The New York Literary Agency: Warning

taru

hi! cathy,

thanks for your reply to my query... and more so because now i am relieved of that old lady and Bobby fletcher. well, as suggested i will try to look out for some publisher in our own country... but the crux of the matter is the real slow... when one will like to do some real work here in our country {india} am not being unpatriotic..but.,the fact is as much like our own economy.. rickshaw puller type.. u know.. things can turn really bad here. I sent some dozens of mails by now to publishers and agents alike here... but just recieved a mail that too a kinda invitation to attend a launching ceremony of a new book. Am pissed off everywhere..
one response just in a year .. does that do good for authors???
 

Sherry Fine

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When a work doesn't sell.. what happens?

Dear Author:

We are keenly aware of the negative material on a lot of writer's message boards and I thought I would take a minute and give you more background than what you are getting (which as best I can tell is stuff regurgitated from years ago).

I know it is confusing to authors and I thank you for 'first seeking to understand".

I hope that you will view the professionalism of this reply, where we try to present both sides of the situation, and contrast that against the furor that will arise after this post. Hey, maybe the message board people will agree to be your Agent!

It is a fact that most authors (98%) can't get the time of day from an Agent. Why? Because invariably their work needs improvement and if an Agent takes the time to say, "I like the idea, but you need a little help" the Agent is blackballed by every writers blog on the net.

Some writers say, "it's the agency's responsibility to help the writer".. Maybe in the old days, but not anymore. An Agent's core competency is selling work and finding buyers, not editing. Do you really think that an Agent should contribute their valuable selling time to assisting a writer with editing/grammar/ and other mechanics? Some writers do, but not those that understand the power and clarity of focus on core competency in business. Most agencies go out of business in a few years, not us. Why, because we concentrate on selling, and let the editors and writers do what they do best, writing, improving, writing, improving, etc.

Furthermore, when a work doesn't sell, what typically happens is that the author adopts one of 3 postures, 1) you suck, you scammer you, 2) I'll improve, or 3) maybe I'll quit. Most of the material on the boards is from attitude 1.

At it's core, that's the real issue. Always has been. So, there's a situation where potentially great work is 'waiting in the wings' so to speak, and can't get access to the market. And, if the Agent offers to help, to coach, and to mentor, well, you see the boards reply.


What Do Buyers Think? That's what really matters.
==========================================
Buyers (publishers) love our model. Why? because they know that we've forced the writer to jump through a series of hoops to prove their mettle. And the writers whine, whine, whine, and the publishers say, "whew, thanks for bringing us great work and for filtering out the crackpots."

Where do you think the crackpots cluster? Right on the message boards because a successful writer is improving their craft, making submissions, and researching and writing.

I use the word 'cluster' in the marketing segmentation definition. Look on most of those message boards, and you will see advertising, newsletters, and other capitalistic products and services based on traffic generated by controversy. So now you understand that the point of the boards is to generate traffic and advertising revenues based on their niche in the market.


Anyway, that said, it actually does us a favor and we've come to thank these boards. They weed out two main categories of authors that we are actually glad to be rid of: 1) nervous authors that don't understand the nitty gritty of hard business and who can't make up their mind and who rely on others for their opinions, 2) the SFN's (writers that want Something for Nothing) who want it all, basically for free...

I place 4 bullets under my signature. That's our promise. It's simple and it's understandable, and I really do think you'd be hard pressed to find one of our clients that won't, even grudgingly admit that we've delivered.

Our Pledge To You:
==================
* We respect what you have accomplished thus far as a writer.
* We believe that great authors are made, not born. We are willing to develop talent.
* We pledge straight talk in a confusing and old-school industry.
* We can't promise a sale. We can promise a professional relationship.

So, in conclusion, this is what I would do, if I were in your shoes, "I'd proceed with us, eyes wide open, and see if we meet or exceed our four business tenets, A) Respect, B) Building Talent, 3) Straight Talk, and a 4) Professional Relationship.

Of course, if you'd rather us terminate our relationship now, no problem, fortunately for me, and unfortunately for you, there's 10 more to take your place, and you can go back to querying agents for the rest of your life, or you can just see what happens and see if maybe, just maybe, we are what we say we are.

Best to you whatever your decision.

