Time for a reminder that scams against writers and other artists and creatives have been around for a long time. As always, money should flow to the writer, not from the writer to an agent or publisher. But scammers have always tried to pervert that relationship.
My grandfather Ray Childress was a professional musician in the American South. He played the piano and organ in a number of orchestras and swing bands and was a member of the American Federation of Musicians. Not a famous musician by any means. Closest he came to fame was being at a party with Hank Williams a few hours before Williams died.
But in the 1930s and early ‘40s, my grandfather was an aspiring song writer. He regularly submitted his songs to sheet music publishers and agencies. Some were legit. Others were scammers.
My grandfather kept many of these letters and I’ve scanned them to share. Here’s a rejection he received in 1938 from a legit music agency, Song Mart. Note this publisher doesn’t ask for money and gives actual feedback to help my grandfather.
However, my grandfather was also the victim of scammers. Note this 1930s letter from Larry Conley in New York. The letter praises my grandfather’s songwriting but is actually a generic letter likely sent to tons of writers. Messages like this still go out today.
Many questionable agents and publishers have generic letters they send to new writers, praising their work even though they likely haven’t read a word of it. These letters and emails are to sucker you in. The content of these scam messages hasn’t changed in a hundred years.
Here’s a more personalized scam letter my grandfather received from a Burrell Van Buren in 1935. If you look closely, the letter is mass-produced with my grandfather’s name typed in at the top — note slightly different font size and style of grandfather's name.
Unfortunately, my grandfather must have fallen for this scam because in his file is a letter asking for the price to order 1000 copies of his song. This is similar to the scam publishers of today who make authors pay to publish their own books.
My grandfather must have realized Burrell Van Buren was a scammer because it appears he didn’t mail in any money. Instead, I found a note where he wrote to the Chamber of Commerce in Chicago asking about the guy. Remember, no Google back then.
But my grandfather was taken in by one scammer, Mildred Seeley of US Music in New York. In 1941 he sent a money order for $34 to US Music for copies of his song “Blue Clouds.” This was a ton of money back then.
Ironically, one of those letters was dated Dec. 7 1941, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. Even though my grandfather was too old to be drafted, he joined the Army Air Corps. He also threatened to involve the Postal Authorities if US Music didn’t return his money & song.
These scammers took his money, didn’t send him the contract, and when he threatened to involve the authorities they suddenly mailed a letter saying there’d been a delay in publishing his songs. Typical of scammers even today.
Moral of the story is to beware of scams when you’re a writer, artist or creative. You should not pay agents or publishers to consider or publish your work.
Research agents and publishers through places like Writer Beware. Also ask other writers, including their clients, about them. Because scammers have a long history in the literary world and they’re always going to be around.