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Melanie Mills

sfsassenach

Amateurs

I'm not putting amateurs down..we all have to start somewhere. However, if you want to be a professional writer, you need what Hemingway called an "foolproof bull**** detector."

Be skeptical and do your research before believing the lines of shysters like Melanie Mills, et al. A few minutes Googling orasking questions on a board like this could save you a lot of heartache.

It's disheartening as well as embarassing to be taken advantage of. But get back to what's really important--your;) writing. ;)
 

Rochester Ruth

some modifications

Well, yeah, any agent who asks for money upfront usually is offkilter -- but not every aspiring writer knows that. It's still a good idea to check with the professional organizations, peers and other resources, because, as this discussion shows, someone can be very convincing when asking for our money.

My point was that you shouldn't be asked for, or give out, your Social Security number for things like conference registration. Of course it will be needed if you get published and are about to receive an advance and/or royalties, but that's a whole different thing; employers are among the (very few) entities with a legal right to your SSN.

Ruth Thaler-Carter, Freelance Writer/Editor
"I can write about anything!" (TM)
Rochester, NY
 

Rochester Ruth

Just a quick apology for sending essentially the same message twice; I wasn't sure I had set up the first one correctly.

Ruth Thaler-Carter, Freelance Writer/Editor
"I can write about anything!" (TM)
Rochester, NY
 

Rochester Ruth

Stealing stuff

If someone is "stealing your article clips" - putting their name on your published work - that's plagiarism, and you can do something about it. You can't protect or copyright an idea, though, and your query or article idea is just that until it's published in some way - as an article, a book, a webstory, etc. Keep in mind that magazines plan their content months, if not a year, in advance, so an editor may legitimately already have scheduled an idea you just pitched. Book publishers get hundreds of proposals and queries from agents and writers, so someone at a publisher may already have contracted for a book similar to yours. I protect myself against having ideas taken over by others by being cagey about sources - describing them but not naming them or giving their contact info - so the worst someone might be able to do is use a variation of my idea but not my actual people. I also try to get editorial calendars for magazines, and to read an issue or two, before sending queries, so I don't pitch something they just did.
Ruth Thaler-Carter, Freelance Writer/Editor
"I can write about anything!" (TM)
Rochester, NY
 

James

Oh, Vicki!

"Whatever. I've been tracking agent scams for more than five years, and am participating in a number of active investigations, which gives me a bit of insight into protocol, not to mention a sense of the bigger picture...but what do I know?"

Are you a lawyer, or do you have any legal training?

I've been in the book industry for almost ten years and you don't consider me an expert yet.

James
 

cdcasserly

Good grief. I click onto this site to find info about Melanie or other scam agents, and what do I read? Nothing but sniping. How sad.

As far as writers' sites such as Writers' Beware and Preditors and Editors, I have found them quite helpful. They aren't the be all, end all, but are a terrific place to research an agent. As a two decade high school English teacher, when I show my kids how to conduct a search, I teach them to check any and all primary and secondary references they can on their subject. We discuss how to validate or corroborate data they have found. I'm sure you all learned this in high school, too.

After I've found a possible agent, I go to the two sites mentioned above and look for any info. Then I try to find the agent's site, if there is one. I check Publishers Marketplace for sales records and any other sites I can find. Still, I was scammed by Melanie. This was no one's fault, even mine, and believe me, I've felt stupid since this all broke earlier this month. I thought that I had done everything right this time. (By this time, I mean that I was taken in by Lee Shore way back in '95, right after I published, unagented, my first book. As a neophyte, I didn't know that her practices... reading fees, paying for cost of copies, etc, were wrong. If it wasn't for P&E and WB, I might not have had my eyes opened as soon as I did, enabling me to cancel my contract w/her.)

I didn't contact Victoria before I signed with Melanie... only after. I wish that I had. Now I know to do that, though, and wrote her when I had two bites from NY agents last week. She promptly wrote me back, corroborating data that I had found as well as my instincts. Thanks, Victoria.

I appreciate these sites for two reasons. First, they'll separate the snake oil agents from the rest. Second, they take their precious time, and ask for no pay, to answer my many questions. And time for me for ten months a year is very, very precious what with piles of essays from my seniors and all. Also, I found this site quite helpful when I started reading it in May after I began to question Melanie's excuses to me regarding my writing and the conferences.