Sherry Fine - VP Acquisitions

Just for grins, and so that you know we provide a service of value to aspiring authors, I would like you to see some of the unprompted quotes that we receive on a daily basis.

Our clients say it best. The quotes below are unedited and as you can see, quite from the heart. (We have lots more of these.) If you are really cynical, you will probably believe we made them up, but I promise you, we can prove every one of them.

=======================

"Just a note to say, whatever the outcome of my submission, it's refreshing to engage an agent who will a) take an email submission, b) turn it round as quick you've committed to do and c) actively work with a writer. Submissions are daunting enough anyway without having to wait ten weeks for an impersonalised slip of paper. Here's to you."

"It is refreshing to get an honest professional opinion of my work, it make me realise just how much I don't know about the written word and its presentation."

Dear Georgina, I'd like you to know how highly and gratefully I regard the clarity with which you explain the process as well as your reliability. I have complete trust in both your abilities and ethical standards. Best wishes, Judith

It's been a long time since I left school with considerable number of years passing before I became interested in writing again. I would like you to thank you for working with me and let it be known that I look at this as a new beginning and rebirth of my education.

You don't know how nice it is to have such timely responses. I am sure I am not the only writer that puts a lot of heart into their work and I have to say, I have "kept mine tucked away in the closet" for many, many years. I just enjoy writing, but didn't know if I would ever try and submit it to anyone. Making the decision to do that has been somewhat of a nerve-wracking process. Your timely responses and professional, yet "down-to-earth" responses are making the process a lot easier. At this time, I am not submitting my work to anyone else, because you have impressed me the most up to this point. Even if we do not end up working together, I felt it was important to pass this along to you.

Dear Georgina: Your professional zeal and resourcefulness cannot be overemphasized seeing the volatile-oceanic-wave called the American Hollywood with its impregnable sales frontiers.I hold you dearly to my heart in my every prayers towards our mutual success now and...very soon in sbsequent works.I doff my heart after your every professional spirit imagining the energy, sweat and travellings involved. Thanks for everything you stand for professionally.

Thank you for your constructive feedback. I found your critique of my work very informative, and it concluded many things that I already knew. I really do need to improve on my punctuation skills, and that has been something I have struggled with for some time. I appreciate your suggestions on materials to improve this, and I plan on taking an advanced grammar and puctuation class at the college I am attending. Several other points you made were also very informative. I know I have a long way to go before I am a "professional" writer, but I am glad that you agreed that the potential is definitely there. I'd also like to thank you and your company for staying in contact with me through this process. I would, and will, come back to your company if I need further material critiqued. Thank you again for your time.

I just want to say I have been rejected for years by Agents and Publishers. After awhile it all seems pointless. But I am in this for the long run and will never give up and never give in. Whether you accept me or not you have restored my faith and hope that someone out there is concerned and listening to what writings go through. I look forward to learning all that I can from you and your associates.

"After having reread all the information sent to me, I must say that I am impressed by the way your agency has handled the science, or art of appreciating new sources of writing. If only all agencies displayed your model the world may be a better place. Your FAQ has answered all of my questions and i am eager to get to work."

===========================

WE ARE CREATING THE MOST POWERFUL AGENCY GROUP IN THE UNITED STATES. Every author that we represent has been fully edited and we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their work is good enough for publication. Unfortunately, the ones that 'wash out', tend to grouse and *****. If you can make it through our process, then you will be in an elite group that buyers respect. We never promise a sale, but we can promise that if we present your work, it will get respect from our buyers.

Best to you in your career.
 

MadScientistMatt

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Time for some shill squashing!

Flame war time. I've got some gasoline sitting around. Any of the regulars care to bring the acetylene?

Sherry Fine said:
Dear Author:

We are keenly aware of the negative material on a lot of writer's message boards and I thought I would take a minute and give you more background than what you are getting (which as best I can tell is stuff regurgitated from years ago).


Welcome. As for background - how about a list of what you've sold? Come on, tell your side of the story by showing you can actually sell an author's book!

An Agent's core competency is selling work and finding buyers, not editing. Do you really think that an Agent should contribute their valuable selling time to assisting a writer with editing/grammar/ and other mechanics? Some writers do, but not those that understand the power and clarity of focus on core competency in business. Most agencies go out of business in a few years, not us. Why, because we concentrate on selling, and let the editors and writers do what they do best, writing, improving, writing, improving, etc.

