(I don't foresee Barbara being removed from Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agencies List anytime soon unless she cleans up her act.)
Need more incentive? Even Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, Holly Lisle, and Miss Snark have commented on that post.
Long story short: Barbara Bauer didn't like her name being listed on the 20 Worst Literary Agencies list, nor being exposed at Absolute Write's Bewares & Background Check board. She contacted Absolute Write's webhost (JC-Hosting), and threatened to file suit against them if they didn't have have Jenna Glatzer of AbsoluteWrite.com remove the negative information. AW refused. The hosting company, The hosting company, which apparently knew little about how scammy this scammer is and regarded her threats as extremely urgent, is owned by a (now former), and which is owned by a (now former) member of Absolute Write, gave Absolute Write one hour's notice, before taking down the entire site. Not just the forums, which is where the scam list information was, but Jenna's entire business! They have been withholding all of her files and information, and it is unknown if the forums will be able to be restored complete with all the old posts, or if we will have to start anew. However, we are a strong community, and things are being restored as we speak. Barbara is not much of a threat, and the hosting company really is to be shamed for taking such extreme actions considering the warnings they received about how bad a scammer Barbara is. If that wasn't enough, the owner of the hosting company (a former member of AW, remember?), has since decided to create her own writing website. Something smells quite fishy, if you ask me.
Thinking that she's some sort of worthwhile big-wig, Barbara Bauer has harassed such well-known people in the writing world as Teresa Neilsen Hayden of Making Light, Angela Hoy of Writer's Weekly, and now Jenna Glatzer of Absolute Write. What will it take to shut this scammer agent up?
For you AWers who are going through withdrawals at the lack of a superb writing community, Roger J. Carlson has set something up for the in-between time. Here's the link.
Jenna Glatzer, who is the owner and editor of Absolute Write, has written a bunch of excellent and helpful books, and just recently completed a Celine Dion biography, which was commissioned by Celine herself!
Hundreds of us are now campaigning to get the names of the worst scammers out there, and to warn other writers that "money flows toward the writer," and that writers should not pay to be published (vanity publishing).
So, on with the information...
Thinking that she's some sort of worthwhile big-wig, Barbara Bauer has harassed such well-known people in the writing world as Teresa Neilsen Hayden of Making Light, Angela Hoy of Writer's Weekly, and now Jenna Glatzer of Absolute Write. What will it take to shut this scammer agent up?
For you AWers who are going through withdrawals at the lack of a superb writing community, Roger J. Carlson has set something up for the in-between time. Here's the link.
Here are some various posts and blogs and news that can fill you in on what's going on:
Making Light's observations on the Absolute Write/Barbara Bauer/Stephanie Cordray/JC-Hosting situation
Making Light's threats from Barbara Bauer
Neil Gaiman's observations on the scammer work of Barbara Bauer and others, including a link to the 20 worst agents
Holly Lisle gets in on the action.
Barbara Bauer has been Wiki'ed!
A.C. Crispin and Victoria Strauss on an encounter with Barbara Bauer
Dawno has a bunch of posts on the subject:
- AW Bloggers - and Anyone Who Hates a Scammer
- Help Insure Barbara Bauer's Pyrrhic Victory and Dawno's example
- Barbara Bauer Wants One Billion Dollars???
- Barbara Bauer Technorati Tag in Hot Tags this Hour!!
- Picture Is Worth A Thousand Posts...
- The Heart and Soul of Absolute Write - Jenna Glatzer
- Show Your Support - Add the AW Button to Your Site/Blog
- Thank You Teresa Nielson Hayden and Patrick Nielson Hayden
Miss Snark doesn't like the situation much, either!
Kira Connelly has several posts regarding the incident as well, plus she's compiling a list of all the information and posts she can find on the Barbara Bauer/Absolute Write scandal!
MacAllister Stone has blogged several entries on the subject.
Frank Baron on Barbara Bauer, Pretend Agent
Jim C. Hines has a great post, and says this: As I understand it, Ms. Bauer has a habit of sending nasty and/or threatening letters to people who re-post that top-20 list or spread the information around. I see this as a good thing. By the time she starts writing to all of us who have shared that information, she won't have any time left for scamming new writers. Sounds like a win to me!
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books indulges in the Googlebombing!
Jenna Glatzer, Editor-in-Chief of Absolute Write shares her Thank Yous
Want to see who else is blogging on this subject? Click here!
In case you're wondering about that list of the 20 worst agencies, here it is:
Below is a list of the 20 literary agencies about which Writer Beware has received the greatest number of advisories/complaints over the past several years.
None of these agencies has a significant track record of sales to commercial (advance-paying) publishers, and most have virtually no documented and verified sales at all (book placements claimed by some of these agencies turn out to be "sales" to vanity publishers). All charge clients before a sale is made--whether directly, by levying fees such as reading or administrative fees, or indirectly, for editing or other adjunct services.
Writer Beware recommends that writers avoid questionable literary agencies, and instead query agencies that have verifiable track records of sales to commercial publishing houses.
Note that while the 20 agencies listed here account for the bulk of the complaints we receive, they're just the tip of the iceberg. Writer Beware has files on nearly 400 questionable agencies, and we learn about a new one every few weeks.
* The Abacus Group Literary Agency
* Allred and Allred Literary Agents (refers clients to "book doctor" Victor West of Pacific Literary Services)
* Barbara Bauer Literary Agency
* Benedict Associates (also d/b/a B.A. Literary Agency)
* Sherwood Broome, Inc.
* Capital Literary Agency (formerly American Literary Agents of Washington, Inc.)
* Desert Rose Literary Agency
* Arthur Fleming Associates
* Finesse Literary Agency (Karen Carr)
* Brock Gannon Literary Agency
* Harris Literary Agency
* The Literary Agency Group, which includes the following:
-Children's Literary Agency
-Christian Literary Agency
-New York Literary Agency
-Poets Literary Agency
-The Screenplay Agency
-Stylus Literary Agency (formerly ST Literary Agency, formerly Sydra-Techniques)
-Writers Literary & Publishing Services Company (the editing arm of the above-mentioned agencies)
* Martin-McLean Literary Associates
* Mocknick Productions Literary Agency, Inc.
* B.K. Nelson, Inc.
* The Robins Agency (Cris Robins)
* Michele Rooney Literary Agency (also d/b/a Creative Literary Agency, Simply Nonfiction, and Michele Glance Rooney Literary Agency)
* Southeast Literary Agency
* Mark Sullivan Associates
* West Coast Literary Associates (also d/b/a California Literary Services)
More updates likely.
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