or other costs. This also means the publisher shouldn’t deduct these costs from sales receipts before calculating the author’s royalty share.
- Mandatory book purchases or marketing contracts: Most publishers give the author free copies of the finished work and allow the author to purchase additional copies (usually at a discount). However, legitimate contracts will never require the author to buy any copies of the finished work. Similarly, the contract should not require the author to pay, out of pocket or otherwise, for marketing services provided by the publisher or affiliated companies.
- Infinite time to publish: Publishing contracts should give the author the right to terminate the agreement and regain all rights if the publisher fails to publish the work within a stated period (normally twelve to twenty-four months) after delivery and acceptance of the manuscript. Without this clause, the author has no recourse against publisher delays.
- Out-of-print status tied to “availability”: Before e-books, publishing contracts often declared the author’s work was “in print” and under contract as long as the book remained “available” for sale. That language is inappropriate now because it lets the publisher keep control of the author’s work as long as an e-book listing remains on even a single sales website—including the publisher’s own! Insist on contract language that declares the work “out of print” (and allows the author to terminate the contract) if the publisher fails to make more than a stated number of royalty-bearing sales during a given period of time (no more than six to twelve months) at any point after initial publication.
- Fees for reversion of rights: All rights to the work should revert to the author immediately and automatically when the contract terminates—regardless of the reason for termination and without the author paying any fees or “reimbursements of costs” to the publisher. Also, the contract should not require the author to buy the publisher’s remaining stock of the work in order to terminate the contract.
- Nondisclosure clauses: Nondisclosure clauses prohibit the author (or, sometimes, the author and publisher) from public discussion of the contract terms and/or their experiences with one another. These clauses are not standard in publishing contracts. However, some publishers use them as “muzzles” to control and silence authors. Beware of any publisher that wants to put a muzzle in your contract.
- Unlimited Option Clauses. Well-drafted options can benefit both authors and publishers, but the option must be limited in three important ways: (1) It should apply to the author’s next book-length work in the same series only; (2) the publisher should have the right to review and attempt to negotiate a publishing contract for the optioned work—but not to extend the current contract to cover the optioned work; (3) the option must not place any limits or restrictions on the author’s right to sell the work if the author and publisher fail to reach acceptable contract terms for the optioned work.
Be aware that this isn’t a complete or exhaustive list of dangerous contract language or terms to avoid. Never sign a contract without arranging for review by an agent or publishing attorney, and trust your instincts; if something seems wrong or “too good to be true,” it probably is.
Insist on fair, industry-standard contract terms. You and your work deserve them.