Hi.

My experience with my first submission with a literary agent didn’t go too well.

I feel as though I have been well and truly robbed and I don’t know what to do about it.

Those who haven’t read Terrified!!!

Please read this link: https://omegaforums.net/threads/terrified.110724/

Let me explain a little, I was ready to submit my first manuscript to a literary agent.

The very first thing I did and it turned out to be a very wise one indeed was to create a new e-mail address and I would be using this exclusively for submissions to Literary agents etc.

I did all of the research over the last couple of months on the net and I even bought The Writers handbook and The Writers & Artist handbook and I had a good read of them both.

All good up to now.

So after all of the research and reading I chose a literary agent, Eve White of London. ( I did realize at the time I would have to try many times before someone said it was good enough to publish as a book ) The feedback on the net for Eve White was good so I took the plunge and filled in the on-line submission form with all of my details and I attached my manuscript for a would be book titled; Stowaway. That’s when I put up Terrified!!! on Omega forums. I sat back and waited and waited, two weeks passed and nothing! On their website it said that they will let you know one way or another if your submission is good enough to be published within a week. So I e-mailed them asking had they as yet had a look through my work. I got a reply from Sarah who said that Sorry but we cannot find your submission, would I please attach it and my details and reply on her e-mail.

This I did and within a couple of days I got an e-mail saying sorry but it’s not going to be one for us. Fair enough I did expect this to happen.

But it’s what happened next bothered me, a great deal!

I received an e-mail from a Jake Molton at Olympia Publishers asking me how many illustrations I would need for my new book!

I contacted Eve Whites office and they said that they have Not given Olympia publishing either my details or any of my work but they suggested he may have bought some of my info from Google. On Jake Moltons e-mail he did not refer to the title of my would be book so I told him a little white lie, I said which book are you referring to as I had sent a few out recently ( I had sent out just Stowaway only to Eve White). He replied that he was referring to Stowaway! I replied and asked him to be honest with me, where did you get the title of my book from as I had not contacted you directly. ( bear in mind my new email address and I had Not contacted him directly I had merely replied to his earlier question).

His reply shocked me and I am still very bothered by it. He said that I had contacted him directly and he had the proof. He then sent me a copy of the on-line submission form that he say’s I filled in on Olympia publishing’s web page.

Copy of e-mail from Olympia publishing:

“Your work was submitted via our online form on March 9th. You gave us your details including your name, email address, and other information such as your address and contact details. You also provided your manuscript and a synopsis and cover letter, as we request on our site. I will forward the automated email I received once your submission was sent online.


You should have received an automated email on March 9th, which may have ended up in your junk folder.


With the greatest respect, in previous instances where an author has not remembered submitting, they had simply forgotten they had submitted to us. Most came back after locating the automated email from us. To be frank, I don’t really see how any company would benefit from sharing your work with us, so I don’t believe this is very likely”.


I did not receive an automated e-mail from them, the first e-mail from them was on 1/4/2020, I submitted my manuscript to Eve White on 9/3/2020.

All of my details including full address mobile number e-mail address etc are on the copy of the form he has sent me plus he has my manuscript. Let me reiterate, I did not contact them directly, they contacted me! Nowhere in my new e-mail account or in any of my other e-mail accounts can I find that I have contacted them first! I had never even heard of Olympia publishing up to then and I most certainly would not have contacted a publisher first I would have gone through a Literary agent.

To top it off, Olympia publishing don’t have a particularly good name, they want your money and make promises they don’t keep, before contacting them I would have researched them!

Check this link out; https://writersdisease.net/2015/09/16/olympia-publishers-and-the-art-of-the-soft-scam/

The only conclusions I can draw from this are; either someone at Eve White has given or sold all of my details and my manuscript to Olympia or the link I clicked on Eve White’s page went directly to Olympia publishing as it had been hacked!

This was my very first submission and this experience has spoiled it for me. I have wrote a series of five manuscripts about Dragons a very lengthy book about a romantic (romantic maybe not the correct choice of word I used as it reads a bit like 50 Shades of Gray!) antique dealer and this last one which I submitted to Eve White is about a young man who saves the lives of three children from a sinking ship. I am at present part way through another about a time travelling science professor from Manchester.

But and it’s a very big but this has put me off getting any of my books (would be book’s) published! I don’t have the funds to either use a publisher directly or to self publish, hence using a literary agent.

I have not been able to write anything since this happened.

Can I please have your thoughts on this?

