In a Quandry! Advice/Help needed

[I, Brian]

It certainly does ring alarm bells that the agency is looking to relocate and change their name - it certainly doesn't sound like the sort of normal behaviour you'd get from an established agency.

However, it's certainly possible that a less established agency may consider rebranding as an easier option than chasing a libel case.

Either way, good tip from Mark - keep us informed.

Also, I've changed your username - feel free to ask for it to be changed as required.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

.

Teresa, as I said to Bookstop could be William Morrow, but can't find a contact e-mail for them yet...

Call them. There should be a phone number on the HarperCollins webpage. You can probably find someone there who has enough sympathy for your plight that they'll be willing to talk to you. (Give them a shorter version of the story you told us. People on the telephone stop listening if you take too long to get to the point.) If no one is willing to give you information, you've lost nothing by trying.

Is your book SFF, by the way? Did the agent say they were talking to a publisher in the US? Because EOS is the SFF imprint for HarperCollins over here.

Also, I should have said before, you could try contacting the people from SFWA at their Writer Beware website. They look after the best interests of writers even if they aren't members of their organization, and they tend to be up on all the latest scams and shady dealings. The "slanders" concerning your agent may be altogether warranted, or at least you might learn what sort of suspicious actions they're based on.

[Perpetual Man]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Call them. There should be a phone number on the HarperCollins webpage. You can probably find someone there who has enough sympathy for your plight that they'll be willing to talk to you. (Give them a shorter version of the story you told us. People on the telephone stop listening if you take too long to get to the point.) If no one is willing to give you information, you've lost nothing by trying.

Is your book SFF, by the way? Did the agent say they were talking to a publisher in the US? Because EOS is the SFF imprint for HarperCollins over here.

Also, I should have said before, you could try contacting the people from SFWA at their Writer Beware website. They look after the best interests of writers even if they aren't members of their organization, and they tend to be up on all the latest scams and shady dealings. The "slanders" concerning your agent may be altogether warranted, or at least you might learn what sort of suspicious actions they're based on.

Thanks once again for all the advice, Teresa

I'll definately look into the SFWA...

As I say the only name I was given was Morrow - that may or may not be William Morrow, it could be some obscure publisher the agent found, or someone who does not even exist at all...

There is no way of knowing whether the agent did any of the things they claimed... I'd like to believe that they actually did some work - what have they got to gain from not doing it?

The book, incidently, was Fantasy aimed towards a teen market...

[SJAB]

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

the company was suspending all activies, relocating and renaming and then resuming activies at the start of next month.

Hmm, well, I am not saying this has happened to your agents and most likely has not, but the only time I have heard this happen is when a company is close to going under, being hounded both by suppliers and customers for defaulting both on payments and incompleted work. Closing one company, transferring a number of the profitable contracts to the new company and setting up said new company is a way of getting out of obligations to unwanted customers and suppliers alike. Everyone gets sucked into the legal tangle that ensues. Not nice, not pretty, and destructive to all concerned.

And to be honest, can any internet forum really have the power to affect an agency or any business in that fashion??? Personally I have seen forums shut down by service providers for infringement of copyrights on artwork, for slandering a company, well... I think the owners of said forums might be in deeper water,

But this is my opinion, nothing more.

[Perpetual Man]

Well it's over a day since everything happened and I would like to thanks every one for their comments and help. I have taken most of it on board and tried to do what most people have suggested (and one or two more as well). I will let you all know how things move on...

Personally I think it is safe to say that I am still slightly miffed (to put it mildly) about the events now that everything has had time to sink in.

I think that I am beginning to agree with everyone else that the agents were complete >insert your favoured derogitory expletive< and that the best option for me is to call it a day and start again from the bottom up, looking for a better agent this time, but not for a few days yet.

At the moment I just want to catch my breath and get my mind settles. After writing consistantly every week day for the last few weeks and enjoying it immesely I find that I just don't want to write, so much has this knocked the stuffing out of me. Just hope that I'll be able to get back at it in the next few days...

Again, thanks to everyone for comments and suggestions, and for the support.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

I'd like to believe that they actually did some work - what have they got to gain from not doing it?

