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Melanie Mills

betjam

I did

I really did! I'm not Melanie. I resent the time she wasted for me. I believed in her. I think there was a group of people. Because when I talked to her sometimes I thought her voice was different. I didn't think about it much then. However, now I guess it registered in my mind.
 

kcarpenter

I have spent a lot of time today (probably more than I should) researching this situation. I have heard from several people and the scams have shocked me that Melanie has initiaited. I am not posting too much more on this message board because I believe that I heard from Melanie today (with a new alias, of course), and I believe that she is reading these messages (we're onto you, Mel). Also, someone (gee, I wonder who) has blocked my e-mail from a couple of search engines. If you send a message to me and don't hear back, keep trying ([email protected]).
 

cdcasserly

Melanie/Lisa/Kat

So much to respond to. I first heard of Kat Baker in May when I emailed Melanie about some agent/client(I'm/was a client) questions and got an email back from Kat([email protected]) that Melanie was in Europe due to a family illness and business. I heard from her again in June when the relative died (and Melanie was once again in Europe) and then she sent the announcement about Melanie's "death' on June 23rd. She has ignored any emails since.

I have also put a fraud/identity theft alert out with the three major credit check companies on my account and have alerted the SSA, banks and credit card companies. I'll be sent an email once a week on my acoounts. I just wish that I had spent the time doing more investigating when I was in Myrtle Beach. Should have done a stake out at the post office... oh well. I did contact a friend who used to be a director w/ a major federal agency and he's checking into this situation for me with his contacts.
I, too, am very upset as she had three mss of mine for a year. At my age, I'll be Grandma Moses-like if I don't get a legitimate agent soon. Am working on that and will use Victoria's knowledge and expertise when the time arrives.

I also talked with her on the phone numerous times in this last year and she was always upbeat, though very private about herself and her writing. I do have emailed rejection slips from 2 major houses where she purportedly sent my one mss, and unless she has letterheads from these places, they must be legit. Nothing since January, though.

I'll keep reading here for anything new.
 

historybuff

So, I'm sitting here, reading these entries and realizing that I was cheated by Melanie Mills. I must confess that I did my research up front and took the chance with her regardless of the way my gut felt over the chances of this result coming about. And to be honest further, the money I gave her, didn't matter then and doesn't matter now. Yes, she a ms of mine, but it doesn't scare me, our family lawyer has a copy too, dated before she ever got it. Momma didn't raise a complete idiot.

But none of that is being cheated, I did that to myself, right? The being cheated part is having forged a relationship of trust with someone, actually beginning to like her, and finding now that instead of bowing out gracefully or being honest, she had to leave me still wondering all the things I wondered before she sent me a contract.

But, I'll pull out the query letters, polish up the synopsis and start all over, because I still believe in the work I've done. God, I hate the thought of beginning again.

Melanie, if you are out there reading all this, I hope you are well. I wouldn't wish you ill. But seriously, girl-dear, shame on you for preying on the hopes of people. Would you take food from a hungry person, too? Shame on you, and shame on me for ever trusting anybody. I'll never, ever trust anyone again. That is your legacy.
 

brightm

melanie mills

historybuff don't let this one woman sour you on all of us. I so know how you feel as does a number of others I've been in contact with. The money lost doesn't burn me up either. I'm more upset I suppose at thinking that for the last two years an unbiased person was interested in my work and that finally steps were happening for success. I hate more than anything to have to start over as well and beat back the doubts that keep trying to take over. Right at the moment I'm telling myself first "I've learned a big lesson" (gotta cringe at that one..lol) but that I now have three free manuscripts I can try and put out there while working on the one i've got going now. Victoria's comment helped to ease my mind about the copyright and how these frauds aren't so interested in in the mss, but in the money. emails have been saved, dates are down so if legal action can actually be taken I at least have something to add to all the others even if it may not stand alone. hang in there and lots of luck...


brightm
 

historybuff

Thanks much. Actually, I'm pretty okay with myself and my writing. Looked over the ms for the first time in awhile last night and the beginnings of it's sequel. Not bad, if I say so. I'm just really discouraged that there are more of the Melanie's running around, whether they be agents or car salespeople (is that a word?). I grew up in the sixties listening to John Lennon and I'd hoped by now we might be past this sort of b/s. Such a dreamy-eyed hopester, I've been. Carry on, soldier.
 

