My search returned thousands upon thousands of results, and as I surfed from page to page, I quickly realized getting an agent was not going to be an easy undertaking. Most would not accept unsolicited queries, or queries from previously unpublished authors. I wondered if it would just be easier to contact publishers directly, in essence acting as my own agent. My bubble quickly burst when I found very few publishers willing to accept unagented queries. I was disappointed but not deterred.

In retrospect, I wish I had begun my search for information with these words: Writer Beware.

These words would have saved me from surfing in shark infested waters. The sharks got me, but thankfully it was just a little nibble, they didn't tear off my entire leg. Here are just a few tips to keep you safe from the sharks posing as agents and/or publishers:

Regardless of what they call them: Reading Fees, Evaluation Fees, Handling Fees, Sliding Fees, Publishing Fees, Marketing Fees, or Adjunct Services, FEES = money leaving your pocket and going into theirs. I paid an agent to set up a web site where my book would be promoted in junction with submissions to various publishers. I wanted to believe my dream was coming true, so I gagged my inner critic and stuck her in a dark corner. Paying up front fees just doesn't pass the common sense test. "Fee-charging violates the basic premise of the author-agent relationship: a shared financial interest in the sale of the author's manuscript." (Writers Beware, p.2)

Referrals can be made for editing, illustrations, cover art or publishing by the agent, who in turn receives a kickback. Avoid agents that require use of outside companies as a condition of representation.

Contests may be used to lure unsuspecting writers to an agent or vanity press. A new writer, eager for acceptance and validation, is especially vulnerable if their writing is favourably judged. This adds fuel to their belief that if only they had readers, their work would be appreciated. With this newfound confidence, a writer may decide to bypass traditional publishing to publish and distribute their own work. This is a viable alternative for some: however, there are plenty of con artists waiting to take your money.

Resources
Writers Beware, www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html
Unknown Author (2004) Writers Beware. Retrieved 12 March 2004 from www.SFWA.org.

About the author: Lisa Hood is the author of Shades of Betrayal and Shades of Revenge. She has been writing for over 10 years and is presently working on her third suspense novel, Shades of Jealousy. She is also the Talent Liaison @ BOOKJOBBER.com. Other articles by Lisa Hood can be downloaded from www.bookjobber.com/articles.asp or lisa_j@bookjobber.com.

Would you like to submit an article, essay, review or descriptive piece to AIA Freelance Writing? If so, please read our Submission Guidelines ->

Three Rules For Writing A Novel
By William Noble
Convinced you've got a novel inside you but not sure where to begin? Follow three basic rules and you are halfway to publication. Available from: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk.

Visit the AIA Freelance Writing Bookstore for a selection of recommended titles.

Keeping Your Email Box Organized & Ready for Business

By Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy

Learning how to get the most organization from your email software is very likely the most important skill you can learn to conduct a successful online home business.

There are three primary email applications on the market that folks use to manage their incoming POP3 email. Those three are:

In order to get the most from your email software, there are three key processes that you should learn. These processes are concerned with data organization, saving time and email database management.

SET UP EMAIL FOLDERS

Organization is key to any emails that you intend to save. Having 2000 emails in one folder is a sure-fire road map to confusion and lost communications and information.

You are the best judge as to how to organize your email into topics that provide an easy method of retrieval of the information when you need it most.

Fortunately, the primary email browsers make it easy to organize your information. By allowing you to create folders within your email software, you can file specific emails into folders dedicated to the topic of the email.

To create new folders:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Click File - Folders - New --- alternatively, you may also right click an item in the Folder window --- and then type in the name of your new folder. Highlight the folder above where you would like your new folder to be placed, and then click OK.

EUDORA: Click on Mailbox - New --- or right click on Eudora in the folders window and then click on New. When the window opens, type in the name of your new mailbox and click OK. If you want to create a folder to place other mailboxes into, click the checkbox before clicking OK.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click File - New Folder. Then from the drop-down menu, select the folder that you wish to be the folder directly above your new folder, before clicking OK.

FILTERING EMAIL

Email filters are a tool to help you save time and frustration. Have you ever lost an incoming email under the deluge of email coming into your mailbox? With filters, you can direct the important email or not-so-important email into certain pre-ordained folders.

As part of the war against spam, most ISP's use filters every day in an attempt to keep the spam out of your mailbox. In fact, I even use filters to sort my incoming mail trying to catch the spam my ISP missed.

Don’t be fooled into thinking you need some special software to filter your email. Setting up filters is actually quite easy.

To setup email filters:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Click on Tools - Message Rules - Mail. A wizard will open to help you create your new email filters. Just follow the instructions provided to direct mail based on certain criteria into certain folders.

EUDORA: Click on Special - Make Filter. Once again, just follow the instructions in the Filter wizard.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click on Edit - Mail Filters. Then click on New in the wizard. Once you click on New, you will be taken to a new wizard window. Follow the instructions here, then when you are done, click on OK. This will return you to the first window where you will set up the sorting order of your filter.

CLEANING AND COMPRESSING YOUR MAIL DATA

This is an important part of your email management. When you no longer need an email, it should be deleted. When you first delete an email, your software will send the email to the Trash Bin. Your email is not actually deleted until you first empty your trash bin.

Emptying your trash bin compresses the mailboxes from where the email was originally filed. This is absolutely paramount to the protection of your email data. If you go too long between compressing your email data, then your email data could become corrupted and you might need assistance in recovering your email data.

Even after you have emptied your trash, Compressing Folders is a recommended step to prevent other data corruption. Once you understand that an email does not actually move from one folder to another until the folder is compressed, then you can better appreciate this advice.

As an example, when Email A comes into your main Inbox, the data connected to Email A appears in two files. One file contains the header and body of the email. The other file contains only the email header information.

When an email is moved from one folder to the other, only the header information is actually moved. The body information will not be deleted from the original folder until which time the original folder is compressed.

This explains the purpose of emptying the trash AND compressing folders. If the email was simply moved from the Inbox to another folder, then emptying the trash is not enough. The original placement of the email is not actually removed from the file that contains the body information until the message has been designated for compression.

To empty your trash:

OUTLOOK EXPRESS: Click on Edit - Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder. To compress the remaining folders, click on Tools - Options, then click on the tab for Maintenance. Then click the button that says, "Clean Up Now". Once the compression is completed, click OK.

EUDORA: Click Special - Empty Trash. To compress the remaining items that need compression, then click on Special - Compact Mailboxes.

NETSCAPE MAIL: Click on File - Empty Trash Folder. To compress the mailboxes, click on File - Compress Folders.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that you utilize the tools for emptying the trash and compressing the mail folders. Protecting your email data on a regular basis is good practice for avoiding disaster in your mailbox.

So many of us rely upon our email software to keep our online business running smoothly. Once you master the tools provided in your email software, your online business will run smoothly also.

Let me share one important lesson I l've learned about computer software. One should never be afraid to try new things. Learning how to get the most out of your software relies upon your willingness to dig in and learn how to use it.

Once you learn how to use your software to its full potential, then your life will be greatly simplified and your effectiveness will be dramatically improved.

About the author: Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything you`ll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: www.Home-Business.com. Read more articles by Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy at www.home-business.com/nav/articles.