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By David L. Kuzminski
Many predators within the publishing industry used to get away with their scams because there were so few reliable resources available and even fewer advocates willing to take a stand against them. Put simply, it was expensive before the coming of the Internet.
With the advent of the Internet, scams within the publishing industry saw an increase because it became more cost effective for scammers to find victims. What they didn't anticipate was the rise of writer advocates who could oppose them because, even more importantly, the cost of reaching all those writers who would have been victimized went down even more for them. Also, they could establish sites such as Writer Beware, Absolute Write, Writers Net, Speculations, and Preditors & Editors to name some of the more prominent sites.
Even more importantly, the scammers didn't anticipate a new weapon that not only the advocates can use, but that every writer can use for free at any time of the day or night. That's what this article is about. This is how you as a writer can protect yourself. Ready?
It's called an Internet search engine. Most people recognize and probably use a number of those such as Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, and others. Many writers have already used those to find publishers and agents on the Internet. However, many writers also don't know that they can do more with a search engine by just expanding the search just slightly. Here's how:
Next time you run a search on a business and find one that you believe is appropriate, go two steps farther. First, visit the site and look to see who operates it. Write down the names of the owners and editors and anyone else who appears to be important to that business's operation. Now go back to the search engine of your choice and type in the business name and add the word "scam". Do a search to see if anything comes up. Then repeat the search using the name of one of the primary individuals with that business. Beside the name, try using one or more of the following words: scam, court, parole, felony, misdemeanor, prison. You might think of more, but these are things that you don't want to find in the background of anyone you deal with. Writing and publishing are often based upon trust. If the individuals you encounter have experienced legal problems in the past for fraud or embezzlement or something equally unsavory, then you need to know about those matters before you rush into any dealings.
It's simple. It's fast. Just remember we all owe our thanks to the efforts of many newspapers around the country that have entered their contents into archived web sites. Their constant search for the truth is giving us a shield at last against those individuals who were caught before in scams or other illegal acts.