<>WE ARE ACCEPTING NEW WRITERS
Moy Sung
We** are now accepting new & previously published*
writers for publication. We have 3 offices/ 2 in *New York /
the other in *Florida**. For ALL fiction & nonfiction/
send brief digest/ first chapter/ include a self
addressed, stamped envelope: *S.A.S.E.*
Poetry: send 3 poems/ *S.A.S.E.
Short Stories: send brief *synopsis/ 3 pages/ *S.A.S.E.
Do not send complete manuscript* unless invited to do so.
We are also accepting screenplays for TV/ Movies/
Please follow guidelines as for fiction and nonfiction.
>*NYC AGENCY=
>*33-29 58 Street=
>*Woodside, NY 11377=
>*(718)651-8145=
Max King
In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
<11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> snip very annoying scam spam <
oh yeah!! well guess what. We aren't accepting cheesy rip off
literary wannabe agencies . . . so get lost!!!
-Max
(bubbling with fury over thieves who prey on
gullible artists/writers)
Carl Brookins
CArlB
Max King
Would anyone care to answer this question for the gentlemen?
Mingo?
There's a scam alert on the web somewhere about these fools, I'm
not sure where it is located. I'm sure some of our informed writers
would be glad to inform you . . .
Bill Gibson
Carl Brookins <Broo...@msus1.msus.edu> wrote:
>max...@ix.netcom.com(Max King) wrote:
>>In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
>><11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
>>
>> > snip very annoying scam spam <
>>
>>
>> oh yeah!! well guess what. We aren't accepting cheesy rip off
>> literary wannabe agencies . . . so get lost!!!
>>
>> -Max
>> (bubbling with fury over thieves who prey on
>> gullible artists/writers)
>>
>How do you know it's a scam?
>CArlB
>
Carl,
Personally I know nothing about these folks. I do know that every time I
see one of their posts, I see a number of replies (from a varying group of
people) claiming that it is a scam.
Bill Gibson
Paris Flammonde
Max King wrote:
>
> In <5gsabi$q...@Urvile.MSUS.EDU> Carl Brookins <Broo...@msus1.msus.edu> writes:
>
> >
> >>In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
> >><11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> >>
> >> > snip very annoying scam spam <
> >>
> >>
> >> oh yeah!! well guess what. We aren't accepting cheesy rip off
> >> literary wannabe agencies . . . so get lost!!!
> >>
> >> -Max
> >> (bubbling with fury over thieves who prey on
>
> >> gullible artists/writers)
> >>
> >How do you know it's a scam?
> >CArlB
> >
>
>
> Mingo?
>
> There's a scam alert on the web somewhere about these fools, I'm
> not sure where it is located. I'm sure some of our informed writers
> would be glad to inform you . . .
COMMENT: don't know the original question on this thread, but such
generally fall into one of two categories: agents or publishers. As a
long-time professional, frequently published author who despises
parasites let me simply warn: if your work is COMMERCIALLY worth
representing you should eventually find a responsible agent WHO DOES NOT
charge any fees (except for LD call, Xeroxing etc.). Regarding
publishers DITTO. Reputable publishers (except for EGO and those who
handle very esoteric and/or academic material, e.g. vanity and subsidy)
DO NOT ASK YOU TO PUT UP MONEY TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK. They do so
themselves because they have judged it COMMERCIAL and expect, or, at
least, hope, to make money from it. Vanity publishers expect you to
provide the entire financing and do nothing, or nearly nothing, to
promote the finished product--for all practical purposes they are middle
men to printers and they skim their share off the top. Subsidy (and
there are a couple of fairly legitimate ones will offer to SHARE the
costs with you, usually 50/50 and then, when they have recovered their
initial investment, your royalties and their profits begin. If you
follow this route be certain that you receive a thorough break-down of
the expenses and how they will be distributed.
If you are talking about poetry, VERY FEW major house publish
it, and those that do confine themselves to NAME poets (regardless of
the quality of their work). There are a number of smaller press that
publish poetry, but since every one in the world, with or without the
slightest competence thinks he/she can write it, the competition is
great, and much of it comes from poets who, while not making it to the
top houses, still are well enough known to make your chances slim
indeed.
Writing is an art or a business, rarely both. When it is the
former you will probably never make a cent, and may never have a line
published (Emily Dickinson didn't, and A. C. Doyle got 24 pounds for the
legendary:A Study in Scarlet) with the former, if you are REALLY
COMMERCIAL, work long and hard, and are VERY LUCKY you may get published
on the professional level and gain some financial reward. Excluding
technical writers and journalists, there are probably no more than fifty
writers in the entire United States who make a living from writing, and
most of them are genre types.
