Agent With Style

Zine Publisher
Name:	Agent With Style
Contact:	Mysti Frank
Type:	agent, publisher
Fandoms:	multimedia
Status:	In 1986, it began offline as "Whatever You Do, Don't Press" -- In 1997-2015, the name changed to "Agent With Style." -- Between August 2015 and August 2020, the website was still online, the Pay Pal button was functioning, but customers did not receive their orders.
Other:
URL:	Agent With Style (offline beginning in mid-2020) archive link for the main site page 2011 banner
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Some Historical Dates; 2 Some Insight into the Massive Volume and Scale of This Business; 3 Some History; 4 Web Presence; 5 Requesting Zines to Sell; 6 The FAQ Page; 7 Creative Disclaimers; 8 The Shopping Cart That Never Happened; 9 Controversies 9.1 Profit; 9.2 Selling Zines After She'd Been Requested Not To; 9.3 Printing Quality; 9.4 Recording Quality; 9.5 Not Receiving Trib Copies or Masters; 9.6 Quality of Editing, Revisions Without Permission, and Publishing Without Permission; 9.7 Content Quality and/or Labeling, Incomplete Info on the Website; 9.8 Outing of Legal Names/Not Respecting Changes in Pseuds; 9.9 Postage Scam; 9.10 Communication; 9.11 Fiction Publishing Rights Permission; 9.12 The Hawaiian Request; ; 10 Website Problems -- Failure to Deliver Products Paid For: 2015 and Onwards 10.1 Zine Agents Withdraw Permissions: May 2016; 10.2 Hindman's Open Letter: February 2016; 10.3 Metamorphoses Press' Open Letter: May 2016; 10.4 Requiem's Open Letter: June 2016; 10.5 Thief in Fandom: Agent With Style's 1997 Now-Ironic Open Letter; ; 11 General Reactions and Reviews 11.1 1999; 11.2 2000; 11.3 2001; 11.4 2003; 11.5 2005; 11.6 2008; 11.7 2009; 11.8 2011; 11.9 2013; ; 12 Notes; 13 References;

Agent With Style was one of the biggest print zine publishers and zine agents in fandom. It was run by Mysti Frank, and was in business from 1986 to roughly 2015. The site remained up, taking fans' money, until August 2020.

During the pre-internet era, Agent With Style was one of the biggest suppliers of fan fiction. Frank published her own zines, but as time went on, also became a large distributor and agent for others' zines, sometimes with their publisher's explicit permission, and sometimes without. Frank was voracious in her hunt for new material, as well as old material to reissue, and fans counted on her huge empire for their fic fix.

Frank sold zines through the website via the postal service and in person at conventions.^[2]

While many fans were happy with, and in some cases desperate, for what Agent With Style supplied, other fans were upset by many of Frank's practices of poor editing, shoddy business practices, and what many fans felt to be greed and dishonesty. Frank's business put media fans in a challenging spot; they wanted what she was selling but did not want to rock the boat that supplied the goods they craved.

Frank's business, once a monolith, began to see a decline as technology and fannish customs changed. Agent With Style's business was greatly affected by the internet. On the positive side, online communication acted as a conduit for visibility and marketing for the business. However, the internet negatively impacted the business thanks to fans' new ability to consume fan fiction for free, rather than pay money for print zines. The internet also provided a platform for more accessible communication and less isolation; fans who were unhappy and angry with Agent With Style gained an increased ability to tell others.

Agent With Style kept taking money but stopped filling orders and communicating with fans sometime around 2014, or perhaps a bit later.^[3] By 2015, the business was dead in the water, and Frank had disappeared, taking all monies, as well as many, many original proofs and documents regarding the zines she'd agented with her.

Despite the fact the Agent With Style business webpage appears to be active, this publisher is no longer in business.^[4]

Some Historical Dates

There was a lot of cross-pollination between "Agent With Style" and Frank's zine publishing business Whatever You Do, Don't Press! (first zine published was in 1988). At some point, the latter morphed into "Agent With Style." "Agent With Style's" Facebook page says the site "began in 1986" ^[5] which probably reflects Frank's combining of the two presses. This 1986 date, however, is a bit perplexing, as her first known published zine was Chalk and Cheese in 1988.

The title "Agent With Style" was first used in 1997, and it was an offline business. ^{[note 1]}^{[note 2]}

The site started taking credit cards in July 1998.^{[note 3]} The domain name for "Agent With Style" was registered on September 4, 1998.^[6]^{[note 4]}

Around January 1999, the site went online. It had a major site overhaul in February 2001.