PiscesChild

Class Action - NEED YOUR HELP IF YOU WANT HER

If you are interested in adding your name and experience to the Melanie Mills file, I am planning through my attorney to approach the FBI since she has committed multiple scams (real estate, time shares, writer's conferences) in multiple states.

please email [email protected]

My credentials: www.pisceschildmedia.net

Yours,

Charles Shaw
Chicago

p.s. - Melanie/Lisa/Kat...if you are reading this...you;re days are numbered, babe. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
 

betjam

melanie

Pisces
I emailed you I hope you are for real its scarey right now. I don't trust her. She did that too the trust thing.
 

PiscesChild

Fraud

If I had to guess, and I'd say my guessing is pretty educated, I'd now say she faked her death.

I got a call from a woman in North Carolina yesterday who told me about multiple scams in multiple states.

Victoria, although we appreciate your efforts, you weren't robbed by her so you really are in no place to make demands on those of us who have (like asking me not to reveal that Mills/Baker was a con-artists pulling multiple scams).

My attorney and I (Hoilland & Kight in Chicago) will be looking into an FBI case once I talk with a number of Detective in multiple states that are already investigating her.

BTW my real lit agents, McIntosh & Otis, have never heard of Melanie Mills or Lisa Mills. Neither, it appears, has anyone else but us.

Wake up folks. Time to take action. File your reports. If enough people in enough states do it, the FBI will be forced by law to get involved.
 

Ruthwriterruthcom

Melanie Mills - important lessons

My sympathies to anyone who may have been ripped off. I'd like to offer a couple important lessons suggested by the messages about this situation. (1) Before sending money or manuscripts to any agent, check with the Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR -- www.aar-online.org/) to see if they belong. It probaby would help to ask lists like this one, along with any local or national writers' organization to which you might belong, if anyone has heard of and worked with the agent, too. (2) Never give your Social Security number to anyone! There's no reason anyone should need your SSN as part of either conference registration or initial interaction with an agent. The only purpose of asking for it is likely to be fraudulent misuse, including identity theft. Same goes for bank-account numbers and any other identity info. There are very, very few times when it is necessary to ask for such info.
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Rochester, NY
 

RochesterRuth

Melanie Mills - important lessons

My sympathies to anyone who may have been ripped off. I'd like to offer a couple important lessons suggested by the messages about this situation. (1) Before sending money or manuscripts to any agent, check with the Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR -- www.aar-online.org/) to see if they belong. It probaby would help to ask lists like this one, along with any local or national writers' organization to which you might belong, if anyone has heard of and worked with the agent, too. (2) Never give your Social Security number to anyone! There's no reason anyone should need your SSN as part of either conference registration or initial interaction with an agent. The only purpose of asking for it is likely to be fraudulent misuse, including identity theft. Same goes for bank-account numbers and any other identity info. There are very, very few times when it is necessary to ask for such info.
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Rochester, NY
 

capitalistwriter

some modifications

I would modify your "lessons" slightly, Ruth.

First off, there's no need to check with anyone before sending money to an agent. Any agent who asks you to send money to him or her is a con man. Period. No legitimate agent will ask you to send money. They send the money to you, after taking their cut. So, if an agent asks you to send money, don't bother checking anything, just RUN!

Secondly, you are right about being careful with your Social Security Number, but also be aware that when you sell something you WILL need to provide it. If they ask you for it BEFORE they are ready to send you a check, that's a red flag. If they tell you that they are going to send you a check but they DON'T ask you for it, that is also a red flag. Legitimate publishers will need to have your SSN before they pay you, though.
 

Victoria

Fraud

>>Victoria, although we appreciate your efforts, you weren't robbed by her so you really are in no place to make demands on those of us who have (like asking me not to reveal that Mills/Baker was a con-artists pulling multiple scams)<<

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?