Can we keep it as a place for writers to go for information instead of turning it into an "I know more than you do" debate or a bitch session on who's right and who isn't? I, for one, would much rather read about info on agents and any news on the Melanie front.
 

brightm

I was thinking the same thing as you Casserly. this particular line of messages was supposed to be about Melanie and all of a sudden it went into a tail spin. you were also right about the checking and double checking. My partner and I had thought that we did a sufficient amount of research and since this all happened I've discovered there was more I could do as well as learned that sometimes you can do it all and still get suckered. I've since come to the decission that as a writer the only way I'm going to get noticed is to put it out there and no matter how or what there will be some risk. A published book would definitely be worth it...

shirley
 

historybuff

I've got opinions, but I'd really just like to check in for The Daily Melanie, too. lol H/B
 

littlevoiceinside

Melanie and the bad case of 'sniping'

I have been following the posts on this board for a couple of months...beginning with my partner's initial discovery of this site in our efforts to discover more about our agent, Melanie Mills. During this time, I have been, in turns, disgusted, frustrated, angry and sometimes amused, by the information I've read concerning Melanie and the rest of us--our shared foibles.

I have found, over the years, that trust is tenuous, at best, and finding someone you trust completely is a joy we all strive to embrace.

I have a point here.

This experience with Melanie was, for me, a revelation. She taught me many things in the two years she was representing myself and my partner...things that, at times, were helpful. Before she became our agent, we knew very little about the writing industry, a lack of knowledge that would eventually be the tool she used to teach us the best lesson of all.

Do your homework!!

Research every aspect of any endeavor you choose to undertake...from the book's inception, to its delivery into the hands of a publisher. That includes sussing out any and all information available about your agent, editor, publisher.

I find this lesson invaluable. Some people may choose to view this experience with Melanie as a setback, or worse, a catastrophe. Believe me when I tell you, you do yourself a disservice, and by so doing, give her actions power and significance.

You let her win.

I for one, refuse to cow down to the inferiority that spurs this mindset. I will view this experience as one of discovery and a lesson well learned.

IF Melanie is alive and following our discussions on this site, then she has found her reason for the bad choices she's made and the lives she's disrupted. With our words of distress, she has found the soil with which to plant her seeds of dissention. Instead of using our gift with words to show her the error of her ways, we've given her ammunition with which to keep her lack of moral fiber fully loaded.

If she has passed on, then we have done naught more than to curse that which can no longer defend itself.

Still, I have to wonder to what end these discussions hope to meet...a satisfactory conclusion to a story that has been nothing more than convoluted conjecture and, to use the words of another writer, 'sniping'?

So, before you click on the reply button, think about what you want to say...what message you want those of us who hang on your every word, wish to hear.

I'm waiting.
 

noel

I check on every day to see what might be new and all I get is people fighting about things I could care less about. Could we discuss the thread that many of us are interested in and not egos punching at each other--whoever you are.

I liked Melanie. I'm sorry if she is dead, I am sorry if she ripped us off. Either way I am waiting for some word and not off-topic stuff. Pleeeeeaaaase!!

Noel
 

inkblotpsycho

melanie mills

Melanie Mills :)evil ) is the most disgusting example of her kind that I have ever beheld.
>: The next time I decide to do anything with her, it will be putting her head on a stake as a warning to her ilk.
 

brightm

Re: melanie mills

yea yea yea....I've learned a lesson. I'm not crying any tears or bemoaning a few hundred dollars that I haven't thought of in over a year. I'm not teetering on the edge of giving up my passion for writing. (as if!!!) But as much as I'm for being the bigger person... thinking of all the disruption that Melanie has caused in a logical manner, there's still the pissed off woman inside and she says...."Melanie's dead? Great. Show me the body...Just give me directions to her grave..."
 

absolutewrite

Re: deceased

Dave and James: This IS the Melanie Mills thread, and you're more than welcome to continue your own fights on our newly-formed "Take it Outside Board." Anything from either of you on this thread will be deleted unless it directly pertains to Melanie Mills and not to each other.

And James, for crying out loud, me closing down the two PA threads had NOTHING to do with you "starting to fight back" and I did NOT ban you from these boards. You'd been fighting back all along, first of all, and second of all, I just hit a point where it all felt pretty repetitive and not very useful to everyone else on this board (many of whom complained that your fight was taking over this board). Therefore, I closed those threads. Simple. Now feel free to continue on the other board: pub43.ezboard.com/fabsolutewritefrm32
 