They might not be capable of doing the work. So they string authors along hoping to keep them on board until they can figure out what they are doing. A lot of people go into the publishing field (writers, agents, small publishers) with no experience, no least clue of how things work, some of them with a sincere interest in what they are doing and a desire to learn, but some because they see a chance to make themselves important, as a complete ego trip. It's much easier to set up a website and promote yourself as an agent or even a publisher than it is to turn out a completed manuscript (although that's a hundred times easier than it was before computers came along), so those who want the ego gratification tend to gravitate there. Unfortunately, in doing so, they end up raising and then (frequently) crushing the hopes of a lot of aspiring writers.

[John Jarrold]

I've replied off-forum, agreeing with everything said here. This is the third contact I've had from authors in the last week telling exactly the same story. Morrow, Orion and Del Rey seem to be the publishers who are 'about to make an offer' most often. In one case, a book was apparently being read by a Del Rey editor who left the company four years ago...

[John Jarrold]

This agent may have the initials CH - this has now been confirmed to me by two separate writers.

[Perpetual Man]

John is right indeed. The agents initials were CH and the companies were H&H

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm sorry you had to go through all this, Tim. It's no wonder if you're finding it hard to catch you breath and get back on your feet just now, but please don't let it discourage you for too long -- the publishing business is tough, but it's not as horrible as some people would have you believe.

I just wish there were more ways to help aspiring writers avoid some of the traps and keep them from falling victim to the ignorant and/or unscrupulous.

[Perpetual Man]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

I'm sorry you had to go through all this, Tim. It's no wonder if you're finding it hard to catch you breath and get back on your feet just now, but please don't let it discourage you for too long -- the publishing business is tough, but it's not as horrible as some people would have you believe.

I just wish there were more ways to help aspiring writers avoid some of the traps and keep them from falling victim to the ignorant and/or unscrupulous.

Thanks Teresa, it's a bit of a knock, but not the end of the world! I'm sure I'll start looking at things again soon.

I'd like to thank you for your advice about the SFWA (I think it was you who mentioned them) They've just come back to me now and are very interested in what has been going on, very helpful.

[I, Brian]

Heard from John as well. If anyone wishes to relate their experience in detail, relating to the persons involved - names and organisations - I'm sure chronicles will be happy to stand by their comments. There seems to be enough corroboration here to suggest something quite unprofessional was going on.

[Perpetual Man]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Heard from John as well. If anyone wishes to relate their experience in detail, relating to the persons involved - names and organisations - I'm sure chronicles will be happy to stand by their comments. There seems to be enough corroboration here to suggest something quite unprofessional was going on.

I'll gladly do so.. but tomorrow sometime!

[MJRevell]

I'm glad to see that a lot of advice has been offered here. Just wanted to post to say good luck getting back in the game

[Perpetual Man]

Right: The Full Story.

I’ve written most of my life but never really tried to do anything with it outside of the small press and a few sites online. At the start of last year I settled down and a story just flowed out of me and I decided to take it all a lot more seriously. The story just seemed to work, people who read it liked it, all very encouraging, I knew nothing about publishing though so decided the best option was to go after an agent.

My girlfriend found me a website with a good list of agents on (Firstwriter.com), it enabled you to narrow down to the type and genre of agent you were looking for. The first one I tried (probably a legit one) rejected my work with kind words, too much on but felt that there was potential – keep trying.

The next from the list I chose had a lot of good reviews (there was one bad one – but that could have been sour grapes). The name of the agency was Hill & Hill Literary Agency. I contacted them by e-mail and duly sent off my first few chapters. Within 48 hours they got back to me, friendly e-mail. They had liked what I read could I send more. I sent the rest and a week later they contacted and said they would gladly represent me. (I think it is worth pointing out that from comments made I could tell they had read it)

Real good feeling, especially as I had expected a couple more rejections this early on. They did charge a signing on fee, which deep down I knew was frowned on within the industry, but to me it did not seem so much (surely a small agency might need to cover basic expenses) and what the hey I was excited. Within 3 months of looking for an agent it seemed I had one.

I received a copy of the contract in the post, it was professional enough to be believable, simple enough to understand. I paid a signing on fee of I think £80.00 for six months which guaranteed them presenting my work to at least ten agents.

At the end of the first week received my first update, this basically told me which publishers they had sent it to. I recognised most of the names and was happy. I don’t know when I first wondered whether there was any way they could prove they had been in contact with the publishers, but it could have been a small niggle back then. I was also contacted by Christopher Hill head of the Agency who said he would be my main contact with his firm.