- Victoria
Writer Beware
www.sfwa.org/beware
 

Mind Blowing

Victoria

Victoria, I agree when you said agents and publishers aren't waiting to steal from unpublished writers. But in the magazine and article world it is a different story. Each week in Writer's Weekly there is a complaint about some crooked editor who rejected a person's article idea and gave it to someone else. I didn't know that happened so often, but there has been an alarming flood of this theft lately and the freelance writers are steaming. One woman said that she provided clips and contacts pertaining to an article. The editor asked for this, saying she wanted to follow up on something. The editor ended up turning the work in for herself and there was nothing the writer could do about it. I understand how some unpublished writers are worried because I have to think twice these days sending work out and I AM published. The world is full of snakes and it's only getting worse. Later days.
 

Gerard Jones

RIP

What an illuminating bunch of comments, but the bottom line for me is that I'm taking MM off my little list. Here's an e-mail I'm in the process of sending to 2,000 of the top literary agents, editors and publishers in the US and the UK:

Wow. Who would have thought a whole year could have gone by so fast! It's already time for a Second Edition of Everyone Who's Anyone in Adult Trade Publishing. The update process is simple. Type your name in the "SEARCH" box at:

everyonewhosanyone.com

Go to the page you're on, do Ctrl+F, find yourself, correct any inaccuracies, make additions or amendments, list your interests, policies, likes and dislikes, etc.—anything you want to relay to the thousands of people who look at this directory every day—then forward your comments to me via a response to this e-mail and I'll take it from there. Thanks.

The fully revised Second Edition of EWA will include at least 2,000 of the top literary agents, editors and publishers in the US, UK and Canada for whom I could find e-mail addresses and/or websites. I've listed them in order of their relative size and significance. It's the most complete, candid, useful, up-to-date directory of executives and companies in the publishing industry available anywhere, as far as I can tell.

During the past year I've sold one book, GINNY GOOD, which is coming out in the Spring of 2004 from Monkfish Book Publishing Company. It's gonna be one of the most unique, substantial, enduring and successful books published in the 21st Century—if you think I'm exaggerating, get a copy from the publisher, read it and see for yourself. But don't despair, I also have a total of four more books, including this directory, which are equally compelling and timeless, although quite different in tone, style and content. If you want to talk to me about buying any or all of them, let me know.

Lastly, you're welcome to include a link to this free directory on your website--or use it yourself, for that matter. Tens of thousands of writers and even a few of the more enlightened agents, editors and publishers have found it to be an indispensable resource. Thanks again.

Gerard Jones
 

sassenach

I think it's mostly amateurs that worry about their ideas

being stolen, frankly. Writer's Weekly seems to cater to that subset with some of their letters.

Ideas are a dime a dozen, but if you think you have a unique one, keep copies of correspondence between you and editors to prevent their theft.

*****
Gerald...your "guide" got quite a lot of publicity last year on various listservs I'm on. So you're the guy who insults editors and agents. It's performance art, right? Like the "Letters from a Nut" books?:eek :eek
 

Mind Blowing

My Opinion

Stealing ideas is one thing. But stealing article clips and people's personal contacts and presenting them as your own is not the same thing. It's just like a designer who has fallen hard on their luck and stealing the latest designs from a new artist, it's still dishonest bottom line.

Pro writers get ripped off just as much as amateurs. The courts are full of lawsuits catering to this. As for the Writers Weekly newsletter, I was reading them before I got published and still am, and will continue to. I may not agree with everything the newsletter puts public but I know they help a lot of writers, pro or amateur. I'm a published author and yeah we do have more authority with our work. When someone steals our work we do have the option of being able to prove it's stolen right off the bat. Someone steals my work, my publisher drags their a** to court in no time. New writers don't always have the luxury of proving something was stolen because it brings up he-say she-say disputes. And without the work being published in a form, there's really no proof. Bottom line is an adult knows if what they are doing is wrong when it comes to how far they go with taking someone else's work. Being warned and being smart is something we all have to do. I don't think being cautious is a fault, only an idiot wouldn't be. Without newsletters and organizations like Writer's Weekly, writers would be left out in the cold when it came to legal matters. Lawyers don't grow on trees and neither does money. So who else can a struggling writer with no money turn to? Nothing wrong with finding a thief and letting the world know. Later Days!
 

sassenach

??

MIND BLOWING said:
And without the work being published in a form, there's really no proof. Bottom line is an adult knows if what they are doing is wrong when it comes to how far they go with taking someone else's work. Being warned and being smart is something we all have to do. I don't think being cautious is a fault, only an idiot wouldn't be.

