A Warning For New Writers

On the website, www.absolutewrite.com, "Uncle" James D. MacDonald railed against the very existence of the Dixie Literary Agency. He has never met me, nor anyone in this office, but he said  that he had a "bad Feeling" about us. In a cowardly and unprovoked attack, he assailed, not only me and this agency, but my family, my family heritage, and several members of my family who happen to be published authors. He "advised" writers not to deal with us.

What "Uncle" MacDonald didn't tell you is this: We have never lied to anyone, nor have we ever cheated anyone. Not one legitimate complaint has ever been filed against us.

My question is this: Who paid "Uncle" MacDonald to write such hysterical drivel? Whoever it was, they didn't get their money's worth. "Uncle" didn't even know the difference between AdWords and AdSense.

What's going on here? Just this: The Dixie Literary Agency is a very good agency and we are obviously annoying the big and powerful agencies who control most of the literary agency world - because we are offering new writers a chance to get published.

The large literary agencies, located mostly in New York and California, seldom represent new writers. Most new writers are represented by smaller, independent agencies like us, but the large literary agencies have a lot of money invested in their stables of famous authors and they do not want to compete with talented new writers. It is an open secret that many of the large literary agencies, and their associations, have been trying for years to shut down the smaller literary agencies so new writers will have no place to obtain representation.

Many of the large agencies and their associations are part of an organized effort that sponsors the malicious web sites that go after the small and independent literary agencies  in an effort to keep us from operating. These sponsored web sites claim to be protecting new writers from literary agent scams but they are perpetrating a "reverse scam" on writers, even as they claim to be protecting them. All the railing against the smaller agencies, by these web sites, has nothing to do with protecting writers. It has but one purpose - to keep new writers from getting published by eliminating the agencies who are willing to represent them.

How they operate: Paid "character assassins" go online on behalf of the large literary agencies and their associations and viciously ridicule the smaller literary agencies in an effort to scare writers, hoping that the writers will not patronize us - and we will go out of business. That would leave the entire literary market in the hands of the big literary agencies who want all new writers to just stop writing.

Sometimes these paid assassins call themselves "Watchdog Groups", but they are not legitimate. They are spoilers who send out fake manuscripts, and cause problems in other ways. . I do not have the space to list them all

The big literary agencies and their associations also spout the following propaganda and it is ubiquitous in the literary world:
"If any literary agent advertises anywhere, they are dishonest and can't be trusted". (Real meaning: "If we can keep the new agents from advertising, they won't be able to get clients and they will go out of business")

"If any literary agent charges a fee of any kind, they are ripping writers off". (Real meaning: "If we can keep new agents from charging a fee for any of their services, they will run out of money and go out of business")

It's all about putting the small agencies out of business.

Imagine saying that General Motors, Microsoft, or Burger King shouldn't be allowed to advertise or charge a fee for any of their services? The whole concept is ridiculous, and it does a disservice to new writers. Putting the smaller literary agencies out of business would keep thousands of new writers from ever getting their manuscripts read - and the book that doesn't get read, doesn't get published. So much for protecting new writers.

 It is the large literary agencies and their associations who sponsor these vicious web sites, and their intended targets are the smaller literary agencies, like us, but in the end, it is the new writers who are harmed.  The big guys would like to shut us down, but the Dixie Literary Agency is here to stay and we hope that many new writers will benefit from the experience.

To new writers, I say this: Beware of web sites that warn you about literary agents. They might just be trying to eliminate the competition - you!
 

- Ron Autrey
 

***"Uncle" James D. MacDonald is a writer/critic who calls himself "YOG".
 

"David Kuzminski, You Naughty Boy"

Mr.David Kuzminski, founder and editor of Preditors & Editors (P & E) is another self-appointed critic of the the Dixie Literary Agency, even though he obviously knows nothing about us. It seems that Kuzminski is careless with his criticism of other people also. He was found guilty of defaming Mr. Victor E. Cretela, and the court (God bless them) ordered Kuzminski to pay more than $200,000 to Mr. Cretella. Now Kuzminski is going hat-in-hand and begging for donations to save himself and his Preditors & Editors from financial ruin. To read the Writers News Weekly article, click Here.