'Ten Percent of Nothing' tells story of an 'agent' who suckered writers

She was successful at conning for money, not in getting manuscripts published.
By THERESA M. HEGEL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
"Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent from Hell," by Jim Fisher (Southern Illinois University Press, $27.50)
"Manuscripts Wanted: Accepting new clients -- specializing in new authors. Serving all English speaking countries, with agents in book-starved Russia."
The ad, which appeared in Writer's Digest in the early '90s, sounded too good to be true.
And it was.
The advertisement was paid for by the Deering Literary Agency, an establishment which would represent any manuscript, provided the author of said manuscript was willing to pay stiff reading and contract fees.
The agency was the brainchild of Dorothy Deering, a convicted embezzler, onetime lounge singer and successful literary agent. Successful, that is, in conning money from aspiring writers, not in getting manuscripts published.
In "Ten Percent of Nothing," Jim Fisher traces the rise and fall of Deering's career in the "genteel racket."
How it started
A native of Kettering, Ohio, Deering began her literary career by writing a science fiction novel. During her search for an agent, she discovered that the only ones interested in her book were those that charged for their services -- a practice generally considered unethical by the Association of Authors' Representatives.
This gave Deering an idea: It would be easier and more profitable to become a fee-charging agent than a published writer.
Fisher explains, "As [Deering] might have figured it, instead of unpublished writers dropping their manuscripts over publishing house transoms, they could pay her to do it. What was so difficult about mailing off manuscript packages to New York City?"
Deering decided that experience in the publishing world and a good education were not necessary tools for a literary agent; instead, all she needed was "a schedule of fees, some letterhead stationery, and a listing in Writer's Market."
"Dorothy Deering, like others before her, had found a way to become a successful literary agent without having to sell manuscripts. All she had to do was sell herself and the writer's dream of being published," Fisher writes.
More exploitation
Eventually, Deering discovered another way to exploit writers' egos for profit. She partnered with various "joint venture" publishers and received either a 5 percent or 10 percent kickback when she guided an author to their doorstep.
In essence, "joint venture" publishers were thinly disguised vanity presses that asked authors to offset publishing costs. These companies were just as shady as Deering's agency, and many of them never published more than a handful of the books for which they'd accepted money. By the time authors realized that their books were never going to be published, the money they'd paid the publisher was long gone.
Not satisfied with the kickbacks she received, Deering decided to start her own joint venture press. Sovereign Publications became both Deering's greatest moneymaking scheme and her downfall.
Deering kept her literary agency open and steered clients to Sovereign (after a six-month period during which she was supposedly trying to sell the client's manuscript to a traditional publisher).
Sovereign raked in a lot of dough, but the money wasn't being used to manufacture mass market paperbacks. Instead, the authors' money was used to pay for the Deerings' luxurious home, to replace Dorothy's knees and her husband's hips, for expensive jewelry and for exotic vacations.
Caught on to scam
After a time, some of Deering's clients caught on to her scam. The FBI investigated her companies, and Deering and other members of her family went to jail for fraud.
Well-researched and entertaining, "Ten percent of Nothing" is a fascinating study of the darker side of the literary world. It's a cautionary tale for all aspiring writers.
Fisher is a professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He was a special agent for the FBI from 1966 to 1972.
hegel@vindy.com