AllySaurus
@allysaurus42.bsky.social
Neurospicy ukulele-playing author 🇨🇦🍁. Content deleted after 60 days - social media is better when it’s ephemeral.
Lmao can we smite him with an asteroid or anvil, no, we are authors, let’s smite him with a really big musical instrument 😁😆
December 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Lmao can we smite him with an asteroid or anvil, no, we are authors, let’s smite him with a really big musical instrument 😁😆
Yup, and request for numbers was met with “we’re all family, and those are complicated numbers, don’t worry your pretty little head”. Um I’m a successful businesshuman, gimme the data.
December 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Yup, and request for numbers was met with “we’re all family, and those are complicated numbers, don’t worry your pretty little head”. Um I’m a successful businesshuman, gimme the data.
Huh. I may have had this same convo, lol. Their pitch (at least in my case) was basically “bookstores order from us and you have good marketing reach”.
December 18, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Huh. I may have had this same convo, lol. Their pitch (at least in my case) was basically “bookstores order from us and you have good marketing reach”.
They contacted a whole lot of indie authors after me. I kinda made it my mission to find and warn them. But add me to the list of folks grateful for Victoria and Writer Beware!
December 18, 2025 at 11:15 PM
They contacted a whole lot of indie authors after me. I kinda made it my mission to find and warn them. But add me to the list of folks grateful for Victoria and Writer Beware!
Right? I want to be clear I know good agents and good publishers, but the rot, it runs deep.
December 18, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Right? I want to be clear I know good agents and good publishers, but the rot, it runs deep.
Yup. Was. Owner of the agency called to gaslight me on the value of their “cachet”. Used a lot of the language the OP contract used. And they were a top tier agency at the time. Trad friends were agog they’d contacted me. I assume many of their authors signed the cursed representation contract.
December 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Yup. Was. Owner of the agency called to gaslight me on the value of their “cachet”. Used a lot of the language the OP contract used. And they were a top tier agency at the time. Trad friends were agog they’d contacted me. I assume many of their authors signed the cursed representation contract.
Or if they didn’t want to shop a series and another agent successfully did, or if I fired them and switched to a new agent, they still wanted 15% on all my future royalties (including self pub). Because they would have “invested” in me.
December 18, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Or if they didn’t want to shop a series and another agent successfully did, or if I fired them and switched to a new agent, they still wanted 15% on all my future royalties (including self pub). Because they would have “invested” in me.
Totally. But I shouldn’t have to give up sweeping future rights just for representation. I was a self-pubbed author with half a dozen books out at the time, and they wanted a share of those royalties just for trying to place the series.
December 18, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Totally. But I shouldn’t have to give up sweeping future rights just for representation. I was a self-pubbed author with half a dozen books out at the time, and they wanted a share of those royalties just for trying to place the series.
Yes, this. I wasn’t looking for promises on publication (I was and am self-pubbed, and they had come to me). But they wanted an insane rights grab just for representation (several things smelled very similar to the contract in the OP).
December 18, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Yes, this. I wasn’t looking for promises on publication (I was and am self-pubbed, and they had come to me). But they wanted an insane rights grab just for representation (several things smelled very similar to the contract in the OP).
There are lots of times that doesn’t make financial sense, or isn’t financially possible, especially as a bebe author - but there are tons of good resources to turn to and educate yourself. It doesn’t take a lawyer to avoid a contract this bad.
December 17, 2025 at 4:02 PM
There are lots of times that doesn’t make financial sense, or isn’t financially possible, especially as a bebe author - but there are tons of good resources to turn to and educate yourself. It doesn’t take a lawyer to avoid a contract this bad.
(TY for your service, Victoria!!)
December 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
(TY for your service, Victoria!!)
For folks horrified by this - I once got an agency contract that wanted 15% of everything I wrote forever, whether they repped it or not (or self-pubbed, which I was doing very successfully at the time). And they were a big-deal NYC agency. It’s not just some fringe small presses.
December 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
For folks horrified by this - I once got an agency contract that wanted 15% of everything I wrote forever, whether they repped it or not (or self-pubbed, which I was doing very successfully at the time). And they were a big-deal NYC agency. It’s not just some fringe small presses.
It sucks. It also strongly resembles the agent contract I got sent 14yrs ago from a big NYC agency (and signing that wouldn’t get me money or being published, just representation). Predatory AF, and thank you for strongly not being part of writer culture that grooms folks to think this shit is okay.
December 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
It sucks. It also strongly resembles the agent contract I got sent 14yrs ago from a big NYC agency (and signing that wouldn’t get me money or being published, just representation). Predatory AF, and thank you for strongly not being part of writer culture that grooms folks to think this shit is okay.
I’ve talked to baby authors contemplating signing contracts like this - it’s absolutely a cult.
December 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I’ve talked to baby authors contemplating signing contracts like this - it’s absolutely a cult.
🥹 this went lovely places while I was gone.
December 17, 2025 at 6:43 AM
🥹 this went lovely places while I was gone.
Congrats on making it to 4yrs 😂
December 16, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Congrats on making it to 4yrs 😂
And a bunch of us are undiagnosed and in denial 🤪
December 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
And a bunch of us are undiagnosed and in denial 🤪
Did not know. Ty.
December 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Did not know. Ty.
In Canada we do tend to live or die by the temperature water freezes at, though….
December 14, 2025 at 8:17 PM
In Canada we do tend to live or die by the temperature water freezes at, though….
“I am motivated” is literally volcanic.
December 14, 2025 at 3:16 AM
“I am motivated” is literally volcanic.
Right? I’d be so happy to do that!
December 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Right? I’d be so happy to do that!
Someone in the original comments identified this house in state records as a meth lab that’s been abandoned for 20yrs. Which is gonna be a whole ‘nother layer of issue with the locals. Also likely to get interesting when one of your seven kiddos is queer, ND, etc (I also grew up in a small town…)
December 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Someone in the original comments identified this house in state records as a meth lab that’s been abandoned for 20yrs. Which is gonna be a whole ‘nother layer of issue with the locals. Also likely to get interesting when one of your seven kiddos is queer, ND, etc (I also grew up in a small town…)
This. My kiddo just graduated, so I suspect the chain of advice to his first-gen (at least in this country) friends is coming to an end. But it really made me feel like there’s a need for pools of parent/alumni contacts happy to mentor students who would like some cultural capital.
December 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
This. My kiddo just graduated, so I suspect the chain of advice to his first-gen (at least in this country) friends is coming to an end. But it really made me feel like there’s a need for pools of parent/alumni contacts happy to mentor students who would like some cultural capital.