I should have known….
…it was all too good to be true. But sometimes, you hope that someone will see some virtue in your work, think it good, praise it—and not just relatives and friends. I guess that’s what scam artists pick up on.
Jeff’s letter led me to a website where Writers’ Literary Agency was disemboweled for all to see as the work of a man who has been charged before with fraud in two other scams. I don’t know what their next step would have been with me. Since I had already paid for a reading, on what basis could they have asked for more money, I wonder. I was almost tempted to continue to act innocent, just to see where they’d go with this, but instead I cut and pasted the website and sent it to WLA with a brief letter asking what they had to say about it. I fully expect to never hear from them again. I just hope that they don’t take my story and publish it themselves without acknowledging me at all, but even that is a lame idea.
I’m so sorry, Bev. Please don’t let this keep you from writing or submitting your manuscripts. Be mad, be embarrassed, but don’t be discouraged.
There are dozens and dozens of outfits like this preying on new writers. Before you send your work anywhere, check them out. This site, Preditors and Editors, is the best known and most reliable source for outing the scammers and learning their methods:
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
If you want constructive criticism that’s not from a friend or family member (we are biased, of course) you could look into joining a local workshop. If you’re not comfortable with that idea, there are some legitimate online workshops you could join. If you’re interested, I could send you some links.
There are plenty of useful ways of getting your work critiqued that do not require the exchange of money. Remember: money should flow to the writer. Be very suspicious of any other arrangement.
–Jeff
i cant understand……
What a happy feeling to read your article!! So interesting…LMAO.