Shining a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news and commentary, and a focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the publishing world.

July 1, 2014

American Writing Association: A Service Writers Don't Need

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Recently I've gotten a number of questions about the American Writing Association (note the .org suffix, implying altruism and good will), a group that describes itself thus:
We are a group of professional writers and editors that are committed to helping people become published writers. We work with a wide range of people - from the every day writer with a story to tell, to the experienced writer looking for the big publishing contract. Whatever your goal is, we are dedicated to helping you achieve fulfillment from the time and effort you have put into your writing.
What exactly does that mean? Well, if you ignore the abundant red flags and submit your writing, you receive an offer like this:
If we do feel the book has the potential for success, then we would offer to represent you. That includes:

1) Writing a Query Letter to represent you and the book
2) Offer to copyright the completed book if necessary
3) Our attorneys will represent you when signing contracts
4) Submit you directly to Literary Agents in our expansive network

This requires an investment of $699. Again, past that there are no other fees other than the 5% Commission, but we will not surprise you with any hidden fees within our business. We are very up front about what we plan to do.
In other words, American Writing Association is a new iteration of a very old scheme: the literary agent middleman.

For a savvy writers, AWA should set off multiple warning bells based just on its particulars: the lack of substantive information about staff; the vague promises about connections and networks; the last-names-missing testimonials; the non-verifiable success stories on its Twitter feed. Not to mention the big fee and the 5% commission. (Also noted: AWA's glossary of publishing terms appears to have been ripped in its entirety from the AuthorHouse website.)

But there's a bigger issue here as well. Literary agents are the ONLY recognized middlemen in the publishing business. And you don't need a middleman to approach a middleman.

Unfortunately, services like AWA--which can carry fees into the four figures--have a fatal appeal for writers frustrated by the research and query process, not to mention multiple rejections. The concept even makes superficial sense, in a hall-of-infinite-reflections kind of way: since you need an agent to get the attention of publishers, why wouldn't you need an agent to get the attention of agents?

You don't. In fact, you're far less likely to get a favorable response than you are with your own query letter. I've seen a number of these middleman-to-the-middlemen schemes over the years, and they all have one thing in common: literary agents hate them. You don't have to take my word for it--here's the recent reaction of two successful literary agents to a middleman approach--one that I'm betting was a lot more professional than AWA's:
So who's behind AWA? Its website offers no clue; those highly-touted "professional" writers and editors and attorneys aren't named (though I did manage to find one of AWA's editors; I'll let you judge her level of experience), and the URL is anonymized.

I was able to find several names that appear to be associated with AWA: Bruce Allen, AWA "Vice President"; Jerry Moore; and Adam Goldson. AWA alleges that it's located in Downers Grove, Illinois (home, perhaps not coincidentally, to Silver Screen Placements, a fee-charging agency about which I got a number of complaints in the mid-aughts). A toll-free number on the website thanks callers for contacting AWA and invites them to dial staff members' (non-existent) extensions.

However, the phone number included in the AWA emails I've seen belongs to something called Big Rock Florist Concierge in Big Rock, IL, just down the road from Downers Grove. I called that number too, and was routed to Adam Goldson's voice mail. So he, at least, appears to be a real person, though I was unable to find out anything else about him--leaving open the question of how being a florist concierge, whatever that is, qualifies you to have anything to do with writing and publishing.

Writers, don't waste your money on a needless "service" like this.

EDITED 8/17/14 TO ADD:  Bwa ha ha! American Writing Association has responded to this post (at its other URL, www.writingassociation.com) showing itself to be in dire need not just of a proofreader, but a fact checker.

EDITED 8/18/14 TO ADD: American Writing Association has deleted its response (though it's not giving up: have a look at the comments thread). Luckily, I saved a screenshot.


29 comments :

Inkling said...

For those who don't know, a copyright is easy and inexpensive to get:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

You don't need a lawyer or any organization to handle the details.


Anonymous said...

"Our attorneys will represent you when signing contracts" confuses me. If you're signing a contract with them, then obviously their attorneys would represent them in that deal, not you. And if they were to get you an agent, then your agent would handle any contracts with a publisher.

And 5% commission of what? Would they expect 5% of every piece of writing you sell forever--when an agent is the one actually selling it and earning a 15% cut?

Judy Penz Sheluk said...

I wish you had Twitter and FB and Pinterest links -- I'd love to share this (easily). This is a message that needs to get out there. Not sure why you are limiting your Sharing buttons? I personally offer it all - Tumblr, etc. Just because I don't use those social media methods, doesn't mean my followers don't.

Victoria Strauss said...

Judy--there's a "Share" button at the bottom of each post that allows you to post to multiple social networking sites.

