Scouting for authors

Um, would anyone like to send this person a smoke signal? Any other type of communication seems to be out of the question. www.lorrainemace.com

I am sending them a message, so hopefully that will work.

I sent one earlier and received a reply to say she would put some details up, but nothing has happened so far. www.lorrainemace.com

Hi, you can contact me through the site - i'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks

I'd be a bit wary of an anonymous individual called Undelivered. Why doesn't she say who she works for? Why all the mystery if it's above board? The name Undelivered could be mistakenly attributed to company policy- failure to deliver. A bit like those driving instructors with the IMPACT school of motoring. An unhappy choice of words that suggests the opposite to what it seeks to achieve.

I've checked out the offer by undelivered and it is genuine.

never mind undelivered - who is DavidK?

Yes. Hmm. Genuine or no, the method of 'scouting' casts serious doubt on the quality of said agency. I've never encountered an agency worth its salt who have to tout for business on internet forums. It's not as if established, successful agencies are ever short of submissions - and start-ups are usually set up by ex-editors or agent's assistants who already have a roster of clients. And look, if you were going to search for talent on abc, you'd check through the archives and email specific authors rather than just inviting a shitstorm of submissions. So... 'genuine', in the sense of not an out-and-out scam? Probably. Worth anybody's time? Almost certainly not. If you're good enough to be published, you deserve an experienced, talented, hard-working agent with plenty of contacts and heft and industry kudos. So.

DavidK's contribution, rather than settling any concerns, increases my unease. This is looking very dodgy to me. www.lorrainemace.com

Yes, the title of this thread fills me with as much dread and unease as 'Scouting for Boys'.

D'you know what? I'm well curious about who DavidK is. Who are you, DavidK?

'David K. Levine is Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis.' http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/DAVID.htm Come on, it's rubbish, ignore it. http://www.ukauthors.com http://www.ukapress.com

Does DavidK work for ABCtales though? I'm curious about this: http://www.abctales.com/forum/2008/03/05/new-writers It's a mystery, I tell ya. A mystery.

DavidK's a friend/partner of Tony's...or something like that. He mysteriously appeared when Tony was away - maybe he IS Tony! No really, as far as I know, he's real all on his own and has been doing a fair amount of editing lately. Seems nice.

Hello, didn't quite realise this would cause that much debate. You are right, no agency has to tout for business, it's just a way of looking at new writing rather than sitting at a desk waiting for it to come to you. David works for ABC tales

DavidK is my partner in Booktribes/ABCtales - and he looked after the site whilst I was away on holiday.

I would suggest that while you are sitting at that desk waiting you might browse the 'random story' function on the site - you never know what might 'come to you', as you put it! I have a novel in progress in early stages, having just started writing again after four years of university...I post mainly poetry on this site - do you publish poetry?