Literary Agent from Hell

I mentioned before how my forage into foreign publishing markets ended up in me being swindled and robbed.

To recap: a Polish literary Agent Iza Garztecka sold my novel to a Polish publishing house, took the money and vanished. True agent from Hell. Quite fittingly the name of the agency was HELfa.

Turns out I was not the only sucker: literary agents and authors lost advance fees to this thief.

So much for the so called reputable and long established agents - Garztecka took over after her father who was an agent, dealing mostly with the music world. Now Garztecka's son is starting his own literary agency...

Let this be a warning to all authors and agents who seek representation in lands with poorly defined laws, and where no professional organizations (such as AAR) exist. Keep it in mind before using my literary agent listing - verify every agent's track record before signing on.

Agent from Hell

Something really spooky happened to me today - I received a message from the dead.

First a little background. Two years ago my European agent sold translation rights to my first novel to a Polish publishing house. The advance she received from the house she was supposed to wire to me, but instead for well over a year she kept insisting that the publisher did not pay. As this dragged on, I got frustrated (how could one of- if not the- biggest publishing houses of Eastern Europe have such a mess in their accounting practices?), so I got a hold of the main accounted and... was presented with proof of money paid to the agent well over a year earlier. So, I confronted the agent, and received... no, not an apology, but a promise that the advance will be paid to me. The agent said: The cheque is in the mail (yeah! she actually used the line). Well, some two months later, and no cheque, I was contacted by somebody claiming to be the business liquidator, saying that the agent died... along with all the claims against her.

What can I say? I wished the poor woman to rest in peace and I described my experience in my blog.

Well, image my hair raising surprise, when today a nasty anonymous comment appeared under that very post where I describe what happened with my big entry onto the Polish market: the comment came from the very IP account that all of my "dead" agent's correspondence originated from.

Risen from the grave? Sending message from the great beyond?

This may sound humorous until you take into account that this happens two days before Halloween and one of Catholic Europe's holiest holidays - the day of the dead...

Literary Agent representing thrillers, suspense, espionage and mystery

Jake Elwell, formerly of Wieser and Elwell, moved to Harold Ober Literary Agency.

This makes Harold Ober yet another agency representing thrillers / mystery / suspense / espionage. (CLICK TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE)

Sometimes you only get one chance, so be VERY careful before you approach an agent or an editor, do not make the same mistakes I made when I tried to publish my first novel. Learn from my mistakes and become a published author!

 

Rejection, rejection, rejection...

Recently, several writers asked me for some tricks or miracle ways that would help them find a literary agent and to publish their first novels. Each one of them already received upwards of 100 rejections to query letters.

There's good news and there's bad news.

The good: you've received only 100 rejections.

The bad: expect more.

Sadly, that is the reality of the post 1990s publishing market consolidation: a handful of key people where there was plenty.

Folks, you do not need an agent to get published (my example proves it), but it is becoming a Catch 22: more and more publishers will not accept anything from writers directly - submissions and queries must come from known literary agencies.

Trouble is... agents consider writers their worst enemy. Why? Because majority of writers do not make enough money to make the effort of selling their works worth while. What an agent wants is a Tom Clancy, someone who manufactures mega sellers so they can sit back and cash in cheques for nothing.

Imagine this scenario: an employer calls you and offers you a job - basically to cash in a cheque. What do you do?

Now look at it this way: you (the employer) offer a literary agent to sell your book and receive a cut from sale. What is an agent's reply? Some will send a bitchy reply to never-ever bother them again. Many will blacklist your IP / email address. Majority will ignore you (it makes no difference whether you query by email or snail mail, except that you will save money by emailing because despite assurances that all mail is responded to if an SASE is included - it is simply not so.)

Folks, there is no miracle way. Query, query, query... When an agent does not reply or when you receive a rejection without any explanation (95% of rejections) and you can't figure out why :

1. re-send you query again after some weeks


2. try another person from the same company


3. change your subject line


4. re-write your query / synopsis - concentrate on different aspects of your novel (make it sound more gory, or sexy, or political, or controversial, or change the genre it falls under...)

Finally, if you are only considering sending out your first query letters let me give you this advice: expect to receive rejections. Trust me, it will be that much easier to bear when you know they will be coming. They will be coming.

Start emailing literary agencies or publishers

Helfa Literary Agency is a thief and a cheat

Something disappointing happened to me today:
I learned that my European agent is a thief and a liar.

Iza Garztecka, proprietor of Helfa Literary Agency, sold translation rights to my novel to a Polish publisher.

In October 2005 she took the money on my behalf and lied for over a year that Publisher did not pay.

Then she closed shop, even went so far as sending me information through a third person saying that she died... along with all her debts. It was, of course, a lie.

Iza Garztecka robbed me. She is a thief.

Contact me if you are an author, agent or a publisher and want more information or have been robbed by her too.

Be aware of this cheat.

See the follow up to this story.

Addresses this agency was/is using:

Helfa Literary Agency
Agencja Literacka Helfa
Halina Jablonowska-Garztecka (Iza Garztecka)

www.helfa.pl
helfa@helfa.pl
garztecka@hela.pl

Aleje Jerozolimskie 198f m 5
02-486 Warszawa

Aleje Jerozolimskie 195 m 5
02-486 Warsaw , Poland

Zielna 45/90
01-108 Warszawa, Poland

Grojecka 28/30 m.23
02-308 Warszawa, Poland

Telephone numbers:

+48 (22) 620 55 15

+48 (22) 817 35 50

cell phone: +48 509 464 787