In late 2003, AWS added a fax machine,^{[note 5]} as well as a place for fans to leave feedback on zine stories. From the feedback form: "Please note that any profanity will be edited out, so if you can't think of another way to say it, we'll be happy to do it for you. Full names are not required, but do look nice, however, net names will be accepted. So....what did you think of that last zine you bought from us?" ^{[note 6]}

By the mid-to-late 2000s, activity at the site had slowed in recent years, and updates and announcements were few.

The last update to the site according to its "What's New" information was August 5, 2015.^[7] The last update to its Facebook page was August 9, 2015. The site has apparently been taking orders but not filling them since August 2015, perhaps earlier. While the site still accepts orders through Pay Pal, anyone ordering zines in 2015 and after has not received what they purchased.^{[note 7]} See Site Closure.

During the first week of June 2016, at least one major zine publisher received an email (with a former Agent With Style employee email address) from "Casey Allen." Allen explained that she had been given the task of straightening out Agent With Styles' financial and fannish commitments, and had been given the job with little or no training/background/information. "Casey Allen," it was believed, was probably Mysti Frank herself. There were no further messages from Casey Allen after the initial contact.

Some Insight into the Massive Volume and Scale of This Business

Frank wrote in 2003: "...anytime you want to step up and take over, sending out 1,500 zine orders a month world-wide, going to more than 20 cons a year, putting out over fifteen zines a year and not really having a life, I'd be more than happy to trade with you. Just say the word." ^[8] A fan responded to this in 2003: "I had to wonder about her assertion that the income from her zine sales wouldn't pay even a quarter of her mortgage, when she later states that she sends out around 1,500 zines per month and pays $350 in just credit card and Paypal fees. Or that she does this 'part time', then later goes on about how it takes up all her time and she has 'no life' because of it." ^[9]

a 2001 flyer: "Agent With Style has thousands of zines from around the world listed here! Come take a look! You'll be glad you did!"

Frank also wrote in 2003 that she only charged takes on zines in Maryland because she had to pay taxes in Maryland. She added that "You don't want to know what we paid this past April!" ^[10]

From Mysti Frank in 2005: "There are two -- a whopping *two* -- of us who handle more than 2,500 titles in dozens of fandoms and send out more than 300 orders *a week*. That's in and around our RL jobs and actually having a spare moment to go see a movie or visit with our 3-year-old granddaughter. I work on the webpage as often as I can, but I'm still about 400 zines behind in listing everything we have, and that's *just* listing the titles, a descriptive paragraph and a table of contents (if the zine has one) for each zine. It's been about eight years since I had the time to read every single zine we carry, so when listing the zines, I often have to ask the editors for a blurb or look through the zine and try to get the gist of the storyline so I can put it up on the website." ^{[note 8]}

Fandoms represented as of 2012:

Some History

a 1999 flyer printed in The Limits of Trust

a 2005 flyer

a flyer printed in the 2003 ZebraCon program book: "You'll find hundreds of zines in dozens of fandoms (as well as CDS, Song Vids and Calendars...)"

By 1994, Frank was sending formal letters of agreement to her contributors. From one author:

Some publishers are now changing the standard "rights revert to author on publication" notice. Mysti Frank (of Chalk & Cheese) is sending a "Letter of Agreement" to all authors which states that she retains all rights to distribute the story for a period of one year, after which the author can do whatever she wants with it. This serves to put the above, previously unwritten "politeness rule" into a written form, which should certainly help prevent potential misunderstandings, and I think it's a good idea.^[11]

From Chalk and Cheese #16 (May 1997):

I've... started a zine agenting business called Agent With Style. Since Bill Hupe has left the arena, and left no one to take up the business, I'm hoping to do just a fraction of what he did in getting the zines most fen would never see out and into fandom's eye. I have a long list of zines available—many new, some older and hard to find—for a double-stamped long SASE. Or you can just write me at [email protected], and I can send you a long list of available zines.

Frank was also aggressively and constantly on the lookout for new authors who could contribute to her zines. One author remembers:

I, along with with a group of fans, traveled to New York one summer in the mid-1990s to see a British TV star in an off-Broadway stage production. As we stood in the endless line for the ladies room during intermission, we chatted (perhaps too eagerly) about our love of the TV show. A woman standing in front of me turned around and exclaimed: "Are you a slash writer? I'd love to print your work" and handed me a card. Keep in mind this was a time when slash was still not very mainstream in some fandom circles - let alone in a ladies room off-Broadway filled with audiences. I took the card, but remember asking my friends: "Why would she publish my fic? She doesn't even know what I write. Or if I can even write!" I never did submit anything to her, being only a sporadic writer, but it left an impression on me. Mysti was like a boulder rolling down hill. Sometimes you wanted to jump on board and go for a ride. And sometimes you just wanted to run. But we all bought zines from her no matter which way we went.^[12]

Web Presence

On or before Jan 1, 1998, Frank launched her "Agent With Style" website. A copy is archived here

An early online order form is here.

