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During the many months we have been exposing the international “publishing” crime cartels on WritersWeekly.com, we’ve received numerous emails from authors about literary agents who are FAKE.

The author receives an email (or a phone call) from what appears to be a legitimate company or individual. There are impressive logos, contact information that makes it appear the scammer is actually in the U.S., and heaps of non-specific praise about the author’s book.

Yes, that’s right. The fake literary agent goes on and on about what a remarkable book it is but, if you read between the vague lines, you can see that the person has never actually read the book and that the “details” they are praising could be applied to any book on the market, both fiction and non-fiction.

The fake literary agent then invites the author to complete their online contract. Sadly, many authors won’t actually read that contract. Later, the fake literary agent starts charging the author for a variety of “necessary” services.

Folks, that’s NOT how it works. Back in the day, literary agents (real ones!) would only charge authors fees to make printed copies (Xerox) of their manuscripts to send to traditional publishers. Only if the literary agent landed a contract for the author would the agent then get paid. They’d get around 15% of the advance, and 15% of future royalties. THAT is how it really works. Now, everything is done electronically so Xerox copies are not necessary. If any “literary agent” asks you for money for ANYTHING, it’s a scam.

Also, remember that real literary agents do NOT reach out to authors via email or cold calls. They are constantly inundated with book proposals from authors. They don’t get on Amazon, search for authors, Google them to find their contact info., and then start calling or emailing them.

ANY “LITERARY AGENT” that spams you or calls you on the phone IS A SCAMMER! And, they’re very likely part of the overseas scam cartels we’ve been investigating and exposing on WritersWeekly.

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