New Games of the Literary World

It seems that every agency is offering what they call "courses" or "classes" now. As always these shady agents are trying to make the authors they represent believe in promises that - hand on heart - look very much like blatant lies: No, you'll not turn into a bestselling author just by attending these expensive classes or even more costly writing conferences. Some call this strategy MLM-scams, but I think that although that may be true for some agencies or agents, it's not about everyone - at least not yet. As even some big and legit agencies offer these conferences, classes or courses which presumably aren't scams one is up against some problems: We really need to find ways to discern between the new scammers of the literary world and those who don't belong in that group, but how? All we have to go by is recommendations from people we trust, and that's not as easy as it may sound ....

Some writers have been lured into thinking that meeting an agent will do the trick and they set high hopes to such an event: "Wow, an agent is interested in my work!!!!" OK, that may be the case if you get as long as a meeting in person - even though you may have to pay e.g. $ 500 for it - but most hopeful authors only get a noncommittal reply when they write an agency or an agent which isn't quite something to build one's hopes on. Also there is another reason why this idea of a savior in the form of an agent sucks: EVERYBODY may call themselves an agent without nothing more to their name than a more or less fancy website.

When I visit some more or less literary platforms I often see questions like e.g. this one: "WHEN does one start earning money on one's book????" A good question, but the answer is heart breaking: "Maybe NEVER even though you get it published as an indie book. There it is, you see it, and you remember the many hours you invested in writing it, but somehow it's invisible to others .... Sad, but the truth ....

 

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes