Monday, July 18, 2005

Of agents and impersonators

Deidre Knight has an important post on her blog. It seems some enterprising soul, posing as Ms. Knight, has targeted e-pubbed authors. She says, "Apparently about three weeks ago someone claiming to be me sent a blanket email to roughly forty e-pub authors offering representation to anyone who was interested, 'guaranteeing' a sale in NYC and claiming to charge only 10%." Whether this person is trying to scam the authors or tarnish Ms. Knight's reputation is unclear. But be warned.

And in general, be wary of people offering unsolicited representation-- ordinarily agents don't approach authors. There are exceptions, I'm sure, but a certain amount of caution is advisable if an agent contacts you... as this story proves, it's good to be cautious even if you recognize the name. And NEVER trust someone who guarantees you a sale... unfortunately, no agent can guarantee that!

2 comments:

  1. I think that's freaky that someone thinks they'll be able to continue doing that to her agency.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I honestly can't imagine what this person is thinking. I can't believe they think they can call NY, convince editors they're Deidre, and sell books, so my guess is they're trying to squeeze a little cash out of authors by charging fees before the authors catch on. But that's just a guess. I'll be watching Deidre's blog with interest.

    And I feel almost as sorry for the authors involved as for Deidre... I can just imagine how thrilled I'd be to see an email promising representation from a major agent in MY inbox. I hope I'd catch on before I did something stupid, but excitement unfortunately does have a way of killing brain cells. I really think this impersonator is loathesome...

    ReplyDelete
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