Judy Penz Sheluk said...

Duh! I just thought that was a Google + share....So sorry! Have duly shared :-)

Kevin Waleroup said...

Wow lol I can't get anyone submit my very very very very very small publisher company https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BLASTERbooks. maybe I'm to honest. Lol

LMEighmy said...

You can also go to http://www.addthis.com/ and get their app for your browser. You can share pretty much anything on the 'Net. :)

steve davidson said...

your exemplar lists "Stevens & Tate" marketing firm as a previous employer.

It may certainly be legit; its also two names we ought to be familiar with from the TV show Bewitched (Darren Stevens worked for Tate at an advertising firm)

anna.e.norris said...

Thanks for doing this.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Wow! There are so many "green" writers out there for places like this to feed on.

I'll tweet and share...

Mike Sutton said...

Many thanks for this information. It helped with a little detective work that I hope will save at least one aspiring author from parting with $600 and getting zero for his money:
See comments section to this man's post: http://www.bestthinking.com/thinkers/merle-e-ackeret?tab=blog&blogpostid=22138

Victoria Strauss said...

Adding linkage to Mike's comment above.

Mike, thank you for stepping in! I hope he heeds you.

Bob Butler said...

Writer Beware is a sorely needed voice that needs to be widely heard in the writing community. I invite you to blog at BestThinking.com. Since we are not advertising driven you are welcome to direct traffic back to your main blog and there is no cost to you. We make our money from actual book sales and use BestThinking to raise the visibility of writers. We would love to raise your visibility to help authors have a better understanding of the real world of making a living at writing. Our biggest challenge is unrealistic writer expectations being fueled by the many scams you are exposing. Bob Butler, CEO ThinkerMedia

Heidi Walker said...

I was asked to look into this service by an editing client of mine. My red flags went up the moment I saw 1) that they were charging for this service (true literary agents don't charge for their services), and 2) there was a typo on the home page. The pricing is now up to $799.

The One True Ben said...

I also note that all of their links are to TWA posts. While there may not be an actual connection between the two, it certainly doesn't do their credibility any good.

Anonymous said...

You are a sad and pathetic woman Victoria...You are acting like a complete idiot and catty like a little high school girl. It's sad to see that you have nothing better to do with your time than to create drama. Why don't you grow up? Or is this the kind of mentality you have? By the looks of your picture, it looks like you're old enough to know better. Sadly, you do not...

Anonymous said...

Someone should do a Writer Beware post regarding this blog. Certainly it is easy to post your opinion on a blog that you own, but seriously it would be nice if the things on the blog were true. This entire thread is nonsense. It is sad when you have people who look to you for guidance, because when you post lies they will believe you. Next time, do some research instead of posting your ill conceived assumptions. I hope AWA sues you for everything you've got!!!

Victoria Strauss said...

I'd suspect the comment above came from American Writing Association, were it not so grammatical and well-spelled.

Kristen said...

So how many books have you had published ms.strauss. because of awa I was picked up by a literary agent 2 months after I signed on! Your right writers don't need their services but it sure did help having someone who knows the business to help out. What I believe is your a failed author, trying to prevent other writerss from becoming successful authors.. way to go.

Anonymous said...

I believe this post is useless, I'm not even in the business and I can see that this woman is just trying to create a situation for her success and to cause another competitor to fail. this is not a blog at all, just a podium to throw mud. and the people are seeing right through it.

(you should be ashamed of yourself)

Victoria Strauss said...

Is anyone noticing a pattern here? ;-)

billpatt said...

CAPTCHA: MaGreed Placing. Do you select the captcha words? Too funny!

Your words are needed more than ever, Victoria. I was being interviewed for a TV segments, along with six other writers, last night. Of the six, only two were even aware of either Author Solutions or AWA's agent-to-the-agents business model. I was gobsmacked at both their lack of awareness, and the incredible luck that they had not been victimized yet.

This is why we'll never get rid of parasites like AWA. They are the chlamydia of the writing world, infecting all they touch, so the writer never feels clean again.

Keep doing the good work, Victoria!

Victoria Strauss said...

Folks, this blog is under a bit of a comment thread attack (not just here but in several other posts). I don't like deleting comments--and rarely do so--but attack comments add nothing to the discussion, and I'm going to be removing any others that appear.

Anonymous said...

