[Agency] The Rights Factory Inc.

PRDavid said:

I filled out the form for Olga Filina and submitted my query. Five minutes later I got an auto-reply from one of the other agents (Drea) saying she (Drea, not Olga) was out of the office until September.

So now what do I do? I can't find an e-mail address for Olga to re-send in case it has in fact gone to the wrong agent.

Any suggestions?

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I've been emailing with Ali McDonald of TRF, and she wasn't interested in repping my MS even though I have a contract in hand, saying that she didn't think my YA Fantasy and her would be a good fit.

However, she suggested Olga, and gave me the following email address:

[email protected]

I hope that helps.

Hrm, sad to see all the bad news about TRF since I last queried them.

Just got a request from Ali. I don't know whether to send it or not now. I had a similar experience to what people are describing with an agent already and I have no desire to go through that again (if you're wondering, I don't want this Googled, so the agency is what you might call digging for worms and finding gold and the agent was the owner (they've expanded significantly since my experience)).

If anyone has experience with Ali as their agent, I'd love to hear about it, please PM me.

Avoid Ali McDonald / The Rights Factory

My 18-month contract with Ali McDonald at The Rights Factory was definitely the last time I’ll put an amateur in charge of what amounted to a scatter-shot mass-mailing. By the time I figured out that Ali’s early-career priority was to prove herself responsive to certain YA editors’ tastes, my book had gotten her where she wanted to go. Without following up with more than half of our submissions, she stopped returning my calls. She finally responded to an email, saying, "I'm sorry you're frustrated. Perhaps it's time we parted ways."

She not only failed to do her job, but made it much harder for a future agent to do their job. I spent an entire summer convincing Ali and her boss, Sam, that I was screwed unless they released to me the names of editors to whom she'd submitted my work. My massive email outreach to respected agents and published authors asking, "Is it normal for an agent to call a submissions list "proprietary information?" assured me that it's not only unethical but highly unusual.

[FONT=&quot]Literary Agent Vicky Bijur—who also chairs the AAR Ethics Committee—replied to the same question with, “I have never heard that the list of the names of editors to whom an agent submits a client’s work is proprietary. You are right that you need that list so that your next agent knows who has seen the book.” [/FONT]

My mounting threats of legal action paired with quotes from said agents and authors finally produced the list. After pouting for six months or so, I started querying again. There has been lots of interest in reading the full manuscript but not interested in representing me once they learn that Ali has already muddied the waters with key contacts. Now pursuing small publishers on my own and getting some gratifying nibbles.

RF manages to make some sales but it's a numbers game for them. I don't know about "Rights" but they definitely got the "Factory" part right. They couldn't care less about their clients' careers--only the next sale.

For now, I'm going to keep this brief. I'll talk about my experiences with Olga Filina and The Rights Factory in greater detail if I decide I feel safe doing so.

I recently terminated my contract after a miserable, stressful year with Olga as my agent (and I use the word loosely). Regardless of what questions you ask them or what answers you get, do not trust agents from The Rights Factory. No matter how sincere or genuine they might seem, what they promise and what they actually deliver will be two different things.

Everything you've heard is true. Poor response times? True. Shotgun submissions? Oh holy god, yes, except it's more like your ms has been fired out of a cannon. I reiterate: No matter what they might tell you if you ask them about these things, do NOT believe them!

That's all the detail I will go into at the moment, at least publicly, but if anyone wants to know more, message me. In fact, please message me, I don't want to see a single person go through what I went through.

I know how you feel. My experience with TRF was totally awful too. Glad it's behind me. BEST OF LUCK to you.

just wondering said:

My 18-month contract with Ali McDonald at The Rights Factory was definitely the last time I’ll put an amateur in charge of what amounted to a scatter-shot mass-mailing. By the time I figured out that Ali’s early-career priority was to prove herself responsive to certain YA editors’ tastes, my book had gotten her where she wanted to go. Without following up with more than half of our submissions, she stopped returning my calls. She finally responded to an email, saying, "I'm sorry you're frustrated. Perhaps it's time we parted ways."

She not only failed to do her job, but made it much harder for a future agent to do their job. I spent an entire summer convincing Ali and her boss, Sam, that I was screwed unless they released to me the names of editors to whom she'd submitted my work. My massive email outreach to respected agents and published authors asking, "Is it normal for an agent to call a submissions list "proprietary information?" assured me that it's not only unethical but highly unusual.

[FONT=&quot]Literary Agent Vicky Bijur—who also chairs the AAR Ethics Committee—replied to the same question with, “I have never heard that the list of the names of editors to whom an agent submits a client’s work is proprietary. You are right that you need that list so that your next agent knows who has seen the book.” [/FONT]

My mounting threats of legal action paired with quotes from said agents and authors finally produced the list. After pouting for six months or so, I started querying again. There has been lots of interest in reading the full manuscript but not interested in representing me once they learn that Ali has already muddied the waters with key contacts. Now pursuing small publishers on my own and getting some gratifying nibbles.

RF manages to make some sales but it's a numbers game for them. I don't know about "Rights" but they definitely got the "Factory" part right. They couldn't care less about their clients' careers--only the next sale.

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Wow, what a horror story.

Thanks for sharing and best of luck with the presses you're now submitting to.

I've had my partial in with Ali Mcdonald since April, and haven't heard anything from either of my two nudges. I was going to ask if that's normal or what to think of it, but I'm seeing here that maybe I'm not missing anything...