Ok, so let's see you demonstrate your core competancy! How many books has your agency sold? Don't be shy - trot out your sales figures! You say you focus on selling. Prove it.

The claim here is that your agency has only sold four books in its entire existance. That's not a good demonstration of your core competancy. Go ahead, try to refute that.

At it's core, that's the real issue. Always has been. So, there's a situation where potentially great work is 'waiting in the wings' so to speak, and can't get access to the market. And, if the Agent offers to help, to coach, and to mentor, well, you see the boards reply.

Ok, so can you tell us how many books you have brought to the market and sold?

What Do Buyers Think? That's what really matters.
==========================================
Buyers (publishers) love our model. Why? because they know that we've forced the writer to jump through a series of hoops to prove their mettle. And the writers whine, whine, whine, and the publishers say, "whew, thanks for bringing us great work and for filtering out the crackpots."

You say buyers love your model. If so, why has your agency sold only four books?

Where do you think the crackpots cluster? Right on the message boards because a successful writer is improving their craft, making submissions, and researching and writing.

Where do your clients who actually have made money from your "services" and had their books sell because of your agency cluster? Shangri-La? Erehwon?

Our Pledge To You:
==================
* We respect what you have accomplished thus far as a writer.
* We believe that great authors are made, not born. We are willing to develop talent.
* We pledge straight talk in a confusing and old-school industry.
* We can't promise a sale. We can promise a professional relationship.


I find it interesting, and rather telling, that you do not pledge to submit your clients' work to appropriate markets.Just for grins, and so that you know we provide a service of value to aspiring authors, I would like you to see some of the unprompted quotes that we receive on a daily basis.

Our clients say it best. The quotes below are unedited and as you can see, quite from the heart. (We have lots more of these.) If you are really cynical, you will probably believe we made them up, but I promise you, we can prove every one of them.

It is also very telling that not one of these testimonies says anything along the lines of, "Thanks to the New York Literary Agency, I just recieved a six figure advance from Random House!" Or even "I just recieved a $5,000 advance from a small press!" Not one of the testimonies even imply that you have made a sale.

WE ARE CREATING THE MOST POWERFUL AGENCY GROUP IN THE UNITED STATES. Every author that we represent has been fully edited and we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their work is good enough for publication. Unfortunately, the ones that 'wash out', tend to grouse and *****. If you can make it through our process, then you will be in an elite group that buyers respect. We never promise a sale, but we can promise that if we present your work, it will get respect from our buyers.

Best to you in your career.

This is reminiscent of PublishAmerica's defiant boast, "We are darfing them!" How can "the most powerful agency group in the United States" have such an abysmal record of sales?
 

James D. Macdonald

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Gee, you guys aren't leaving me much to do. (Not to worry, I'll deal with "Sherry" anyway.)

Before I comment on that astounding post, though, let me give a little perspective on why "Sherry" may have showed up just now.

An author at PublishAmerica commented that he was considering paying The Screenplay Agency (one of the names Robert Fletcher is doing business under). This was picked up in the NEPAT Overflow topic here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15336&page=117&pp=25

and

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15336&page=118&pp=25

(Comments from "xhouseboy" and me, respectively.)

I went to the main Neverending PublishAmerica Thread (NEPAT), and made a request here:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=467304&postcount=29830

I asked that someone with access to the PublishAmerica Message Board (PAMB) let the author who was thinking of using The Screenplay Agency know that Fletcher's outfit was a scam.

Soon enough, it happened, both on the PAMB and (I presume) on another board where PA authors hang out.

I'm guessing that "Sherry" got a bunch of emails this afternoon telling her to forget about it, that they weren't going to pay for that critique, or treatment, or edit, or whatever they're asking for this week.

She's here to do damage control. Why here? Because the first place you come to when you Google "The Screenplay Agency" or "Stylus Literary Agency" is right here. Any of those PublishAmerica authors who Googled got an eyeful.

I see "Sherry" posted the identical screed four times.


http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=467714#post467714
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=467713#post467713
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=467710#post467710
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=467707#post467707




Good for you, "Sherry," very industrious.

I'll only reply in one place, but I'll put this note in all four so folks can collect the whole set. Lots of people have already replied, identifying Sherry's major fibs, distortions, and omissions.
 
