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Desert Rose Literary Agency (Leann Murphy)

C.bronco

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Preditors and Editors says "Desert Rose Agency: Charges fee. Not recommended. Also a Top Twenty Worst according to Writer Beware. A literary agency and member of IILAA."
 

CaoPaux

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emeraldlatina

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Thanks for the info. Geez, the hard part is not finishing a manuscript but finding an honest literary agent.
 

Cathy C

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Don't worry. There are easily a dozen reputable agents for every bad one! :) Wander over to AgentQuery or the AAR to find some of the good ones. Mostly, you need to be concerned with SALES to publisher. That can be found pretty easily, if you join PublishersMarketplace and search for deals an agent has made or even search by genre to see WHICH agents are making deals (this site costs $20/month, but you can cancel at any time)

Good luck!
 

BarbJ

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Is Desert Rose trying to call P&E a hate site? <Snicker> Damn, I hate that. </Snicker>

Aw, you're bragging. Over on Writer Beware, however, the truth has come out. You're being paid millions for this. Millions, I tell you! (I'd post a link but I've no idea how.)
 

lilone

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I just received an email from her requesting my full ms. Needless to say, after reading everything here, I deleted it and won't be sending her anything.
 

Soccer Mom

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:hooray: Good for you lil one. Good luck finding a great agent for your ms!
 

georged202

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Is the owner of this agency, Leann Murphy, the same Leann Murphy who pleaded guilty to stealing checks back in 1997?

It just seems odd - it seems to be a fairly distinct spelling of her name, and it is the same city. It could just be a coincidence - someone else with her name in her city could be the one stealing checks, while the 'Leann Murphy' that we are talking about was busy working in Kay's fraudulent 'agency'.

Google "Leann Murphy pleaded guilty" for more info..

Mac
(PS: bloemmarc - Have you asked her? You seem to know her better than the rest of us. Mind you, since she's been upfront about her past she would have told you if she'd been convicted of stealing.)

I have talking with Leann about my new book. First she turned it down and suggested changes to it. I was getting ready to send the revised book when I read about the guilty charges. So I asked her straight out and here was her reply..
In answer to your questions:

1. How many books have you sold in the past year? I am currently in negotiations for 5 manuscripts. 1 western, 1 western romance, 1 Christian romance, 1 horror (vampire), and 1 suspense novel.

2. Can you tell me whether the person with the long arrest record is someone else. I will be upfront with you and tell you that it was indeed me. When I was notified of the warrant (both times), I immediately went down to the courthouse and took care of the matter. I've NEVER spent a day in jail for anything. At that time, I was having serious health problems (now resolved) and was on a lot of medications (pain). The bad checks were written when I was not in the right state of mind. That was 11 years ago...I'm well past that problem now...Thank the Lord!

I fully understand if you prefer not to work with me. If you choose not to, good luck!

Leann


I think she is tryin very hard to get on with her life and career, I am sending my manuscript to her tomorrow. He son is fighting in Irac with the US marines right now, so I would be a little distracted if one of my boys were over there.
 

Unimportant

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georged202, you might want to ask her what books she has sold to advance-paying publishers. Anyone can be "in negotiations"; it's actual sales that count. If she has verifiable sales to commercial presses, that's good. If she's never actually sold a book, or has only sold books to vanity/subsidy presses like PublishAmerica, that's not good.
 

Mac H.

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I think she is tryin very hard to get on with her life and career, I am sending my manuscript to her tomorrow. He son is fighting in Irac with the US marines right now, so I would be a little distracted if one of my boys were over there.
George,

You need to ask yourself what you want out of this deal with Leann.

Do you want your book sold?

If so, then it makes zero sense to go with her. After all, you asked:

'How many books have you sold in the past year'?
She answered: NONE.
(She obfuscated her answer with talking about other things, but that was the basic reply)

What more do you need to know?

Even without the fraud convictions, there is NO reason to consider her services to be worthwhile for your career.

She may be a wonderful person, who has made some bad decisions.
Even if that were true, being a wonderful person isn't enough.

You need a real literary agent ... not someone who describes herself as one, but hasn't actually made a sale all year.

Good luck,

Mac
 

James D. Macdonald

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1. How many books have you sold in the past year? I am currently in negotiations for 5 manuscripts. 1 western, 1 western romance, 1 Christian romance, 1 horror (vampire), and 1 suspense novel.

A shorter, more accurate, answer would have been "None."