/////I don't understand your first sentence ["being published in a form.]

I've been a freelancer and a staff editor for years, and have never encountered this problem. Are you saying people who try to represent other people's clips as their own??
 

Victoria

Theft

I have to say I agree with sassenach--in more than five years of scam tracking I've yet to receive a credible complaint of theft (and I hear from short fiction writers and freelancers as well as novelists). Theft seems to be a huge fear among writers, especially writers trying to become established, but actual theft, especially of unpubbed work, really does seem to be extremely rare.

Rights grabs--as in magazines selling electronic rights without compensating the author--and stiffing writers for payment are another story.

- Victoria
Writer Beware
www.sfwa.org/beware/
 

betjam

I think mind blowing is correct and caring.

Sassehach from an amateurs it sounds like you want to make us feel silly. Only we amateurs would worry.
Victoria left out amateurs however, why is stiffing writers for payment of their works not the same as stealing "articile clips".
Come on we all know it could be possible for someone as unscupled as Melanie appears to be to take books to say Germany and sell them. Who would know? Oh by the way if there is a grammer error here I am dyslexic. So excuse me and both of you are welcome to correct my grammer in your head. You both seem too smart (as children say) to "act big"
It would be nice if someone with the skill or know how could find out for sure what really happened to Melanie? She hurt a lot of people.
 

brightm

melanie

Don't you worry, Betjam. No one is forgetting what needs to be done about Melanie. Steps have been taken..
 

Mind Blowing

Yes I Said It

As far as people STEALING clips and people's contacts and presenting them as their own, yes that is exactly what I meant. And it is wrong plain and simple. I don't care who the article writer is, pro or not. Also just because a case seems rare, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Does it? I mean just because I haven't heard of a new disease, doesn't mean it's not real...get my point?Unfortunately some unpublished writers aren't as confident and tend to stay quiet when wrong things happen to them, so things get hidden. You can work in the writing field for 100 years and there will still be things out there you haven't come face to face with. Once again, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.


Thanks for the compliments betjam. I always try to be caring, helpful and considerate of other's feelings. Hell we are all writers. It doesn't matter what level someone is, wrong is wrong and that's all I got to say on the matter. Anyway if people continue to do wrong by others, it comes back to bite them in the a**. What goes around always comes around and there's nothing
" amateur " about that. Does the New York Times situation ring a bell? Later days.
 

sassenach

The NY Times case

...I assume you're referring to Jayson Blair...isn't really germane.

That was plagiarism--and obviously discovered.

I'm not trying to put amateurs down. It's simply that I hear this claim of theft repeatedly--but with minial evidence.
 

betjam

Plagiarize:

To appropriate and pass off as one's own (the writings, ideas, etc., of another). Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary vol. 2 n-z.
Sorry sassenach.
She just can't help it!
It's kind of cute.
It passes the time to play like this. Helps me not think about writing 2-1/2 manuscripts, that took 20 years due in part to my dyslexia, and then being duped by an agent who gets away with it. She wasted three years of my efforts to be published. I now have to start all over.
The thing that gets me is I feel the ms are really good. I read everything I ever got my hands on and I feel I know whats interesting. My college professor thinks it's wonderful and said I was a genius. Wish she was my agent, right. I will get my feet under me and go again.
 

bejam

Sorry

I'm sorry sassenach and victoria if I offended you. I work with teenagers and I always try to remember it is a gift to be allowed to assist them (for me a gift from God). I take their worries serious. I try never to act superior. If I have a bad day and "act big" I say I am sorry. I don't let the fact that I help them allow me to think I smarter or better then them. They teach me as well. I don't correct their speech or ideas when they are upset. Nor do I treat the thought as foolish. I know it can turn around and bit me if I do. You both have wonderful advice. Mind blowing and others were upset they don't know what to do. They are trying. They don't need to be called amatures or talked to like they are stupid. I knew what they meant and I'm an amature. Maybe they don't know the correct jargon but it was clear enough. However, I'm protective and I'm sorry if I upset you. I wouldn't want your good advice to stop because of something I said. So the forum floor goes back to both of you and I'm off this site. Best everyone