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Dave Sloane

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Is the jig up, Sherry?

MadScientistMatt really said it all (thanks, Matt). Let's hear your rebuttal
asap, or get outta Dodge and don't come back !!
 

travNastee

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James D. Macdonald said:
I'm guessing that "Sherry" got a bunch of emails this afternoon telling her to forget about it, that they weren't going to pay for that critique, or treatment, or edit, or whatever they're asking for this week.

She's here to do damage control. Why here? Because the first place you come to when you Google "The Screenplay Agency" or "Stylus Literary Agency" is right here...

And I think I may have specifically mentioned this place while telling them to go [TV GUARDIAN-ED!!!!!!] themselves.
 

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travNastee said:
And I think I may have specifically mentioned this place while telling them to go [TV GUARDIAN-ED!!!!!!] themselves.

You suggested they self-pleasure themselves? Aw, you were too kind to them. ;)
 

Roger J Carlson

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Dear Sherry,

If you really want to convince your marks that you are professional, perhaps you should make the following corrections to your letter. Bold indicates things to be deleted and replaced with the text in [red].

You're welcome.

Sherry Fine said:
Dear Author:

We are keenly aware of the negative material on a lot of writer's message boards (,) and I thought I would take a minute and [to] give you more background than what you are getting [you are getting] (which as best I can tell is stuff regurgitated from years ago).

I know it is confusing to authors and I thank you for '["] first seeking to understand".[."]

I hope that you [hope you] will view the professionalism of this reply, where we try to present both sides of the situation, and contrast that against the furor that will arise after this post. Hey, maybe the message board [message-board] people will agree to be your A[a]gent!

It is a fact that most authors (98%) can't get the time of day from an A[a]gent. Why? Because invariably their work needs improvement[,] and if an A[a]gent takes the time to say, "I like the idea, but you need a little help"[,"] the A[a]gent is blackballed by every writers blog on the net.

Some writers say, "it's[It's] the agency's responsibility to help the writer"..[."[ Maybe [this was true] in the old days, but not anymore. An A[a]gent's core competency is selling work and finding buyers, not editing. Do you really think that [think] an A[a]gent should contribute their valuable selling time to assisting a writer with editing/[,] grammar/[,] and other mechanics? Some writers do, but not those that [who] understand the power and clarity of focus [focusing] on core competency in business. Most agencies go out of business in a few years, not us. Why, because [Why? Because] we concentrate on selling, and [selling and] let the editors and writers do what they do best, [best:] writing, improving, writing, improving, etc.

Furthermore, when a work doesn't sell, what typically happens is that the author adopts one of 3 postures, [:] 1) y["Y]ou suck, you scammer you, ["] 2) ["]I'll improve,["] or 3) m["M]aybe I'll quit.["] Most of the material on the boards is from attitude 1.

At it's [its] core, that's the real issue. Always has been. So, there's a situation where potentially great work is 'waiting in the wings' [,] so to speak, and can't get access to the market. And, if [And if] the A[a]gent offers to help, to coach, and to mentor, well, you see the boards reply.


What Do Buyers Think? That's what really matters.
==========================================
Buyers (publishers) love our model. Why? because they know that [know] we've forced the writer to jump through a series of hoops to prove their mettle. And the writers whine, whine, whine, and the publishers say, "whew, thanks for bringing us great work and for filtering out the crackpots." [Writers may whine, but the publishers say, "Whew. Thanks for bringing us great work and filtering out the crackpots."]

Where do you think the crackpots cluster? Right on the message boards[.] because a successful writer is [Successful writers are] improving their craft, making submissions, and researching [researching,] and writing.

I use the word '["]cluster'["] in the marketing segmentation definition. Look on most of those message boards, [boards.] and you [You] will see advertising, newsletters, and other capitalistic products and services based on traffic generated by controversy. So now you understand that the point of the boards is to generate traffic and advertising revenues based on their niche in the market.


Anyway, that said, it actually does us a favor and [favor, and] we've come to thank these boards. They weed out two main categories of authors that [authors] we are actually glad to be rid of: 1) nervous authors that [who] don't understand the nitty gritty of hard business[,] who can't make up their mind[,] and who rely on others for their opinions, [opinions and] 2) the SFN's (writers that want Something for Nothing) who want it all, basically for free...

