May 14, 2008

Nearly every month I hear (in person or by email) from an author who’s been scammed by a new publisher or a very small publisher. Before considering an offer from a new or small press, I’d recommend reading HOW TO TELL IF A NEW OR SMALL PRESS IS LEGITIMATE on the Write4Kids website.

I agreed with everything she said in this fine article until the last line. She wrote: “It’s not possible to follow all these steps, of course, if the publisher is new and hasn’t produced its first list. In that case you could ask to contact some other authors or illustrators the publisher is working with, and get their impressions of the company. By and large, most new publishers are legitimate, sincere and dedicated professionals, and are not a bad risk for the author or illustrator. These people will not object to your researching the company. Those who do should be approached with caution.”

I sincerely believe that if a new company objects to you contacting its authors and illustrators to research them, then you should not approach them at all. It’s no different than the Don Juan who objects to you wanting to meet his family and friends before you marry him. If they have nothing to hide, they’ll be happy to have you research them. If they’ve got something to hide, run (don’t walk) to the nearest exit. (I speak from experience here–I got scammed last year and lost $5,000 owed me. It didn’t matter that I had a contract and they had my full manuscript either. At one point the publisher got very upset that I had talked to another of their authors. I should have taken that as a big red flag and backed out early.)