At his Straight Talk weblog Tanuj Khosla offers a Warning for aspiring authors: beware of fake literary agents, as the explosion of publishing in India has seen ... well, lots of new opportunities for authors, but:
However, while all this is good news for aspiring authors, publishers and readers, the trend has had one negative side-effect -- birth of shady literary agents in India.Apparently:
literary agents are still a very new concept in India and over 90 per cent of the authors submit their manuscripts directly to the publishers. Over the last few years, many unscrupulous individuals in India have taken advantage of the absence of big names in the country and lack of awareness among aspiring writers and established dubious literary agencies.I'd suggest that one reason why the publishing industry is thriving in India is because so little of it as yet passes through the hands of 'literary' agents, scrupulous or not ..... Look for everything to go downhill fast once they establish themselves.
Unfortunately most don't offer a single service that a literary agent should.