Mmywriter

I too, was represented by Melanie Mills. I am beginning to wonder how many of us are out there? Since we never associated with each other, there could be hundreds...
My husband was always suspicious of her. I went through the "you-have-a-big-publishing-house -interested-in-your-manuscript-but-it-needs-to-be- edited-and-we-provide-that-service" experience too.
This was my concern: I found out about Melanie's death by accident, while browsing P&E. Since she REPRESENTED me for nearly three years, why didn't I at least receive a "form" email? It would have been the courteous thing.
My husband suggested she faked her death, and to prove him wrong, I went and searched the internet for an obit, news report, anything. (Like a lot of you, apparently) and of course, found nothing. :(
So, what gives? I haven't thought about the money but yes, I had JUST sent her a rewritten manuscript and CD. I would love them back, like all of you.
If she really is dead, and the proof comes out, I will go and repent. Until then, I remain >:
 

Betjam

Too convienant

I agree Mnywriter. I believe there are 100's. Please don't let this make you feel you aren't really good enough for an agent. When others doubt that we even had an agent and then find out she was a fraud we feel like a fool. However, she was very good at her scam, She would tell you what you may needed to hear. I came from terrible abuse and wrote about it. She told me she went through the same thing and her mother shot her father because of the incest. Now I believe it was all to rope me in. I'm back at sending queries but now with a vengence I don't want her to win. I don't belive she is dead. She created the image of a family member dying in "Fancy" Europe. Then created the "Tragic" accident, I'm sure. Above there is a FBI site to report on her please add your name or go to beware site and report there. We need alll the evidence we can get. If I sound cynica now it's because I resent those who take advantage of those struggling to pull them selves up and write to help others only to be stepped on by her. Nevertheless we are strong and moved past worse and we will do it better more informed now.
Good Luck Mnywriter I know you will find someone again to believe in your writing. You write for a reason.
 

Mmywriter

Don't get mad, get even

Betjam, you are SO right. I have been writing and dreaming since my age was in the single digits. My take on Melanie is that she started out as a legit agent, but greed set in. Yes, this woman may have wasted years of my life, (and I'm not going to deny that the fact she has all my materials doesn't make me nervous) but don't they say that life breaks us and afterwards we are stronger in the broken places?
She has made me (more than ever) determined to get out there and get representation. In retrospect, I am mad at myself for being such a milquetoast with her. I was just so dang happy someone wanted to represent me, I blindly did everything she asked. I am sure I was a "dream client for her". (Don't you worry, I just wrote a small novel to Victoria @beware about my experiences with her.) All of us out there who have been scammed by this woman--the greatest revenge will be to perservere...and SUCCEED.
:rollin
 

jeffthefish

Melanie's victims

I find it interesting how many of us seem to have similar experiences with unreliable, unscrupulous, inaccessible agents. It seems the first time or unpublished authors have little chance of getting decent representation. The reasons are obvious. Most cannot be sold to publishers with the resources or inclination to invest in an unknown. Those that do sell will get tiny advances. Figure it out. 15% of $5000 is just $750. That justifies maybe three hours work time to anyone successful. How much of our novels can be read in that time? And if they are accepted, how much time, effort, heartache, expense must be added to the reading time? If Melanie was a thief, so be it. I suspect each of us used lots of her time for little or no commissions received. The only way the agency thing can pay is if the agent finds the literary lottery ticket. After a few years of trying with no luck, no one would stay in it without a way to generate some income. If you paid her for editing, a fee up front, etc., don’t whine. If she promised to submit and didn’t, that’s a different story.
I’m an attorney running a civil litigation practice. I have no experience as a literary agent, although I have represented many businesses of all types. The book-marketing concept can’t be so different from other businesses. The golden rules have to be don’t lie, disclose everything and sell only quality products. If enough of you were interested in that type of representation, I would consider having my firm start up a literary agency. I would advance no expenses but charge no fees. If accepted, you would pay actual (not inflated) mailing, copying and printing expenses. All correspondence would be by e-mail to avoid costs. If you’re interested, let me know. [email protected]
 

Mmywriter

Hey, that's a great idea!

Jeffthefish,

That's a great idea! As soon as you become an AAR member, I will query you! ;)

"Experience comes from knowledge, and knowledge comes from BAD experience" I've learned my lesson. Thanks to Ms. Mills!
 

SRHowen

more to it than that--

an agent needs contacts in the publishing biz. Otherwise ms from an unknown goes to the slush pile just the same as if an author sent it themselves.

The agent has to have a good track record with publishers and be able to "do lunch" where not much lunch actually takes place--negotiations and "I have this you might like" is more like it.

Very small agencies mostly deal with small press. And beginning ones rarely have the contacts unless the agent left a previous firm. Otherwise anyone could put a letter head on their query and envelope and presto off the slush pile you go.

No I am not an agent, but I am an editor and have done freelance editing for agencies (mostly in Europe) but the process is not so much different.

If your writing is good it will find a home--you just have to keep going.

Shawn