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any information about Lydia Moed at this agency? She's a new agent and looks like she'd be a good fit for my manuscript, however after reading some posts here I'm having second thoughts on the agency itself.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

hermit_writer said:

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any information about Lydia Moed at this agency? She's a new agent and looks like she'd be a good fit for my manuscript, however after reading some posts here I'm having second thoughts on the agency itself.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

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I don't know anything about her, but I don't think her being new will make a shred of difference. Olga was new when I signed with her and that ended up being awful.

brightlyiburn said:

I don't know anything about her, but I don't think her being new will make a shred of difference. Olga was new when I signed with her and that ended up being awful.

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That's what I'm afraid of too.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

hermit_writer said:

That's what I'm afraid of too.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

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If you want, you can send me a PM and I can send you more info on what I went through.

Mine was "new" too. You have been advised.

I do not have a dog in this race. For one, I'm represented by another agent. I can't recall if I ever queried TRF. But while I was querying for a previous novel four years ago, I researched approximately 350 agents and agencies, and settled on 100 who had track records in science fiction and fantasy. Lots of agencies never made the cut.

When I heard about one bad experience with an agency, I took that as a statistical blip. When I heard about several, from different writers, I guessed the agency may have had problems rooted in its culture and operating structure. A new agent was only as good as his/her mentors at that agency. I looked at the latter's reputation first, then researched what I could about the newer agent.

If I were querying now, TRF would not be on my contact list.

Thanks all! Scratching her off my list.

Just a further warning to anyone remotely considering querying agents at The Rights Factory. I wrote a post revealing my experiences with Olga Filina: http://kaia.booklikes.com/post/1016575/it-happened-to-me-my-year-with-a-terrible-agent

Now she's throwing around threats of legal action:

http://kaia.booklikes.com/post/1018...-factory-threatens-legal-action-to-silence-me

So yeah, if you sign with them and it goes badly for you, this is how you'll be treated if you refuse to stay silent about it. Frankly, I suggest an avoid at all costs approach.

As part of my Filigree's Rule for vetting publishers and agents, I have a section regarding their potential for litigious behavior against authors and critics. At the first hint of such actions, or even threats, I drop all interest in said groups or individuals.

If TRF had been anywhere on my list before, it's off now.

Brightlyiburn is right: shotgun submissions are worse than no agent at all.

Wow...I read the threads. I am just shocked and sickened.

Anyone seriously considering TRF should first talk to Writers Beware. Or PM those who had previous experience with them. Mine wasn't good. AND I had a different agent than mentioned by others here. It's a bigger problem than one or two (or three) new/bad individual agents, IMHO.

I saw Lydia's mswl, and thought she could be a good fit. Most of you have said the agency tends to be very slow when it comes to responding, but she responded to my query within a few weeks (for a partial), and a few weeks to get back to me about the partial, requesting the full. She *seems* good, but there is almost nothing about her, and then there's all this talk about the agency. I want to be happy, because yay, this is my first upgraded request, but at the same time, I'm hesitant. Have any of you heard anything about her?

EndlessDestiny said:

I saw Lydia's mswl, and thought she could be a good fit. Most of you have said the agency tends to be very slow when it comes to responding, but she responded to my query within a few weeks (for a partial), and a few weeks to get back to me about the partial, requesting the full. She *seems* good, but there is almost nothing about her, and then there's all this talk about the agency. I want to be happy, because yay, this is my first upgraded request, but at the same time, I'm hesitant. Have any of you heard anything about her?

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Seriously, I would not get involved. If you haven't read what I posted about Olga, it was the same experience with her that you're having with this Lydia. She was new, no one knew much about her, she seemed legit, she responded much faster than everything I'd heard--and I was wrong. She was just as bad as complaints about other agents in the agency. I genuinely would have been better off never signing with her. I really, really don't think you should ever trust an agent from The Rights Factory.

It's weird, actually sort of hoping for the rejection, because that way, I wouldn't have to do anything.

I was in your same situation a few years ago. The full was requested, I read more, decided I wasn't interested in their representation.

Because I knew I was going to reject if she offered--and didn't want the stress of that conversation--AND wanted to be as professional as possible in return, I sent an e-mail saying that I was withdrawing my manuscript from consideration. I didn't specify why (I might have used the phrase "unforeseen reasons") and the agent was quick and professional in response.

I guess what I'm saying is that hoping for a rejection because it seems easier may just make things more stressful and difficult later.

Success!

A terrific agent - friendly, polite and always quick to reply. I signed with her late last year and a matter of months later she scored me a very nice deal/advance with one of Canada's best presses (Anansi/Groundwood): http://stage.quillandquire.com/omni/deals-groundwood-acquires-middle-grade-illustrated-novel-by-rolli-foreign-rights-sold-for-neil-smiths-debut-novel-and-more/

I see that this agency sets of major alarm bells, but I just wanted to ask if anything has changed since it's been quite some time since anyone posted in this thread. Specifically, I'm wondering about Lydia Moed. My story matches a LOT of her mswl, so part of me really wants to query her, but I don't know if that's a good idea after seeing some of this thread. Advice/stories/suggestions? Anyone have experience with Lydia?

Agencies don't usually make grand or sweeping changes to their established behaviors. While it's possible that The Rights Factory has changed, it's unlikely. And why would you want to chance it when there are so many agencies out there that don't have pages and pages of complaints?

But only you can make that decision.