Literary Associates (Henry Santsaver)

[waylander]

Any views of Henry Santsaver?
He has just popped up on Publishers Marketplace as an agent.
His website is here www.myliteraryagent.org/2.html

Another well-intentioned no-hoper?

[DaveKuzminski]

The site appears clueless and gormless. I think we should take up a collection to send them a clue and some gorm.

[JerseyGirl1962]

Originally Posted by waylander

Any views of Henry Santsaver?
He has just popped up on Publishers Marketplace as an agent.
His website is here www.myliteraryagent.org/2.html

Another well-intentioned no-hoper?

And I don't see any address, either. Where the heck are they located?

Plus, what kind of stories are they looking for? I saw something that talked about "Southern writers" or something, but...?

What Dave K. said.

~Nancy

[James D. Macdonald]

Allow two weeks to recieve a response to your query.

Spell-check. It isn't just for breakfast any more.

[Branwyn]

[PVish]

Originally Posted by JerseyGirl1962

And I don't see any address, either. Where the heck are they located?

The phone number listed on the site is 1-386-756-0520—a northern Florida area code. A bit far to do lunch with New York editors on a regular basis.

[DeadlyAccurate]

Their submissions page is rather bizarre. Not only poorly worded, but is this a bit unusual?

...why we can accept your materials for marketing. But if we accept the manuscript for marketing at once there is no agent contract until the publisher says yes.

(I don't have an agent, so I don't know if this is standard practice or not, but all the legit agent sites have seen have at least indicated they would sign a contract with you and then try to get you published.)

Then there's this:

There is never a fee if the manuscript must be revised once or twice and returned per the Associate Reader's suggestions.

If the manuscript needs more revisions, is there a fee then? How would they enforce that if there's no contract between the author and agent?

ETA: Something about the wording makes me think English may not be the website creator's first language.

[Toni1953]

i don't think so......

[victoriastrauss]

"Clueless" doesn't cover it.

Making Light got Warren Whitlock; I get this guy. OK?

- Victoria

[waylander]

ETA: Something about the wording makes me think English may not be the website creator's first language.[/QUOTE]

Mr Santsaver claims to be a former English college professor. Doesn't say which college though.

[CaoPaux]

Originally Posted by victoriastrauss

"Clueless" doesn't cover it.

Making Light got Warren Whitlock; I get this guy. OK?

- Victoria

Just clean the carpet after, okay?

Oh, and to DA:

I don't have an agent, so I don't know if this is standard practice or not, but all the legit agent sites have seen have at least indicated they would sign a contract with you and then try to get you published.

Correct. Although some agents work via "handshake", there's a still an implied contract subject to all sort of fun legal junk (at least in CA). I'm thinking that when he sends the contract, that's when the fees come..."pay us or the deal's off".

[zarch]

who are the dude and chick at the top of the site?

[James D. Macdonald]

The dude and chick are Art, and his pal Clip.

[Lauri B]

Oh, Jim, you do make me laugh.

[batgirl]

For some reason I read that url as mylittleagent.org and had visions of big-eyed agents with hair you could brush.
So, can we look forward to Victoria eviscerating the confusing MAQ (in other circles called FAQ) about the getting of a contract? I'll make the popcorn.
-Barbara

[CaoPaux]

Originally Posted by book_maven

Ooooh, I love it! Bad clip art and this--right on the first page.

We want to provide you with the kind of helpful guidance to sell your manuscript to the best publisher in the world. Or unfortunately we must reject your submission. That does not mean we have given up totally if you can craft the submission into the format required by our strict standards.

Please read our contracts article on the home page, our most requested subject

Gaah. I've yet to actually visit the site, and I think I'll spare myself the headache. *throb*

[James D. Macdonald]

Originally Posted by CaoPaux

Gaah. I've yet to actually visit the site, and I think I'll spare myself the headache. *throb*

Gee, Cao -- and no one's even mentioned yet that the site is in ALL CAPS.