I place 4 bullets under my signature. That's our promise. It's simple and it's understandable [simple and understandable], and I really do [really] think you'd be hard pressed to find one of our clients that won't, even grudgingly[,] admit that we've delivered.

Our Pledge To You:
==================
* We respect what you have accomplished thus far as a writer.
* We believe that great authors are made, not born. We are willing to develop talent.
* We pledge straight talk in a confusing and old-school industry.
* We can't promise a sale. We can promise a professional relationship.

So, in conclusion, this is what I would do, if I were in your shoes,[.] "I'd [I'd]proceed with us, eyes wide open, and see if we meet or exceed our four business tenets,[:] A) Respect, B) Building Talent, 3) Straight Talk, and a 4) Professional Relationship.

Of course, if you'd rather us [we] terminate our relationship now, no problem,[.] f[F]ortunately for me, and unfortunately for you, there's 10 more to take your place,[.] and y[Y]ou can go back to querying agents for the rest of your life, or you can just see what happens and see if maybe, just maybe, we are what we say we are [we say].

Best to you[,] whatever your decision.

Sherry Fine - VP Acquisitions

Just for grins, and so that [so] you know we provide a service of value to aspiring authors, I would like you to see some of the unprompted quotes that we receive on a daily basis. [we have received. We get quotes like these on a daily basis.]

Our clients say it best. The quotes below are unedited and[,] as you can see, quite from the heart. (We have lots more of these.) If you are really cynical, you will probably believe we made them up, but I promise you, we can prove every one of them.

=======================
<snip>
=======================
WE ARE CREATING THE MOST POWERFUL AGENCY GROUP IN THE UNITED STATES. Every author that [author] we represent has been fully edited[,] and we know, beyond [know beyond] a shadow of a doubt, that their [doubt their] work is good enough for publication. Unfortunately, the ones that 'wash out', tend to grouse and ***** [complain]. If you can make it through our process, then you [you] will be in an elite group that buyers respect. We never promise a sale, but we can promise that if we present your work, it will get respect from our buyers.

Best to you in your career.


By the way, you really need to work on your over use of "that" and your comma use. Also, profanity (i.e., *****) is not really considered professional.
 
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Roger J Carlson

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T. Nielsen Hayden said:
What Do Buyers Think? That's what really matters.
==========================================
Buyers (publishers) love our model.
That's simply not true.

Editors and publishers wouldn't thank an agent for "filtering out the crackpots." That's part of their job.

If this outfit has only sold four titles in all the time they've been in business, they're not bringing great work to anyone.

Boasting about how they've forced writers to "jump through hoops" and "prove their mettle" is bizarrely irrelevant. Frankly, it sounds like a complete waste of time and patience. We don't care about mettle. We care about books.
In a bizarre sort of way, they ARE performing a service to the industry.

Think about it. Since they never actually submit anything, every book they "represent" is one less book in your slush pile.

Of course, that's not so good from their clients' perspective.
 

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James D. Macdonald said:
More "regurgitated from years ago": A report from 12/05/05.

http://www.literaryrevolution.com/mr-victors-120505.html

Victor doesn't seem to realize the full extent of their fraud. For example, he still thinks the editing agency is actually in New York.

I wonder how this fraud ring expands. I mean, did Fletcher con Sherry out of a couple of thousand dollars, and then she said something like "Ah, good one. You got me. Okay, I want in, or I tell the feds." You don't just walk up to strangers and offer to commit fraud with them.
 

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The fake anotherrealm site just goes to show you that P&E is harming the scammers badly enough that they have to go to such extremes even though in doing so they may be violating two trademarks and doubling their chances of being caught and punished.

I'd very much like to find out that the fake site is even soliciting those ads from those other businesses specifically because then it could be construed as a deliberate conspiracy and criminal in its intent.
 

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1) The first category are the 'industry watchdogs'. These are people that derive some level of psychological benefits from 'exposing' fraud, scams, etc. WE HAVE CONTACTED THESE PEOPLE NUMEROUS TIMES AND OFFERED TO ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS ON A PUBLIC FORUM FOR THE BEST INTEREST OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE WRITERS. They have refused or ignored our requests. What does that tell you? It tells me that they aren't interested in the truth, it tells me that they are interested in more visitors to their website. Also, they have blocked our rebuttal posts and deleted our prior posts. In short, a very one-sided message board!

