I have spent some time reading articles by legitimate agents and publishing houses, and some time reading from published authors whome have been published at big houses. I joined a certain local writer's association, and I started looking around, expecting to find some authors who were, well, versed in what a professional publishing house needs.

I found, on their board, a member of this writers association, who was representing someone as an agent. She boasted that she just sold her client's novel to [a certain POD Publishing house who shall remain nameless. See Writer Beware's website for further details], and it can be bought for 16 bucks at amazon.com, etc.

*sighs*

This lady is about as much of a real agent as I am a real CIA Agent. Let me explain why this is the case.

I started researching [nameless publisher]. They are a POD (publish on demand) company. This is evident in that [nameless publisher] will publish ANYTHING you send them, with no gatekeeping (although they profess differently). A gentlemen took 30 pages of a manuscript, changed the author's name to "Travis tea", copied and pasted those 30 pages over and over again until it was a full 300 pages, and sent it off. Wow, what do you know, it was accepted!

The second clue is that major bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Borders, Books a Million, dalton, walden) won't carry their stock IN HOUSE. They will sell it through the website, but not on the shelves. Sorry - they say - they don't stock POD publishers.

Hmm gee, starts to sound like [nameless publisher] might not be on the up and up. I found more clues from actual defrauded authors on RipOffReport.com. At the bottom, there were lots of comments from people who defended [nameless publisher]. I couldn't believe what I read.

Any real agent would not submit a manuscript to a POD publisher. End of story. We should all know the rules about agent scams by now. If you don't, here is a run down of how to tell a real agent:

1) Real agents never ever charge up front fees. Authors never pay Agents - agents take a cut of the authors payments from the publishers.

2) Real agents do not submit to vanity or POD publishers.

3) Real agents will not refer you to specific outside services for things like editting. If one does, more than likely they are getting kickbacks. Besides - when your book is accepted by a publishing house, they house has edittors that will do that with you as PART OF THE PROCESS - why pay for it?

Each of those authors who defended PA said the same thing, " I tried to play the agent game, where I crafted queries and sent it off to them, but I kept getting rejections. I tried for a few months and then just gave up. PublishAmerica gives me the chance to make my dreams come true, by giving me a book I can hold in my hands."

What?! a few MONTHS? Come on, people. For a writer, especially a first time (but even established as well) author, rejection is part of life. And a few months, even 6 months, is not enough time. It takes YEARS to get published, and 95% of the time, it will NOT be your first novel that gets you published!

Stephen King, one of the most successful and famous authors of our time, wrote almost a MILLION words, in the span of 4 different novels, and weathered 12 rejections before Carrie was published.

Tom clancy recevied 30 rejections before the Hunt for Red October was received.

Even JK Rowling, the most successful writer of all time, received a rejection before harry potter was picked up.

Everyone thinks they can write. I can't tell you, even as a amatuer writer, how many times I have been told, "You know I have this book idea I have been meaning to write down ", or "I have a great story that one day I am going to write into a book". But not everyone CAN write. I have learned that while reading amatuer writing boards. Its the same thing about art- not everyone can draw. Not everyone can play the guitar, or the piano. Not everyone can play football. It's something that takes a fair amount of talent to pull off.

So these average joes come out and write themselves 90,000 words of a rough idea. The idea might be great, but I can tell you the writing will be horrible. They edit it a few times, or they send it to a critique group, and they make a few changes, and its not quite AS rough now, but they think its golden. So they send it out, with dreams of finding an agent/publisher in New York immediately. But the agents and publishers see what it is - bad writing wrapped around a small idea, that will probably not sell. So they get rejected, over and over.

They take it personally, instead of reading the editors personal notes, and taking their advice, they through the rejection down like some sort of mail bomb, and give up. They are vulnerable and desperate. Then they see an ad in Writers Digest for PublishAmerica.

[nameless publisher] accepts their mss, and says how awesome it is. They send out a contract, and tell them how they will be making great money and can write more works. The author is exuberant, and loves [nameless publisher].

That author will never make a living writing. That author will not learn or grow his/her craft. But that author will defend [nameless publisher], and their decision to go with them, to the death. Because [nameless publisher] puffs up their ego, and accepts their child - the mss.

I have done my due diligence on this, and I believe I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Even though my family and my wife think otherwise, to be supportive, I am pretty sure my first novel won't get published. I am fairly certain that the entire Afterlife series that I am writing (four books) won't get published. Instead, what it will do, is receive a large stack of rejections from real, true to life, agents. It will take a few years, not months, before I am able to write a piece of publishable writing that gets accepted.

And even then, if an agent picks it up, they have to sell it to the publishing house. Even the best, the biggest agents, have had works that won't sell. It's the nature of the beast. That's yet another big battle, because my book has to go through one (at best) but more likely two editors, then that editor has to pitch it at a editorial meeting - if it gets acceptance there, she has to pitch it to the publisher him/herself, and it needs to get picked up there before she can even buy the book. So there are three groups of people my book has to impress at that publisher.

But that's not the end. After its been accepted, and editted and proofed and printed, it needs to sell. And selling is all about marketing - the Author has to pound the pavement in everyway he/she can to get the word out. Signings, book clubs, readings, school appearences, speeches, etc. All of that work, just to hope that the book can sell enough copies to cover the initial advance the publisher made to him/her.

And while the author is doing that, somehow they have to produce another book of equal or (preferrably) better quality by a certain deadline because that's what the publishing contract says.

Writing is NOT an easy sit-at-home-or-in-a-coffee-shop-all-day job. It's not an easy ride, or a quick way to get rich. Writing is difficult, time consuming and a hell of a lot of work for not as much payback. YOu have to expect that things move VERY slowly. You have to expect that you will get rejected A LOT. YOu have to expect that its not going to be easy to get your foot in that publishing door and print out your work. YOu have to expect a lot of stress, and a lot of problems each time you write a book.

But true-to-life, real writers KNOW this, and what's more, they ACCEPT this. They don't write because they want to be rich - obviously being in the writing industry is not an easy and quick way to get rich. Real writers write because they have to, they write because its what god has made them to do. The rest of the insane overhead that comes with publishing is just par for the course - they know it, and they do it because they love it.

One time, when I was thinking about becoming a doctor, someone said to me, "You can't really decide to become a doctor because you have an interest in it. You have love it, you have to LIVE it, you have to BE it, or you will never succeed." The same rings true for me about writing. Not anyone can just sit down and become a writer because they have a story idea. It takes ten to twelve years to become a doctor - getting through school adn residency. I have heard successful authors tell me (personally) that it takes about ten years to become a writer for a living.

I know this, and I accept this, and I want this. I am not published yet, nor do I have an agent. But I feel that I am at least slightly prepared as to what will happen when I am done with my first book.