Who do I contact about this?

Joe.

PS.

I hope you are all keeping well at this difficult time.

 

Well, sorry to hear of whatever it is that has happened here.

What does Eve White say about the situation?

Not sure a watch forum is the best palce for advice on this, but maybe contacting a lawyer is the next step.

 

I think this is the most likely explanation. To the original poster, take a step back and realize that while this novel is your baby, 99% of agents will probably pass on it. They have no reason to pass it on to another agent (or publisher) unless they think there is money in it. They will simply decline it.

As much as one thinks their novel is worth stealing, the likelihood of someone doing so is rather small.

My advice, as someone who has self-published a few novels (none of which are big sellers, BTW) is to tell Olympia you are not interested and ask them to delete your information. Then move on to another agent.

Also, you are incorrect that self-publishing costs money. One can publish on Amazon for the Kindle (Electronic) or Createspace (trade paperback print on demand) for no up front costs — other than a program like Microsoft Word for formatting. You will have to learn how to format properly for each format (the Kindle is a lot easier than Createspace), but there are plenty of free tools and blogs available to describe the process.

Getting your book noticed on Amazon, however, will cost money nowadays. Back when I started publishing a few years ago, one could type in the title of my book and name, or a general topic, and it would appear on the first page of searches. Now the first three pages are filled with “sponsored” books that are not even similar to mine! One has to pay for ads to get to those first three pages. I tried it once, and never made back in sales what I paid.

You are are also fooling yourself to think a publisher (if you find one) is going to foot the advertising bill. That only happens for the big names. They may make some half-assed attempts by putting your book in a catalogue and sending ads to bookstores, but they ain’t gonna but an ad in The NY Times for it. I’m in an online writing forum with many different authors. Several have publishing contracts and they are expected to self-promote their books by holding readings at bookstores at their own cost, and to put ads in newspapers and on the internet (i.e., Facebook). All are doing this as a second career and also have a nice retirement, so they can afford to do this.

I’m too busy with my current job to take the time — maybe in 15 years when I do retire, I’ll dust off the old novels, freshen them up, and try again. Until then, I just write them for my own satisfaction.

 

I would just move on. If there is a market and an appetite for your book then an agent will spot it and take it on.
From what you have written you seem to be quite diligent when choosing potential agents so there is less of a chance that you will be ripped off.

Good luck with your writing.

 

Joe, I suspect that you mistyped the URL for the agent and was redirected to a phony site set up by this nefarious "publisher".

Even if that wasn't the case, I really don't think that you were "robbed" and I would just relax, have a cup of tea, and move on. Nothing to worry about.

 

Hi.
This watch forum is probably the best place to ask for advice.
OF is a worldwide membership of talented people with every kind of job that you can think of, so in my opinion the best people qualified to answer my question.
Joe.

 

Hi.
I remember clicking on a link on Eve Whites web page which then led me to an online submission form (this has now gone).
It's the fact he has all of my details that bother me.
Joe.

 

Hi.
Many Thanks for the very informative reply.
I will look into Amazon.
Joe.

 

As others have indicated, I think it's unlikely that something nefarious is going on, the story just doesn't add up. I know this won't sound right to you, but reading this from the outside, by far the simplest explanation is that you DID actually send the information to the publisher instead of the agent, accidentally, although obviously that wasn't your intent. Any other explanation is just too coincidental. You never heard back from the agent. The agent's website doesn't have web submission. The publisher claims you sent him the info. There is one very simple explanation (human error by you), or there's a convoluted explanation involving conspiracy and a changed website.

It's possible that there is some malware/adware on your computer that placed an ad on your screen with a submission link, which you thought was associated with the agent. That's pretty speculative, of course. But if you have been browsing a lot of sites for literary agents and publishers, you will have collected a lot of cookies, and I imagine you're seeing a lot of advertising from that industry in your browser. It's not so hard to get redirected.

 

Hmmm...sounds like advice a lawyer would give.

 

Wouldn't a real lawyer add a caveat, disclaimer and qualification to anything that could be construed as legal advice?

 

I believe that is on the bottom of their monthly invoices.

 

Well I can’t give any input but don’t let this crappy event deter you. I’ve read how much Stephen King went through when he was trying to get published. Investigate this issue see what you can find out but don’t let it stop you. I have a friend who published a couple books on amazon giving them away for free. He actually developed a decent following and began selling and doing well. Haven’t talked to him in a while but he was quite pleased with how things were going for a time.