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Especially For Young Adult Writers and Readers Suggestions
to Young Writers:
Young--and
old--Writers Beware! For more information about scams, check this excellent site put up by the Science Fiction Writers of America Writer Beware! An even better new spot also run by Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin. These two writers stay on top of bad deals, scam 'agents' and 'publishers' and other come-ons. Another warning site is the Twenty Worst Agents site. These aren't actually Agents, but scammers masquerading as agents. They are out to get your money, not to help you get published. Yeah, but I hate waiting years to hear anything! Isn't there a way around it? Right now: no. Maybe some day soon the industry will change enough so that we don't have this bottleneck of year long submission times, and big conglomerates controlling publishing companies, but for now, that day is not here. . . and meanwhile, scam artists are searching for creative people, especially young people, to rip off. How About Writing Contest? There are some legitimate writing contests. Warner Aspect offers one. The pitfall here is that you are competing against far more people for that single slot than you are trying to submit your writing to regular publishing houses. Local writing contests are often legitimate--and it feels good to win--but they are not any more likely to get your story read by a real publisher than just sending it in. There are simply too many of these, and by and large, if editors have not heard of the contest, they aren't going to pay any attention to a winner of it. So How do you recognize scam contests? Scam "Writing Contests" are the ones that charge you money, and whose "prize" is to be published in a book--that you then have to order for a lot of money. These contests are nothing more than vanity presses. Everyone "wins" so that the scammers can make real money selling the book to the winners. No one else ever sees it, or wants to see it. There are a zillion such rip-offs around. Sometimes these guys even get schools hoodwinked, so don't always assume that contests listed on flyers handed out at school are okay. Find out who is sponsoring the contest, and what the prizes really are. And always remember this: Money flows TO the writer, not FROM the writer into someone else's pocket! That means they pay you to lease the rights to your work! Anything else, be very wary--check out their credentials. |