[CaoPaux]

Originally Posted by James D. Macdonald

Gee, Cao -- and no one's even mentioned yet that the site is in ALL CAPS.

[Scribhneoir]

I think this is my favorite bit.

And remember only if you have a contract with us do we ever advance funds.

So all you starving writers looking for a handout -- don't look here.

[James D. Macdonald]

Lest anyone wonder, there's no mention whatever of who they represent or anything they've sold.

[the1dsquared]

A Google search indicates that he is (or was) a professor at Daytona Beach Community College. Maybe I've been looking for agents in the wrong places....

[CaoPaux]

Well, I dood it: I ventured into the site. I’ll be squinting for days, but I wanted to investigate

And remember only if you have a contract with us do we ever advance funds.

I think he’s talking about a contract with the publisher. (Quotes un-capped and re-paragraphed.)

Most asked questions: Author Contracts:

Contracts take from six to eight weeks once an editor reaches agreement to publish your manuscript through our agency.

First upon accepting the new manuscript, the editor prepares a done deal memo.

Next this memo is handed to the parties concerned in the publisher's contract department where it is used as an outline for the formal contract. You get a copy of the done deal memo too.

After this contract is read by the company acquisitions editor, it travels to an officer of the company for approvals, then the contract department takes it and issues a copy to the agent and author.

After the agent and author review the contract for the agreed upon deal points, the final signed contract is returned to the publisher. It can take up to a month or two months to agree on the deal points in some cases.

Once returned to the publishing company again, the contracts must be reviewed and then must be signed before copies of the completed contract are mailed to you. At that time a voucher is issued, directing the accounts payable folks to cut a check for your advance payment.

This check then goes to the controller or authority in charge of disbursements to sign. Then this "advance" is mailed to the agent who removes his ten percent and mails the other ninty percent to you. After returned books that did not sell are subtracted from the company accounts, the final royalty check owed by the publisher is mailed to the payee,

In publishing all things take time, not to mention the time it took you to produce the manuscript. The contract cash advance must meet a breakeven point through public sales of the book before you begin to recieve royalties. How much? That depends on your contractual agreement points.

Reading this, one would think he had a tenuous grasp on How Things Work, but just can’t write worth a damn. Then we find this:

Prepublication Reviewers

If you are a newspaper, radio, television, satellite radio, advertising, marketing, film studio or media person with credentials and time to spare reviwing an exciting manuscript--

If you'd like to help screenplay writers--

If you like discovering talented fiction writers--

If you are a hard back or paperback reviewer for a newspaper who know talent when you see it --

Then we want to send you a manuscript of screenplay for an honest review that we think has promise;

Please email us. We find exciting fiction and nonfiction writers who need opinionated marketing reviews for their efforts. There is no payment involved. And you might discover a new screenwriter or author who might never get published without your help. Also you may want to quote their work for your own publicity reasons.

He invites folks to review unpubbed work…Dave, how’s that collection for gorm going?

I'm glad I've just joined this site. Hello everyone. I found this site while doing some investigating on Henry as he requested to see my full m/s.

I don't know. Lots of agents on PM don't have very lengthy bios. I'll keep everyone informed if I hear anything suspicious. I hope he's legit.

Currently, I have four agents reading my full m/s.

Natewrites

[DeadlyAccurate]

And none of those agents asked for an exclusive? I've never had an agent request a full, but isn't that a bit unusual that none of them wanted an exclusive?

Just out of curiosity, what research did you do before you queried Santsaver that made you feel comfortable submitting to him?

[Kasey Mackenzie]

Well, plenty of "legit" agents (as in, not out-and-out scammers) do not have experience or contacts in the publishing industry and thus will do you little to no good. It's better to have no agent than a bad or clueless agent. You'd be better off submitting to the houses that actually accept agentless submissions because an agent with no contacts in the industry is going to get you in the exact same place you can get yourself--the slush pile.