Through the following weeks and months I got a few more updates, normally one a week, generally they listed who the manuscript was with (never specific names, just publisher and that they were with a reader, an editor etc). And once or twice they came back with a direct ‘rejected’ and reason next to the publisher. By the time we were getting to the end of the six months Hill and Hill had apparently presented my work to a number of publishers more than they had said in the contract, and some of these were definitely showing an interest. To me at least there were also a few signs that there might be an interest – saying things like if it went further there would have to be a rewrite etc. Basically it looked as though things were moving. I did wonder though what would happen if the contract came to an end while things were still looking so good?

Sure enough I was contacted by another member of the agency (I don’t recall the name) but they said that they were changing policy, dropping some of the deadwood that was not going anywhere, strengthening their client base. They would like me to stay on as they felt there was potential in my work. Went straight for the vanity and it worked. They offered me a further years contract at a very cut price rate (£20). I might have had doubts, but did not really think that £20 was too bad and if they were actually getting somewhere I did not want to muck it all up. So I paid.

The reports kept coming, more publishers were added. More rejections more movement.

The communications went a bit wonky – they changed e-mail addresses, as allegedly a new computer system went into the office. New e-mail addresses followed. The suspicious part of me noticed that they went from one easily available internet provider to another, but things continued.

The nature of the reports changed, they became biweekly but longer in more detail. At one point I was contacted by an outside agency who were doing a survey on Hill & Hill to help them improve. I did it and returned it. A few months later as a result of the survey things changed again. There was only one report a month now, but I received immediate updates as soon as something happened. Some weeks there would be none, some days three of four.

There were a few more rejections, a couple of positive moves: one publisher apparently said they were interested but not at the moment – however if any other publishers showed and interest let them know! Time passed. There was a sudden odd e-mail saying that if I wanted to contact them by phone the procedure had changed, become more complicated. It seemed to involve leaving messages and leaving times I could be contacted. Very odd.

Then Mr Hill got a bit friendly in his e-mail (Call me Chris…). One publisher was interested, but wanted proof that there was more to come. I sent the first few chapters of a sequel and of something I had written years before that I had recently found and was rather impressed with (especially as I felt it wasn’t any good at the time).

Then he informed me that one publisher, Morrow had asked if I would fill in a questionnaire. Hill said it was an unheard of question and I could say no if I wanted. I agreed though. The form turned up and was quite interesting in it’s own way. A few bits about my writing practices, how fast I could whip out stuff if I was pushed, whether I felt I could keep to deadlines, how many ideas I had. Would I be prepared to ghost write, do film adaptations?

A week or so later Hill contacted me and said the questionnaire had paid off, that I was down to four authors up for a contract from Morrow. He did have an ace up his sleeve as well. A former colleague of his worked at Morrow and was involved in the process, he had spoken to her and she was prepared to support my work, Karen Sharpe. Alarm bells rang again, her e-mail address was once again an easy to get hold of mass one Freeserve, and they had re-branded years before (I think). But still good news. The decision would be in Monday 4th September.

On Monday there were no e-mails, but first thing Tuesday I had one, it had been mailed in the early hours. It stated that I had made the cut, that an offer was to be made from Morrow on the 20th of the months. Hill then said he would be out of the office for the rest of the day having been up most of the night waiting for the reply, but would be back on Wednesday when he would talk me through the publication process.

This was, funnily enough the stage where I thought something was really wrong. I don’t know why I felt that, I just did, and that feeling along with paranoia grew as I did not hear from Hill for over a week.

On Wednesday 13th I e-mailed him, asking if everything was okay, and would phone him on Friday if I had not heard anything – risk their nefarious phone system.

On Thursday I had a generic e-mail from Claire Ashton a partner at Hill & Hill, this is the one that stated that the Agency was relocating etc. All the alarm bells I had been suppressing went off big time and I tried desperately to believe that it was all legit… knowing deep down that I’d been sucker punched big time.

One of the reasons given for the re-branding/relocation was a thread running on the www.absolutewrite.com forums (which I’ve just checked on and is getting really interesting) if you look at the Christopher Hill thread…

Anyway hope that is in depth enough, if it’s too long, sorry. Any questions just post them and I’ll do my best to fill in point I might have missed.