From QueryTracker Blog:
There are two kinds of lousy agents. The first is the scammer, the kind who wants to get money from authors without in any way performing the services an actual agent ought to perform. When you know the basics about the business, you’ll recognize those. They ask you for money just to read your manuscript and refer you for “necessary” editing services to their friends, many of whom are actually themselves operating under a different business name.
The second kind of lousy agent is just…slippery. That agent is harder to recognize from the outside. While you know to run from agents who charge reading fees, for example, what do you do about one who brings up “administrative charges” after the contract is signed?
Today a writer sent me a copy of an email his agent had sent him. This agent is a legit agent at a legit agency. It’s just that….well, you’ll see.
The agent sent the writer an email about changes to their literary agency agreement, with the expectation that the writer would sign it and be thrilled. (Note: I’ve removed all references to The agency and rephrased in order to clarify in parts. The content is the same, and I verified on the agency’s website.)
In the current contract, the only charges are for any extraoridinary expenses that may occur (courier services, foreign exchange, etc.), $250.00 per year, and a $500.00 cancellation fee should the author wish to terminate the contract.
Please note: don’t sign a contract with that stipulation. Why should the author be charged a fee to break the contract? There’s no matching fee for the agent if the agent decides to fire the writer, after all. Usually an agented writer is pleased to stay onboard. When the writer wants to leave, often it’s because the writer has issues with the way the agent is representing the manuscript. By charging this ridiculous contract-breaking fee, the agent has stated that s/he would rather have a bitter, angry client than just part ways amicably.
. . . .
Then we get to the fun part, where the agency describes their new contract, introducing an administrative fee structure:
The first year we represent a manuscript we charge five hundred dollars ($500.00), then an additional two hundred fifty dollars $250.00 each year until we place it with a publisher. Upon securing a publishing contract, the agency receives 15% of net revenues.
On their website, they try to sweeten the deal: they explain that this fee helps them partner with writers who are serious and willing to invest in their careers.
. . . .
This agent seriously wants you to fork over five hundred bucks before even starting the job, and that $500 won’t come out of the advance when the book sells. Then, if the agent fails to sell your book in one year, the agent gets rewarded with an additional $250.
Link to the rest at QueryTracker Blog and thanks to Deb for the tip.
If a state-run ethics commission for agents existed, I would suggest filing a complaint with it. Alas, agents are completely unregulated. The writer’s only recourse is to tell the agent to go have intercourse with himself.
Name them and shame them. People deserve to know that this is bad practice, and shaming them might make them change the contracts. Might. Doubt it.
I would, after receiving this contract, politely ask the “agent” whether he wants me to break his/her left or right kneecap…
What’s to stop an agent from ‘accepting’ every manuscript that crosses his/her desk? It has to be more lucrative in the long run than actually selling a manuscript. If they really get as many manuscripts as they say, and even a third of those writers sign on the dotted line every week–wow! Buckets of money! At least until word gets out, but by then who knows how many writers are chained to the agency because of the cancellation fee.
I thought for a minute we had leapt forward to April.
You’re kidding, right?
Or fewer people are applying to agents for representation, and the agents are getting more desperate because advances have been dropping.
This is why I don’t have an agent!
“This agent is a legit agent at a legit agency.”
No, they’re not.
This is what passes for legit in that business.
They should name names so that authors know to steer clear of this agency and this agent.
Yes, plus report the agency to writer beware and/or preditors and editors.
Normally I’d agree, but I’m wondering if this is happening often enough where it’s better to tell writers to look for the behavior and not a specific person.
Especially if there’s even a small possibility that the perp will try and sue for defamation or cause some other trouble. Or, the perp may be wily enough to just change the company’s name. I’ve been following the blog of a recruiter who’s been going after a scam company that uses several names. I never ceased to be amazed at the industriousness of wrongdoers.
“… this fee helps them partner with writers who are serious and willing to invest in their careers.”
No, it seems that the fee allows them to make money from idiot writers without ever having to get any books published.
How about adding reciprocal clauses (for the double those amounts) as fees “… to show writers that the agency believes in their work and is serious and committed to placing it with a publisher.”?
Some things are hard to exaggerate… for example, how bad this is.
Let’s see. If it’s true that the average first-time writer advance is now $5,000 or less, that would mean the agent would earn as much for not selling the book for two years as they would for selling it.
Sounds like a great deal… for the agent.
Agents receive a 15% commission on sales. It’s been decades since it was only 10%.
$500 up-front fee + $250 fee after the first year = $750. $750 = 15% of $5000.
The mini-ASI model.
Except these guys don’t even publish you!
A Dreamer and their money are soon parted.
Pity they didn’t name the agency; just encourages them.
Any writer considering this needs his/her head examined.
The annual fee is just free money for the agency. Likewise the termination fee.
Would anyone in her right mind pay a mechanic a daily storage fee while he works on her car?
Better yet if you decide you don’t want the work done, would you be ok with paying a fee to decline the work and get your car back?
Something tells me I already know the answer to those questions….
Heh, Get them to sign a contract that the $500 is all they get, no 15% if they land you a book deal and if they fail they owe you 100% of it back.
Sort of like you paying for a cover, it’s a one shot investment/payoff and they don’t get paid if they don’t get the job done.
(I’d want to plant a mike/camera to catch them sputtering when they read it, but that’s just me.)