After an author lodged a formal complaint against member Mark Gottlieb, the organization recommended expulsion. But Gottlieb resigned first.
In August, we reported on a summer’s worth of upsetting news about ethical lapses at literary agencies. Now comes another revelation, this time from the Association of Authors’ Representatives, that member Mark Gottlieb has resigned after allegedly violating the AAR’s Canon of Ethics.
Mark Gottlieb is an agent with the well-respected Trident Media Group, which is chaired by his father, Robert Gottlieb. The agency itself is not affected; membership in AAR is on an individual basis only (although, as of this writing, our research uncovered only one other agent at Trident who belongs to AAR).
Mark Gottlieb was already on notice as to his obligations as an agent when the latest complaint surfaced. Going back to 2017, AAR had received complaints that Gottlieb refused to provide submissions information to clients, but it chose not to impose any sanction against him due to a technicality. (Gottlieb argued he had no such responsibility to former clients.) But in May 2018, author Lois Leveen alleged she had difficulty in obtaining a submission list and other materials sent to editors. She supported her claim with both written proof (emails) and a voice mail message in which Gottlieb asked her to retract her AAR complaint in exchange for the submissions information she requested. You can read the full report from the AAR Ethics Committee here; at the end, they recommend Gottlieb’s expulsion.
Gottlieb recounted his version of events to Publishers Lunch (subscription required). He says he offered Leveen representation during a phone call, and she agreed. Afterward, he simultaneously began drafting an agency agreement, providing editorial guidance, and submitting to publishers. Later, Leveen decided she did not want his representation (and did not sign the agreement) after submissions had already been made. At that point, he says, “I supplied the former client the responses and passes received from editors, as well as the full submissions list. I asked the former client to formally retract their complaint, though the former client declined to do so. Months later, I received further notice from the AAR.”
When told of Gottlieb’s response, Leveen told Publishers Lunch, “Mr. Gottlieb sent out my manuscript to editors without my permission. … I made it clear I would not work with any agent without a signed contract. He sent a boilerplate contract to me, and I had the Authors Guild attorney review it. Both the attorney and I were concerned about certain clauses in the contract that were not industry standard and very unfavorable to the author. When I contacted Mr. Gottlieb about getting a revised contract to sign, he informed me he had already sent my work out to editors a month earlier. I was astonished; not only was he not legally empowered to serve as my agent, the version of the manuscript he had was not one that had undergone final revisions for submission to publishers, which I had made clear to him. I immediately reported him to AAR and asked him to tell me what editors it had gone to. He refused to tell me unless I withdrew the ethics complaint.”
This current case aside, it wasn’t hard to find message board threads and social media postings discussing Gottlieb’s practices. He is known to begin submissions based on a handshake agreement instead of a contract, which sometimes creates confusion as to whether the writer has agreed to be represented. Writers allege he submits materials with little regard for targeting or refinement, and former clients, like Leveen, say it is difficult to establish who received their materials. Gottlieb’s profile on QueryTracker was periodically wiped clean of authors’ complaints, and as of this writing, no Trident Media Group agent can be found in its database.
Bottom line: Avoid agents who work on handshake deals; get an agreement in writing. Check Writer Beware and Absolute Write for red flags on agencies, as well as online agent databases like AgentQuery and QueryTracker for informal reports. If you’re working with an agent who doesn’t seem to be forthright in their business dealings, and they’re a member of AAR, you can contact EthicsAAR@gmail.com to facilitate the submission of a complaint. For non-AAR members, you can try contacting Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware with your concern.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