The fact that someone from their agency group could post in this and several other topics and that anyone, including the original poster, could come in and post on their behalf seems to point to that statement as not only inaccurate, but an outright lie. We've already shown a willingness to post facts and discuss this on its merits. We haven't blocked them. We haven't deleted their posts.

So, anyone from the Literary Agency Group, what have you sold? How do the fifteen agents you've claimed in other responses manage to survive on just four sales since even Jenny Craig and Weightwatchers can't make that little stretch so far for so many for that length of time and still meet the minimum USDA requirements. Could it be that you get your money from other sources such as critiques and editing fees earned by your independent third-party critique and editing services?
 

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At the risk of annoying Isabella and her agent friends some more, where is The New York Literary Agency actually located? (Boca Raton, we knew that. But where do they have their business license?)

Nevada.

Business licenses for the week of March 7 (2005):

The New York Literary Agency: 237 Tramway Drive, Stateline; literary agency.

At risk of even further risk, Isabella, don't you think you could have gotten your business license for the New York Literary Agency a little farther from New York? California, or Hawaii maybe? The Aleutian Islands?

And look at this:

Business licenses for week of Feb. 14
Writer’s Literary & Publishing Co.: E. Deatrick, 237 Tramway Drive, Suite D, Stateline; publishing.



===================





What else is at 237 Tramway Drive, Stateline, NV, I wonder?


[font=verdana,geneva,arial]Fox and Hound Bar and Grill
spacer.gif

[size=-2] 237 Tramway Drive - Stateline
arrow.gif
American - Inexpensive
[/size][/font]


No wonder Georgina wasn't willing to tell us who y'all shared your conference room with.
 

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Well, next time I'm at Lake Tahoe, shall I pop on over there to 237 Tramway Drive in Stateline and get myself an agent *and* a burger with fries? I could take pictures, too!
 

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James D. Macdonald said:
At the risk of annoying Isabella and her agent friends some more, where is The New York Literary Agency actually located? (Boca Raton, we knew that. But where do they have their business license?)

Nevada.

Here's where my business experience comes in handy. Both Nevada and Delaware are extremely business-friendly. Both have thousands of corporations from other states incorporate there for tax reasons, ease of use reasons, and professional appearance (if you want to attract venture capital, incorporate in Nevada).

Incorporating in Nevada is a cipher as far as our fraud-sniffing goes. Literally tens of thousands of US companies do it. Incorporating there just shows that Fletcher knows how to minimize his taxes.

He still can't sell a manuscript, though.
 

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That address is probably the address for the incorporating company that filed the paperwork. Corporations are required to have a registered agent (not related to a literary agent). It could be the corporate president, or it could be their principal attorney, but in Nevada it's often a company that specializes in incorporation, record-keeping, updating your shareholder meeting minutes, etc.

Again, it's a non-issue.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Lloyd:

The important parts are a) the recent dates, and b) the identity between The New York Literary Agency and Writer’s Literary & Publishing Co, the latter being the supposedly-independent third-party company that is recommended by NYLA to "edit" for a fee.

The recent date means that The New York Literary Agency could not possibly have been involved in any way in any of the sales they claim.

I'd sneer at Fletcher if "The New York Literary Agency" were incorporated in any state in the Union (or overseas territories like American Samoa, for that matter) other than New York.

===========

For "Isabella": Not a single question in this post. I hope that makes you and your "agent" pals happy.
 
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What else is at 237 Tramway Drive, Stateline, NV, I wonder?

About 200 other businesses, actually. The first handful Google turns up are
Batrick/Sec

ViralWare, LLC.
Click Squad
Art Struck Gallery
javadba, Inc.
InterSport, Inc.
Apollo Group International
MHS Marketing

Grant Assistance Company

I'd sneer at Fletcher if "The New York Literary Agency" were incorporated in any state in the Union (or overseas territories like American Samoa, for that matter) other than New York.
Why? Does your compulsive need for name/location symmetry exceed your willingness to recognize a good business decision? In fact, you might want to incorporate yourself to protect your literary rights. If you do, consider Nevada.