"In negotiations" is a long, long way from "sold."
 

louisgodwin

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1. How many books have you sold in the past year? I am currently in negotiations for 5 manuscripts. 1 western, 1 western romance, 1 Christian romance, 1 horror (vampire), and 1 suspense novel.



I think she is tryin very hard to get on with her life and career, I am sending my manuscript to her tomorrow. He son is fighting in Irac with the US marines right now, so I would be a little distracted if one of my boys were over there.

It appears Leann's tactics have changed very little over the past three years. I remember the "five manuscripts currently in negotiations" back in 2005. She used the "I'm distracted because my son's in Iraq" excuse with me too.

Has she given you the list of family members with medical problems yet?

Please read over this thread carefully, especially my posts here. She told me my manuscript was "under review" by several different publishers. I contacted some of them and found out this wasn't true.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Has she given you the list of family members with medical problems yet?

Woo! The Deering Literary Agency all over again!

I recommend that everyone get a copy of Ten Percent of Nothing and compare Leann to Dorothy "Four Years in the Federal Slammer" Deering.
 

AC Crispin

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Leann Murphy learned scamming when she worked for Janet Kay and George Titsworth. Everything you've described, the excuses, the lies about which books she had submitted, her lack of a track record of sales...what more do you need to know?

All of these tactics are typical of scammers. You'll find all of them in Jim Fisher's book. Like Uncle Jim, I suggest you get a copy and read it, right away.

-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
www.writerbeware.com
 

SammyW

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Desert Rose Literary Agency

I recently came across this agency while looking for an agent. They sound nice, but all agencies do that, don't they? Looking around their website, I kinda like how they describe themselves and how they do things, but I need to hear from you guys, the pros, befopre I send them anything.

A big hook is how their home page says they're a member of the National Writer's Association, Horror Writer's Association, Cambridge Who's Who Among Professional Women. However, something that greatly troubles me is that they say something about sites that "insult, slander, or defame agents/agencies" and even make a reference to Writer's Beware's 20 worst list as if ITS the bad guy.

If Desert Rose is bad agent, please tell me so I can look for someone better. Your iunput will be greatly appreciated. :)
 

tasha43055

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I heard it was a scam

I am not sure of the site but I think it was writers beware said that they are a scam and that there is lawsuits against them. Again this is what I think I read. Check out writers beware or search in these forums.
 

SammyW

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Whoa! My mistake. I didn't know there was a thread about them already in progress. Very sorry! :(

And yep, they're on the 20 Worst Agencies list. But to hear them yell it, Writer's Beware are the ones who are up to no good :crazy:. Go figure.

You can check them out here:

http://www.desertroseagency.com/

I'm just a little confused myself. How's an aspiring writer supposed to get published when the writing world is infested with sharks like PublishAmerica, WL, and maybe these guys? :e2bummed:
 

victoriastrauss

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Re: Writer Beware being up to no good...would you rather believe a "literary agent" who started out by working for a convicted literary scammer and has never made a sale in four years of doing business, or three commercially published authors sponsored by a professional writers' group, with strict standards for collecting and documenting complaints?

It's very easy to avoid the WLs and PublishAmericas of the world. If you limit your agent queries to agents with verifiable track records of commercial sales, and your publisher queries to publishers with proven ability to get their books into bricks-and-mortar bookstores, you'll avoid 99% of the bad apples.

Please visit Writer Beware; you'll find not just warnings there, but many resources to help you.

- Victoria
 

Richard White

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Re: Writer Beware being up to no good...would you rather believe a "literary agent" who started out by working for a convicted literary scammer and has never made a sale in four years of doing business, or three commercially published authors sponsored by a professional writers' group, with strict standards for collecting and documenting complaints?

It's very easy to avoid the WLs and PublishAmericas of the world. If you limit your agent queries to agents with verifiable track records of commercial sales, and your publisher queries to publishers with proven ability to get their books into bricks-and-mortar bookstores, you'll avoid 99% of the bad apples.

Please visit Writer Beware; you'll find not just warnings there, but many resources to help you.

- Victoria

Plus, if you have specific questions, feel free to give us a buzz. Last time I checked we didn't bite . . .



much.:tongue
 

alleycat34

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hi... i got pulled in hook line and sinker. to the tune of 425 USD. I saw it all through rose coloured glasses. Im pissed that I never found this site before. At any rate I just called the sheriffs office in tom green county and am to be added to the list of victims. They need anyone who has dealt with this woman to contact them. So Please do!

Also does anyone have a current phone number for her as the one on her site is no longer in service.