Questions answered. Paris Flammonde
Paris Flammonde
Bill Gibson wrote:
>
> Carl Brookins <Broo...@msus1.msus.edu> wrote:
> >max...@ix.netcom.com(Max King) wrote:
> >>In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
> >><11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> >>
> >> > snip very annoying scam spam <
> >>
> >>
> >> oh yeah!! well guess what. We aren't accepting cheesy rip off
> >> literary wannabe agencies . . . so get lost!!!
> >>
> >> -Max
> >> (bubbling with fury over thieves who prey on
> >> gullible artists/writers)
> >>
> >How do you know it's a scam?
> >CArlB
> >
>
>
> Personally I know nothing about these folks. I do know that every time I
> see one of their posts, I see a number of replies (from a varying group of
> people) claiming that it is a scam.
>
> Bill Gibson
Comment: See detailed reply on this matter to Max King. PF
W Lee or T Beatty
Max King wrote:
>
> In <5gsabi$q...@Urvile.MSUS.EDU> Carl Brookins <Broo...@msus1.msus.edu> writes:
>
> >
> >>In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
> >><11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
> >>
> >> > snip very annoying scam spam <
> >>
> >>
> >> oh yeah!! well guess what. We aren't accepting cheesy rip off
> >> literary wannabe agencies . . . so get lost!!!
> >>
> >> -Max
> >> (bubbling with fury over thieves who prey on
>
> >> gullible artists/writers)
> >>
> >How do you know it's a scam?
> >CArlB
> >
>
>
> Mingo?
>
> There's a scam alert on the web somewhere about these fools, I'm
> not sure where it is located. I'm sure some of our informed writers
Check out:
http://www.geocities.com/~hitchcockc/main.html
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/styles/97/02/13/NET STALKING.html
Terry
Clif Flynt
I have had no dealings with these folks, either. However, you can
drop by misc.writing to get an earful (screenful?) from folks who
have. Or, you can check out the following url:
http://www.geocities.com/~hitchockc/woodside.html
for the details of one writer's horrific experience with them,
and her subsequent suit against them.
Caveat Emptor
Carol Flynt
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PREFERRED EMAIL ADDRESS: ca...@clif.ypsi.mi.us |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Brookins
>>>In <5gpkub$2n3$5...@mhafn.production.compuserve.com> Moy Sung
>>><11002...@CompuServe.COM> writes:
>>>
>
>Carl,
>
>Personally I know nothing about these folks. I do know that every time I
>see one of their posts, I see a number of replies (from a varying group of
>people) claiming that it is a scam.
>
>Bill Gibson
>
Me too. What I haven't seen is anyone with first-hand experience with
these people making a report. I have no idea whether the people
advertising for writers are or are not honest. I certainly am in no
position to defend them. Nor should any one assume I support them.
What bothers me is what appers to be an almost automatic assumption they
are spam or scam artists, apparently because they are not doing things
they way it's always been done.
I remeember my research of the political climate during the 1948-52 era,
called MCCARTHYISM. HUAC was running rampant. We saw dozens of
politcians, public servants, writers, artists and just plain people
smeared by innuendo, hounded out of office and in some cases, out of
life, all without an opportunity to face their accusers or even learn
from where the accusations came. We were able to document scores of
rumors started by specific magazines that a year or less later were
quoting the rumors as fact, after the rumors had passed among various
publications.
So I tend to question accusations like these which cite not specific
facts or personal experience, but only the unsupported word of someone
else.
At the same time, I am aware of many people out to make a fast buck by
fleecing the unwary and the inexperienced. So I urge any writer
intrigued by the agent ads in the magazines or on the internet or in
their email, to check it out. You won't be sorry.
CarlB
Carl Brookins
This is quite good, Paris. I agree with everything you've said here,
well, with one small cavail, and one addition. I won't bore readers with
detail of my experienc except to say I have lived in and around and with
publishing and agenting and writing for many years.
There are good and not so good agents who charge reading fees, just as
there are good and not so good agents who do not.
There are active, successful (depending on your definition of successful)
writers who are or were self-published. Seems to me a key word in your
essay above is "eventually". Eventually you may find an agent who
believes in your work AND is willing to work energetically to sell it
over what may be an extended period of time.
Just because an agent or publisher does not charge reading fees, doesn't
make them one of the good guys, nor does it make them one of the bad.
Just because an agent or publisher suggests of refers your work to a
"book doctor" who charges an editorial fee, does not make agent,
publisher, or book doctor either good or bad. Go cautiously and check
everything out to your satisfaction prior to commiting $$.