The recent date means that The New York Literary Agency could not possibly have been involved in any way in any of the sales they claim.
Fletcher is the registered agent for other companies that predate the NYLA, including S. T. Literary Agency. At this moment, I can't compare those dates because the Florida Division of Corporations website is down. However, I believe that none of these "companies" (some of which are neither incorporated nor registered as fictitious names) predates the claimed sales.

Sorry, Jim. While I absolutely agree that Fletcher's a reprehensible scumbag, I must disagree that Nevada incorporation is evidence of it.
 
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LloydBrown said:
Why? Does your compulsive need for name/location symmetry exceed your willingness to recognize a good business decision? In fact, you might want to incorporate yourself to protect your literary rights. If you do, consider Nevada.

If I incorporate in Nevada, I won't incorporate as "South Florida Writer, Inc."

If Bobby created the "QWERTY Literary Agency" and incorporated it in Nevada, I wouldn't sneer at him for that reason (though I'd still sneer at him -- sneering at him is fun).

I see him naming this particular scam agency "The New York Literary Agency," and not having any ties whatever with New York, to be egregious. Maybe it's a smart business decision to incorporate in Nevada. But incorporating it in Nevada didn't force him to call it "The New York Literary Agency." You'll notice that I didn't check -- and don't care -- where he registered The Children's Literary Agency.

The tie to his scam editing operation is certainly clear from this.
The timeline is clear.

The pure brass is also clear.
 
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The fact that Fletcher used the New York Literary Agency (NYLA) as the name only serves to prove that he's trying to defraud writers because many, if not most, writers are aware that many of the most successful agencies are in New York. Thus, by giving his agency that name even though it's in Florida, he's providing evidence of his intent to defraud. He further proves intent by using a New York mailing address that actually forwards NYLA mail to his office in Florida while claiming falsely that his agencies maintain an office in New York, among others.
 

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DaveKuzminski said:
The fact that Fletcher used the New York Literary Agency (NYLA) as the name only serves to prove that he's trying to defraud writers because many, ...

I absolutely agree that pretending to be in New York is deceptive. Fletcher is trying to capitalize on the perception (true or not doesn't matter) that agents in New York are more effective than agents outside of New York.

Let's switch it around a bit: if his office is in New Jersey, and he commutes to NYC every day, does anyone have a problem with a Nevada corporation? I don't think so. You could make weak arguments about deception, but what's important in the deception is that his office is in Boca Raton, Florida. Nevada doesn't come into the picture at all.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree that it ties the two together. I do agree with the result, but I don't agree with "proof".

237 Tramway Dr. is the address of Nevada Corporation Service, Ltd (an incorporating agent, as I suspected). I think you would find that in a courtroom, the coincidence of both corporations being registered with the same agent is evidence, not proof. For proof, you need to get the articles of incorporation and show Robert Fletcher's name as principal on both papers.
 

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LloydBrown said:
I absolutely agree that pretending to be in New York is deceptive. Fletcher is trying to capitalize on the perception (true or not doesn't matter) that agents in New York are more effective than agents outside of New York.
True. New York agents, or agents who've spent significant time working in New York, are vastly more effective.
237 Tramway Dr. is the address of Nevada Corporation Service, Ltd (an incorporating agent, as I suspected). I think you would find that in a courtroom, the coincidence of both corporations being registered with the same agent is evidence, not proof. For proof, you need to get the articles of incorporation and show Robert Fletcher's name as principal on both papers.
I think you're missing the point. Do you know what Stateline, Nevada is? It's a tiny border town, less than a mile square, that contains one big golf course and one tightly regulated strip of six casinos, plus assorted other bits off to the side. That's all. It's in a semi-posh resort area. The town is at the tip of the corner of Nevada that pokes into California. If you're coming from Sacramento and the Bay Area, it's the closest point in Nevada. It is nevertheless in the middle of nowhere. Its total population is a bit over a thousand people.

It's safe to say that no one ever looked out over Stateline and said, "What this place really needs is a literary agency ... and an editing service."

Does it prove anything that the people who incorporated the two businesses under discussion almost certainly weren't from Stateline? Of course not. But that two writer-squeezing businesses were incorporated in two successive weeks, in the same small resort town, by the same incorporating agent, is an odd and suggestive circumstance. Does it prove malfeasance? Again: of course not. But it could be enough to get law enforcement interested in the case.
 
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