Been approached by prospective publisher

[PaulGerard]

I've been approached by a small publishing company asking for publishing rights / selling copyright for "a few" of my stories for 200 bucks, which is truly a first for me. Any advice/suggestions on what to do now? Is this something that does really happen? Couldn't find anything about the company, not even a website...

-Paul

 

[sr71plt]

How much are you making off them now? What's the downside of getting $200 for what someone could (and others probably are) just rip off and use for free?

Not suggesting that they are legitimate, but if the check's good, what are the downsides? You don't now have the stories in your real name, do you?

 

[KlaytonFrost]

Yeah. I'd be wary, but go for it. Just make sure you actually get the money. Two hundred is a lot to earn by yourself, and if they genuinely do pay that up front I'd snap it up.

 

[sr71plt]

Again, though. What if you don't get the money? What has changed on the status of your stories and the vulnerability of having them ripped off for free anyway?

My only question was whether they would then have your true name (someplace to send the money to) and your true connection with the writing--and what they'd do with that. I have a blind PayPal account to take care of that.

 

[estragon]

Concur with sr71plt on giving any banking info or personally identifiable info to anyone. Probably though, $200 is a lot to pay for stealing your identity, as probably it's for sale for $25 on some hacksite in Russia.

 

[lovecraft68]

$200 is a very tempting amount for an author here who is currently making zilch on their stories

However, $200 is a small price to pay to get a hold of your personal banking info. They'll get their $200 back and everything else you have.

Although paypal appalls me in some of their maneuvers, they really are secure as all hell. Unless you cough up your password, they are pretty hard to crack.

If you want to take them up on it I would only go through PP. if you don't have an account its easy to set one up.