After reading this blog, I would like to put my two cents in. I am a former client of the American Writing Association and Jerry Moore was my literary consultant. I believe that AWA is a fantastic company. I happen to live close by to their corporate office and decided to visit the place myself. Everyone was professional and very courteous. Until the time came for my evaluation. Jerry Moore was very unprofessional during my evaluation. He was so fake that it made me sick to my stomach. Raving on and on about how great my book was. Not that I don't think that I have a great book, but just the way he said it all, you know he was being fake about it. And mind you he does acting on the side and I must say, his acting skills are atrocious. He even admitted to me that he has no literary background whatsoever so you know he has no clue what he is doing as a literary consultant. He also swore left and right during our evaluation and he was on his cell phone checking facebook(speaking of which, here is the link to his profile)(https://www.facebook.com/jerry.moore.9678?fref=ts). He kept pressuring me to move forward and so I did. The way he came off though was that he was so desperate for the money, like he's a homeless man. All in all, I decided it was best for me to go another route and I did so. I did sign their contract though so I was not able to get my money back and they had done a lot of work already for me. I'm not telling anyone to jump ship, but to NOT trust Jerry Moore. I would do yourself a favor and not even both with him.

Anonymous said...

I would like to comment on the post about Jerry Moore. Ms. Strauss, I am respectfully asking that you remove this post as it is blatant defamation of a man that I know personally is none of the things the writer accuses him of being.

I am a friend of Jerry Moore's. I not only know Jerry, but several of the people who work at AWA. I am not one of their employees, and I am not writing this to get involved in the WB vs. AWA slug fest that this thread has become. I am writing because as a friend of Jerry's I feel that inclusion of this character assassination on your blog was grossly irresponsible of you. It is one thing to post unverifiable assumptions and hearsay about an organization or company, but when you do it about an individual that you've never met is just cruel.

If you really read the post, you will see several inconsistencies that prove the author really is just out to get Jerry with no real basis in fact. First, they mention that they just "decided to stop into the office" but then later alluded to their "evaluation" which was always scheduled.

Second, through conversations either on the phone or in person a client may come to know that Jerry is involved in the theater, but without seeing a play he was in, how could they attack his skills. I know for a fact that Jerry is involved in a VERY well respected Chicago area theater company and would not be cast in any role if his skills were not of the highest caliber. And FYI, he has had several very strong roles in his career.

Additionally, I find it really appalling that you allowed the post considering it had his personal Facebook information included. That was a huge invasion of his privacy.

Finally, the part of the post that bothered me the most was, and I quote "The way he came off though was that he was so desperate for the money, like he's a homeless man." Jerry is an good man, that holds down a full time job at AWA, an active hobby as an actor, and is a good friend to those who know him. There is nothing desperate about him. You, ma'am, are doing yourself a disservice by allowing commentary like this to be posted. The author comes off as a petty vindictive idiot, and that image can't help but spill over onto you. Here's a thought, since you won't post comments that are derogatory toward your organization because they add nothing to the thread, why don't you apply those same restrictions to other posts as well.

Now, before you begin making assumptions as to how I even know about this post, it's because Jerry was so upset at the untruths included that he shared it with me. I hope you take time to think about the fact that there are human beings with feelings associated with names you so cavalierly toss about, or allow to be sullied in such a way.

It will be interesting to see if you post this, since it seems you are still moderating comments. But either way, I hope you will take the high road and delete the offending post. I thank you for your time. Sincerely, Robert (Last name withheld for privacy concerns)

Victoria Strauss said...

Robert,

I'm not sure why, if Jerry is really so upset by the comment, he didn't contact me himself, either by commenting here or emailing me (my email address is in the sidebar). I'm having a tough time understanding why he, or you, felt he needed an intermediary. (I'll also point out that sharing a Facebook profile link is hardly an invasion of privacy, especially where the profile is a) as bare as Mr. Moore's, and b) set so that the public can't see the posts.)

Be that as it may, I won't consider deleting a comment based on a request from an anonymous individual. If you're serious and for real, email me and we can discuss it.

Renny said...

I am a Canadian and when I first began the journey to have my debut novel published, I thought some American connections could be helpful. I foolishly, not only signed up for AWA, but I did so using my credit card. They have never provided me with any service, any follow up to try to understand what I may need, or even any newsletters, etc - so I completely forgot about them until my credit card was charged again a year ago for 'membership'. When that happened I put it in my scheduler as a task for this year to cancel, but who knows how to do that?! I continue the search for this non-service to try to stop them from scamming me out of another year.
Renny
An author who found my way without the AWA

Clint Henry Hoyt said...

I have not got anything from them yet, but I think I made the mistake of submitting my short story to them.

Anonymous said...

It seems kind of odd that when you call American writing ass. they never answer the phone or return your calls. they gave me a contract that also state $699.00 and it state 5 years contract but, they never follow threw with returning calls or answering any question. I contacted the BBB to report them but, I am still waiting on a call. So as right as now I can only assume that they are a fake company! Don't use them!!!

 
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