Has anyone seen our Chief Editor?
It’s a old funny thing when you hear words you’ve apparently spoken, and you don’t recognise them at all. So imagine the confusion at HarperCollins this week when we were sent not one but dozens of emails, quoting our very enthusiastic ‘Chief Editor’, who seems to be a busy character.
Over the past 2 weeks the HarperCollins office has received a significant number of emails from concerned writers, all either enquiring if we’d reached a ‘decision on their contract’ or simply if we’d ever seen their script in the first place. These emails all have one thing in common, and that’s a man who goes by the name of Christopher Hill.
Each of these concerned enquiries to us went on to explain that the author had received an auto-reply email from their literary agent, Christopher Hill, saying that he’d frozen his workload: pretty worrying news to get if you believe, as each of these writers did, that you’re on the cusp of receiving an exciting offer from our ‘Chief Editor’.
Well, we have dozens of editorial staff across the various divisions here, but nobody who answers to the unlikely-sounding title of Chief Editor. Everyone in our office was asked to check if we’d ever been sent any these manuscripts to consider for publication; and, yes you guessed it, nobody could say that they had.
I tracked down some of the people represented by Hill’s agency and uncovered what is truly a bizarre tale. The story of each of the clients is similar: they’d paid an upfront fee of around £80-120 to be represented by Hill, who promised in return to submit their scripts to all the major publishing houses, and send a fortnightly report on progress. Or rather, in his own words to his clients “we believe that bi-weekly contact is essential”. I won’t disagree in this respect: the reports certainly made essential reading concerning the activities of Christopher Hill.
Writer TP was told by Hill that an “In House Editor” at Fourth Estate was reviewing his script (ironically titled ‘Random Victims’) who is quoted as writing
A July decision date but if delay is forthcoming we shall alert you to this situation speedily as possible.
Sorry TP, we weren’t sent that and these were not the words of any editor at Fourth Estate. Nor were our sister US imprint, Morrow, sent the script (bizarrely, most of Hill’s phantom submissions are sent Stateside), though Christopher Hill send a ‘report’, supposedly from a Morrow ’sub-editor’:
The reasoning behind our decision is two fold … Although we felt that there was a market for your work other submissions we reviewed met our criteria more definitively … The second reason was test reader response, once more [the author's] material did not receive a bad score, but it was considerably lower than the other submissions that already matched the above criteria. We were very impressed with the style, content and construction of [the author's] manuscript and would willingly consider future submissions from the same author.
Scores? Test Reader responses?! this is not how submissions are considered. This is a fabricated report and Morrow sent no such correspondence. Another of Hill’s clients, PH (a police detective, as it happens) received exactly the same report. CG was told of the progress of his script at HarperCollins that
Report has been delayed though we have a meeting with a Harper Collins rep next week.
(by now I’m very confused: HarperCollins sales reps meeting to discuss submissions with Christopher Hill? No, it didn’t happen.)
Apparently our fictional Chief Editor took favour on some of Hill’s clients’ scripts so much that they were asked to fill out a very special HarperCollins questionnaire. Here’s a report he sent to DB:
NEWS: Although the report is still not in hand we have received good report from Harper Collins, we have received notice that they are to forward a questionnaire to be completed by you on Monday of next week. This is becoming a widely used tool now, mostly used by publishers who wish to test the waters with prospective clients. We have been informed that the questionnaire will be sent on Monday and is expected back by the Friday. We will of course read through and advise if necessary, this is a very good sign.
This is of course utter fabrication: I’ve posted the questionnaire at the end of this post, but for anyone in doubt, to our knowledge, a survey for prospective authors is not used by any publishing company.
“I wouldn’t mind,” another of Hill’s clients, TW, told me, “only it took 2 days to complete.”
I tried to contact Christopher Hill to see if we could shed some light on the matter, but unfortunately he was unavailable for comment, and his email account is still sending the auto-reply that he’s closed for business. An email he sent to a client a few days ago is all we have to go on:
I suppose I do feel a little illumination could be of benefit …
Was money the aim in any degree? No, the client list was short, and all shall be refunded … if this was the point of a scam, it wasn’t very good …
Material was submitted to the correct number of publishing houses/film studios that were part of contract. These may not have been those mentioned, and we may never have got past the first desk, but they were …
When this is over and the monies have been returned, I will give the full frank confession that all seem to desire. I will then be gone.
Suspecting all is not right at the world of Hill & Hill Agency, we’ve referred this on to the Society of Authors and also Clare Alexander, head of the Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA). It’s a very good idea to get an agent if you are looking to get your work published, and there are things you can do to make the process of finding an agent easier. Clare Alexander offers three pieces of invaluable advice to anyone looking:
First, always look into the other clients the agent represents — you’re looking for recognisable names of people with published work. Check they have experience of representing clients with publishing contracts from reputable houses. “Anybody at all can call themselves an agent,” Clare Alexander warns.
Second, find out if the agent is a member of the AAA. Whilst there are a handful of very credible, established agents who have opted to work outside the Association, it’s a very helpful guideline to search for someone who has signed up to the AAA code of conduct and is an accredited member.
Thirdly, Alexander emphasises, “You should not have to pay an upfront fee for someone to represent your work, and it’s against the AAA code of conduct to do so.”
I might add a tip of my own. Nobody at a publishing house will be asking you the question “Do you feel you have the mental capacity to produce a succession of original manuscripts” any time soon.
So…Here’s that immortal questionnaire for your perusal. We didn’t write it, (and I didn’t edit it):
Name:
Age:
Submission:Typical amount of books read each year:
Are these books mainly purchased or borrowed:
Favourite author/s:
Favourite genre:
Favourite book:General writing habits:
Hour many hours per week on average do you write
Do you work to a plan
Is research important to you
What is your main source when researching
How much research do you undertake before writing a manuscript
On average how long would a 80k manuscript take you to write
Is your work proofed before submission
Do you use a qualified proof reader and editor
Have you attended any creative or structural writing classes
At what age did you start writing
What are you hoping to achieve upon publication
Do you feel you have the mental capacity to produce a
succession of original manuscriptsDo you feel that you would be willing to work with an editorial
team who may wish to make drastic changes to your
original productCould you work to deadline
Are you capable of writing cross-genre material
Have you ever contemplated ghost writing
Have you ever contemplated screenplay adaptation
Where do you see your writing career in five years time
How do you perceive the literary industry at this present time
Do you believe that your submission would reach market potential
In no less than one hundred words explain why
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