Carl B
Paul Shoemaker
A word of advice... go to DejaNews and look under misc.writing, and
see the whole Woody/Jayne Hitchcock thing unfold (Woody mail bombed
Jayne, then her agent) I believe they are also being investigated by
the Attorney general in New York. There's also something on the Boston
Phoenix web page about it, but I don't have the address right handy.
Kristin
Tim Patterson
Carl Brookins wrote:
>
> Me too. What I haven't seen is anyone with first-hand experience with
> these people making a report. I have no idea whether the people
> advertising for writers are or are not honest.
Look in DejaNews. Do a web search on them.
The Truth is Out There!
:)
Paul Shoemaker
They just spammed misc.writing in a major way... all the subject lines
reading 3333333 or hghgjifjifkfdkjdf or crap like that.... Real
professionals, here. Then they said that most of the spamming was done
by resident m.wer's... Not bloody likely, since ALL the messages had
the same compuserve account. It would be foolish to try to get any
first hand experience with these people... They're crooks, and they'll
try yo take you every step of the way.
Kristin
Matt Hughes
In article <5h6qgs$k...@Urvile.MSUS.EDU>, Broo...@msus1.msus.edu says...
>>Personally I know nothing about these folks. I do know that every time I
>>see one of their posts, I see a number of replies (from a varying group of
>>people) claiming that it is a scam.
>>
>Me too. What I haven't seen is anyone with first-hand experience with
>these people making a report.
>
>What bothers me is what appers to be an almost automatic assumption they
>are spam or scam artists, apparently because they are not doing things
>they way it's always been done.
>
>I remeember my research of the political climate during the 1948-52 era,
>called MCCARTHYISM. <snip>
No need to call up the spectre of Tailgunner Joe. All the reports of
first-hand experience -- and they were numerous -- were posted before you
got here. Woodside was already doing the same thing when I logged on for the
first time two years ago.
Woodside is a couple of confidence tricksters who troll for writers who want
an agent; whatever the writer sends, (poems, for god's sake!) Woodside just
loves it and offers immediate representation. But, by the way, there's also
a request for a fee (sometimes it's been $75, sometimes $150). If the
writer pays the upfront demand, there will soon be a subsequent request for
more bucks. Pay that, and another request will shortly arrive.
But there is no agenting service of any kind. Woodside does not circulate
the writer's ms to publishers. Nor does it transmute into a vanity press or
refer to an Edit Ink book doctoring service. It's not that sophisticated a
scam; it simply takes your money and does nothing but ask for more.
Anyone who's been around book or writing related newsgroups for a while
knows what Woodside is. A few people take the time to warn newcomers who
might think, "Wow, I logged on to the Net and found an agent right away!"
In the literary marketplace, Woodside is the equivalent of those insect
predators that mimic the pheremones of their prey; when the scent-
intoxicated moth happily spirals down to fulfil its biological destiny, it
finds only another animal's appetite behind a set of mandibles.
Stay away.
Matt Hughes
Gilbert Vanburen Wilkes
Excerpts from netnews.rec.arts.prose: 30-Mar-97 Re: <>WE ARE ACCEPTING
NEW .. by Matt Hug...@mars.ark.com
> In the literary marketplace, Woodside is the equivalent of those insect
> predators that mimic the pheremones of their prey; when the scent-
> intoxicated moth happily spirals down to fulfil its biological destiny, it
> finds only another animal's appetite behind a set of mandibles.
Beautiful extended metaphor, this. Most appropriate.
---------
g.v.w. iv
gv...@andrew.cmu.edu
http://english-server.hss.cmu.edu/home/wilkes/
john sutton
As a published author, published after thirty years of trying, take it
from me that no writer should send any money to any agent unless it is
as a reading fee.
If a writers work is good enough then any agent worth his salt will
represent it at their own expense. The normal rate of commission is 10%
but some charge 15-20%.
To discover the truth get yourself a copy of 'THE WRITERS AND ARTISTS
YEARBOOK' in the UK, there must be a USA version.
Poetry publishers that insist you buy a book at $50 with your poem in it
would print a page from the New York telephone directory if it was
submitted with a cheque.
Whoever wrote this bit about the pheremones is quite brilliant, I liked
the image it brought to my mind and all would be wannabe poets should
bear it in mind.
In the literary marketplace, Woodside is the equivalent of those insect
>predators that mimic the pheremones of their prey; when the scent-
>intoxicated moth happily spirals down to fulfil its biological destiny,
it
>finds only another animal's appetite behind a set of mandibles.
>
>Stay away.
>
>Matt Hughes
>
>
--
john sutton