Writer Beware

An Interview with Victoria Strauss

Friends!

I’m very excited to share with you today an interview with Victoria Strauss, author and long-time blogger at Writer Beware, the essential watchdog website for writers. If I’m every suspicious about a writers contest, shiny new publisher, or writing “opportunity” going around, Writer Beware is the first place I look to see if it’s a scam or not. She’s never steered me wrong. So I asked Victoria some questions to make sure you know Writer Beware was there for you, too.

What's Writer Beware, for those who aren't familiar with you and what you do?

Writer Beware is a publishing industry watchdog group that tracks and reports on the many schemes, scams, and pitfalls that threaten writers. We also cover publishing industry news and other items of writerly interest (such as my recent blog post on the UK's dangerous proposed changes to copyright law). We aim to educate writers about the schemes and scams they may encounter so that they're better able to recognize and avoid them. We're sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association—but we aren't limited by genre, and we serve writers in every English-speaking market and at all stages of their careers.

How'd you get started in this area of publishing?

Way back in the mists of time (1998, to be exact), when I first started to go online in a serious way, I signed up for multiple writers' groups and discussion forums, and was struck by how many terrible stories of fee-charging literary agents and editorial referral kickback schemes and predatory vanity publishers there were. I was never scammed (though I knew very little about publishing when I first started querying my work, so I easily could have been), and was fascinated by this shadow-industry of writer-focused fraud, which I hadn't had any idea existed.

I joined SFWA around the same time, and saw that they were looking for someone to create an anti-scam resource on their website. I volunteered and began working on a catalog of warnings. Unbeknownst to me, Ann Crispin, SFWA's then-Vice-President, was working on a parallel project of establishing a Committee on Writing Scams. A mutual friend introduced us, and we decided to join forces as Writer Beware. (Ann passed away in 2013, a huge loss both to me personally and to Writer Beware. She brought an incredible amount of energy and wisdom to the cause.)

That initial one-page catalog of warnings is now a multi-page website, with sections on literary agents, vanity publishers, self-publishing, and more. We're also a very active blog that reports on scams and publishing industry news in real time, a Facebook page where discussions can happen, and my own Bluesky account where I post warnings, advice, and items of writerly interest. I can remember talking with Ann, back at the beginning, about how Writer Beware could be retired after a few years if we were diligent enough in getting the word out about scams. How naive we were. Publishing fraud is more prevalent than ever.

Are there any common denominators in publishing scams that you've noticed over the years?

I think the main one—and this applies pretty much to all scams aimed at creatives—is that where desire is high and success is an outlier, scammers cluster at the gates.

Scammers prey on writers' hunger for access and exposure, purporting to offer shortcuts or secret knowledge or special expertise that will bypass the gatekeepers or guarantee success. When Writer Beware started, literary agents were the main access point to publication, so the majority of scams involved fake and fee-charging literary agents. That's no longer true, thanks to the expansion of publishing options over the last two decades; now that agents are no longer the be-all and end-all of a writing career, and it's way harder to make a killing as a scam agent. The growth of self-publishing and small press options has shifted the opportunity window for fraudsters, and those are the areas are where the most scams are concentrated now--such as the huge number of publishing and ghostwriting scams from overseas that relentlessly solicit self-publishers with bogus offers and fake services requiring four-figure fees.

“Where desire is high and success is an outlier, scammers cluster at the gates.” —Victoria Strauss

I should also mention that scams aren't the only danger; lack of experience and incompetence can do just as much damage. "Literary agent," for example, isn't an entry-level job: you need relevant background and experience, whether by previously working in publishing or training at a reputable agency. Ditto for publishers, editors, publicists, and others. The person or company may not be dishonest—but if they don't have the knowledge to do the job, they may screw you over just as thoroughly.

What's an area of publishing people think is a scam but is really just how publishing works?

That's a fascinating question. I think that many authors look at the royalty percentages publishers pay—especially the bigger houses—and compare them with what platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing pay, and figure that the traditional publishers must be ripping them off.

But you have to factor in the things you don't get from KDP, for which the smaller royalty percentages are a tradeoff—like wider distribution, the publisher's assumption of financial risk (via sunk costs like editing, interior design, cover art, etc.), and also what the royalty is a percentage of (cover price vs. net income). Advances, too, where the publisher offers them (contrary to common misinformation, publishers don't expect authors to pay back unearned advances). Obviously, many authors do extremely well with self-publishing. But a 12% royalty from a publisher with good business practices and offline as well as online distribution can generate more income—and, more important, more book sales—than 70% with KDP.

Editing is another area where authors are suspicious of publishers—it's a common misconception that in-house editors will seize control of your text, override your authorial voice, and give you zero input into the process. I'm not saying that there aren't bad editing experiences (I've had them myself, though more often with too little editing than too much), but this really is not the norm. Most publishers view editing as a collaboration, rather than as an exercise in dictatorship.

Honestly, I could have asked Victoria a hundred more questions, but I’m sure they’d all be answered on her fantastic blog. You should read it. Thank you, Victoria, for sharing your thoughts and expertise with us!

XOXOOX,

Kate

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