How to Avoid Book Publishing Scams
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As more and more writers are becoming interested in writing and publishing books, more and more scammers are scheming to take their money and take advantage of them in a vulnerable situation. So, how do you make sure you don't fall victim and avoid book publishing or literary agent scams?
In this article, I am mainly going to talk about scams with people presenting themselves as literary agents to people who are trying to get representation to be traditionally published.
However, it is important to know that there are a ton of scams out there, many of them targeting people who are self-publishing. So, if you are on that track, definitely be on the lookout for scams as well, but today we are going to focus on literary agent scams.
Writers who don't fully understand how the traditional book publishing process works can be especially vulnerable to these types of scams, so that's why it always helps to educate yourself and learn as much as you can about the industry.
Let's talk through some of the scams you might see if you are on the hunt for a literary agent.
1. An Upfront Fee
The first book publishing scam is if an agent charges an upfront fee to work with them. This is a major red flag and you should steer completely clear of whoever is presenting this to you. A legitimate literary agent is never going to charge an upfront fee, retainer fee, or signing fee.
That is because the arrangement with a literary agent is very standard and straightforward across the entire industry. A literary agent is going to take 15% of any advance you get as part of your book deal or royalties you eventually earn once your book is published. There isn't any other type of arrangement, and it is always a standard 15%.
2. Paid Editorial Services
The second scam you might see with someone posing as a literary agent is if they are asking you to pay for their editing services. When an agent signs with a client, they are intending to work with the author to get their book ready to submit to editors at publishing houses. They have already agreed to do that work with you, so there is no scenario in which you are going to be paying the literary agent for anything, including editing. All that work is wrapped up in the 15% they eventually take.
If an agent reads through your manuscript and is interested but thinks it needs more work, it is possible they will ask for a “revise and resubmit.” This is when they give you some constructive feedback, such as “Work on x, y, and z, and then once you do that, come back and query me again.” Although they are offering you some editorial feedback, an agent is doing this because they are interested in your project and may eventually want to represent you. They should not request a fee for this.
Additionally, after an agent offers you representation, they will likely go through a few rounds of revision with you anyways, in order to get your manuscript as ready for editor submission as possible. They're not going to ask you to pay them, as the project of editing your manuscript is a part of the process and part of your collaboration once you begin working together.
3. They Contact You
The next red flag is if a literary agent contacts you out of the blue. Unfortunately, when this happens it’s more likely than not another form of a book publishing scam. That is because the vast majority of agents acquire their clients through the traditional submission process, which is when you write a query letter, attach your sample pages, and then send them out to literary agents who you would like to work with. The agent then reviews the queries and responds to the people they are interested in.
There are more writers out there looking for a literary agent than there are literary agents looking for clients, so that imbalance results in agents always having people coming to them. In most cases, they don't need to go seek out writers themselves, so that's why it is highly unlikely that an agent would be the one reaching out to you. Most likely, this is someone trying to scam you into thinking they are a legitimate literary agent.
There is one exception to this rule. It is possible an agent will reach out to you if you have published articles in newspapers and magazines or stories in literary journals. If they came across those pieces and liked your writing style, it is entirely possible an agent could reach out to you and say, “Hey, I read your work in this publication and I'm wondering if you have a book project because I would love to talk about representation.”
This definitely does happen, as I’ve seen in-person. However the agent would be very specific in saying they saw your piece in a publication. They won’t approach you out of the blue with no context at all, so it should be very clear who is legit and who is not.
Of course, if someone does reach out to you presenting themselves as a literary agent, you should look up their website and vet them. If everything looks legit and they have a real presence, they’re likely to be legitimate. If they don't, they’re likely not.
4. Pushing a Specific Publisher
Another scam that people posing as literary agents will use is pushing you toward a specific publisher or making a strong recommendation on exactly where and how you publish your book.
With a legitimate literary agent, it is in their and your best interest to submit to different publishers. This is because they want to get you a competitive offer by having the different publishers bid against each other, which will up the price of the sale. Thus, they will get a higher commission and you get more money for your book too. Agents will not push you toward just one publisher because that would be limiting your options for a book deal.
Now, an agent might say, “I think this imprint at this publishing house would be a great fit” or “Let's make a list of our top five publishers.” These conversations are common and shouldn’t be alarming to you.
However, if they're using language like, “You should publish with this specific publishing house” and they are not an imprint from the Big Five publishing houses and it's unclear what they've published, that should be a big red flag.
In this situation, it is a book publishing scam where the “literary agent” is actually someone from a vanity publisher that will ask you to pay some type of crazy fee in order to publish the book. Then, they're not going to do further work to sell it. They’ll just print some copies without marketing or distributing it to the public. So if you sense they're pushing you toward one of these illegitimate vanity publishers, steer clear. That is not how a true literary agent will operate.
5. Making Unrealistic Promises
The last book publishing scam is if the alleged literary agent is making you unrealistic promises. If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.
This can be hard to accept, as most likely when you see an agent come into your inbox, you're so excited you rush into everything. But, as with any business transaction, you need to do extensive research and make sure that you're not getting scammed.
If the agent makes any type of claims like “You are guaranteed to become a bestseller,” “I'm definitely going to get you a film contract,” or “I'm definitely going to sell the book internationally and have it be published across the world,” watch out. These large, ambitious promises signal that the agent is trying to persuade you and sway your opinion. These promises are not giving you a realistic view of the industry, and so that person is not someone who is operating in a legitimate way in the industry.
The fact of the matter is any literary agent cannot guarantee you a publishing deal, even those who are highly experienced.
This might be a bit of a shocker to learn, so let me explain. A literary agent can take you on, do all the editing work, and submit your manuscript to various editors and still not get you a book deal. In this industry, there is never a guarantee that a publishing house is actually going to make you a deal.
Any agent saying “I'm definitely going to get you x, y, and z” is someone who you don’t want to work with.
Maybe all of the publishers you submit to will reject your book. That is known to happen and, if you’re working with a legitimate agent, what will follow is that your agent will come back to you and say, “I got this feedback from these editors, let's go back to the manuscript and work on it together again.” They will stick with you and resubmit your project to editors again when it’s all done being edited. Alternatively, they will suggest pitching another project you have and revisit the current project in a year or two. Regardless, they will troubleshoot with you in order to get you a deal.
Ultimately, no legitimate agent will make you an unrealistic promise, so if you see someone coming at you with that kind of energy, you should respond with a rejection.
More Tips for Avoiding Book Publishing Scams
To help you learn how to avoid book publishing scams, I wanted to provide a few quick tips to ensure the literary agent you're talking to is legit.
First, check out Publishers Marketplace. Publishers Marketplace is an industry website where every single book deal by a major publishing house, as well as some of the big indie houses, is announced. It'll say something along the lines of “this editor just bought this book from this agent and it's by this author.” Unfortunately, this is a paid service, so you might only want to get a subscription if you are getting close to signing with a literary agent. It will help you make sure that they're legit, because you want to see what books that they've sold.
Another avenue is to check out an agent’s website and take note of all of the authors they've claimed to work with. Then, you can find those books in the bookstore and check their acknowledgements page. Most authors thank their agent there, so if they have some other agent mentioned, that’s an immediate red flag.
The final option is to Google the agent’s clients’ names. If an agent says they represent Jane Doe, Google Jane Doe and check out her author website. Go to the contact or representation part of her website and it will most likely have her literary agent listed there, because most authors field their inquiries through their literary agent. Again, if they list another individual as their agent, then the person you’re talking with is likely a scam.
I hope these tips help you avoid book publishing scams and identify legitimate literary agents from people posing as industry insiders.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!
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