Sunday, September 06, 2009

Florida AG Goes After Writer's Literary Agency

While scanning the publishing news tonight, I came across an item that warmed the cockles of my heart: a press release from the Attorney General of Florida. Here are portions of it:
"Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office filed a lawsuit against a Boca Raton company that allegedly preyed on aspiring authors. According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, Writer’s Literary Agency and owner Robert Fletcher used more than 20 websites and related companies to collect funds from potential authors, but misled victims about fees, costs, and promised results.

".. . . Potential writers paid anywhere from $89 for an initial critique to over $600 for various services including editing and marketing of a manuscript to publishers . . .

"Investigators determined Fletcher expanded into the field of publishing within the past year. Fletcher admitted to having no background as a literary agent and to using at least 10 aliases in his businesses.

"The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief against Robert Fletcher and his associates, as well as his many businesses, prohibiting further business activities in the field of literary agencies or publishers. The Attorney General is also seeking full restitution on behalf of all victimized consumers, civil penalties of $10,000 for each violation of the Florida Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and reimbursement for fees and costs related to the investigation."
In the summer of 2007, I did a two-part post on this blog titled "Spotting a Literary Scam." At the end of Part I, I invited readers to review the Writer's Literary Agency and decide whether or not it was a scam.

You can read those posts here:

Part I

Part II

Way to go, Florida!!!!

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