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Internet-based vanity publishers targeting writers are proliferating at a rate rivalling weapons-grade plutonium in North Korea.
Why? Because unpublished writers are desperate to be published. And desperate vanity is to these so-called publishers what raw hamburger is to the E. coli bacterium.
A writer doesn't have to be rich or dumb to be victimized. Let's say you're an unpublished poet and you very much want to be a published poet. Good news: you can choose from many online imprints created just for you! Perhaps the simple and direct style of Poetry.com appeals to you? Or maybe the implied prestige of The National Library of Poetry? And there's always the elitist snob appeal of the Nobel House.
"Cyberspace and mail boxes all over the world have been invaded by scams disguised as contests with no entry fees," says Cathy Buburuz, editor for Champagne Shivers, an online horror magazine. "After you enter, you'll receive a letter telling you that your work has been selected for a gorgeous, leather-bound volume. You can even have a copy delivered to your door."
But with many of these services, you have to buy the book. The cost? $199.00 (ka-ching!).
The thousands of contest "winners" can stroke their ego and deplete their bank accounts by purchasing add-on items such as special typesetting (ka-ching!). Or the ever-popular special plaque, mounted with their poem (ka-ching!). Or a certificate of achievement to impress family and friends who doubt their new stature as a published author (ka-ching!). Some very lucky "winners" may even be invited to pony up $1,000 (airfare, hotel and meals not included) for admittance to a special author's "celebration ceremony" (ka-ching!, ka-ching!)
Running contests is just one method used to lure writers as possible "clients." Another is done via mass e-mailings to writers who have been identified as actively pursuing publication. (They may grab your address from writing organizations, news groups or chat rooms you participate in). The spam announces that you—yes, little, unpublished you— have been selected by a "prestigious literary agency" as a potential client. All you need do is to send in your manuscript, you lucky writer. And with your soon-to-be best-seller, don't forget to include cash, check, money order or credit card number for the $100 charge to cover the "handling costs" (i.e., reading, evaluating, running to the bank with your check).
Case in point: Edit Ink was a literary agency that, curiously, never sold any books to publishers. Instead, it created a network of literary agents who sent writers to them in exchange for "referral fees." When networkers for the company—which was eventually convicted of defrauding 3,600 consumers nationwide in 1999—received manuscripts, they would tell the writer that, while their book had lots of potential, it needed professional editing, or perhaps even the loving care of a good "book doctor."
| Scam Busters
WritersWeekly.com
This website publishes a timely list of scams targeting writers. It also maintains a private list of complaints submitted by its readers about editors and publishers. When they receive an email regarding a specific company, they let the writer know if they have received any complaints about that firm. And it's a free service. http://www.writersweekly.com
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers of America
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Committee on Writing Scams publishes the free Writer Beware website. They are concerned not just with issues that affect professional authors, but with the problems and pitfalls that face aspiring writers.
http:// www.sfwa.org
National Writers Union
This labor union represents freelance writers in all genres, formats, and media. Benefits the union offers its members include grievance assistance, a job hotline, health and professional liability insurance, contacts to other writers in all fields and genres, and contract advice. http://www.nwu.org
The California Attorney General
The Public Inquiry Unit answers questions on a wide variety of issues ranging from consumer fraud to public safety. It's a clearinghouse for consumer complaints and requests for information. http://www.caag.state.ca.us) | The Edit Ink-hired agent would then suggest the services of, of course, Edit Ink. Taking the bait, the writer would pay Edit Ink about three times the industry standard to edit their book. Finally, when the victimized authors resubmitted their "professionally edited" books to the agent, Edit Ink gave them various excuses for why they wouldn't be published.
If you don't want to be a literary mark, sap, pigeon or dupe, your best weapon to defend yourself is the same weapon being turned on you: the Internet's fast and furious communication network. Many writer-advocate websites track the proliferation of literary "scams," both web-based and traditional, and provide warnings about agents, editors, publishers and others who may be working in the shadows of legitimacy.
Dian Killian, Director of the Publication Rights Clearinghouse for the National Writers Union, advises, "It's amateurs who get caught by the scams. They need to do what professionals do: talk to other writers, as many as possible. Writers will share their knowledge and experience with you. You just have to ask them."
Buburuz has a harder line: "Never pay a contest fee and never send money to a publisher for anything. Do not submit to these leeches. Send your work to only those editors or publishers who offer payment (and at least one contributor's copy) for accepted work."
Some writers argue that the only honest writing contest any serious writer should enter is the free market. When someone publishes your work at their expense, reads your work without you having to pay them, or—wonder of wonders!—actually pays you for limited rights to read or publish what you've written, you've won the contest. ©
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