See: a sample 2012 home page for the site.

See: What's New, ^{Archived version} (2001-2015).

It had a Yahoo! Groups mailing list (created January 17, 2000) ^[13] and Facebook page (created October 12, 2009).^[14]^[15]

an October 1998 homepage

Requesting Zines to Sell

From the website (2001-2016), "Want Us to Agent For You?":

Agent With Style goes to conventions throughout the year and we would love to take your zines with us and get them out to the largest audience possible. We also are very excited about getting older, out of print zines back into print, so that new fans can enjoy them, too.
If you would like us to agent your current zines, or put your older zines back into print, we would love to agent for you!
With only as much effort on your part as you care to make, from sending us ready-to-sell copies on a continuing basis to sending us the masters and having us do all the work for you (we can even take the last copy of a zine and make a master from it, and return your original) -- we can give your babies new life and fantastic exposure to hungry fans! We also carry other fannish items such as CDs, keychains and artwork!
So, please take a few moments to fill out the form below to tell us about your zines (or other items). Once you've done so, you'll receive an e-mail from us detailing all the terms and conditions involved in our agenting for you.
If you have any questions, or cannot fill out the form below, you may reach us by sending e-mail to: AWS Agenting Department. We look forward to hearing from you! ^[16]

The FAQ Page

From the website (2001-2016):

Q: Is shipping and handling included in the cost of the zines?
A: Yes, all shipping and handling is included in the price of each zine.
Q: Why are there three prices for each zine?
A: Because we include shipping and handling in the cost of the zine. To figure out which price to use, choose which area best describes where you are having the zine shipped to: USA, Canada/Mexico or overseas.

"Can't decide what to get for the fan who has everything? Just fill out this form and worry no more! We can send the gift certificate to you, so you can present it in person. Or we can mail it to the recipient in the mail, or even e-mail it to them on the date you choose! Never be caught without a gift again!"

Q: Can I get a refund if the zine I want isn't available?
A: We do not give refunds, but do issue a credit for the amount of the unavailable zine, which may be used on your next order.
Q: How long is a gift certificate or AWS-issued credit available?
A: All credit and gift certificates are good for one year from the date they are issued. We are required by our bank to hold firm to this policy, so we can not redeem any credit or gift certificates after they expire.
Q: Why don't you have a shopping cart on your webpage?
A: We're working on that and hope to have one installed soon.
Q: Why am I only getting the main page and why don't the links work?
A: If you have a Webtv account and are experiencing trouble pulling up some of the pages, you are unfortunately the recipient of a Microsoft Messenger upgrade which is causing some webpages to go blank or not load. There's nothing we can do on this end, sadly -- your best bet is to call up a Webtv representative and ask them how to fix the problem. Friends with Webtv accounts have told me this is an easily fixable thing, thankfully.
Q: Why are both 'gen' and 'slash' listed under 'type' for some zines? Does that mean there are two versions?
A: If 'gen' and 'slash' are both given, it means that the zine contains both of those types of stories. Only if it says 'gen and slash versions available' does it mean that there are two separate versions of that zine.
Q: Why didn't I get an e-mail confirmation on my order?
A: Since we don't yet have a shopping cart, we don't have the software that automatically e-mails a confirmation to you when you place an on-line order. There is a screen that comes up after you hit the 'submit' button on the order form that says 'Order Confirmation' and gives you the delivery times for domestic and overseas orders. This is the only confirmation you get right now. Since we're a small business, we can either spend time sending out individual confirmations or spend time filling orders. We'd rather do the latter.
Q: I sent my order in two days ago. Why haven't I gotten my zines yet?
A: While we ask for 2-4 weeks for domestic orders to be shipped out, and 4-6 weeks for overseas orders, we often get zine orders shipped out within a couple of days if the zines are in stock. If not, sometimes we have to go to an editor for more zines or reprint the needed zines ourselves. We also go to a lot of out-of-state conventions (see the link 'cons' at the top of the page) and are gone for sometimes a full week or more. This means an order might take a little longer. Please wait until the full 2-4 weeks or 4-6 weeks has expired before inquiring. Each order we have to research takes away from the time we spend filling orders.
Q: It's been four weeks and I haven't gotten my zine yet. Why?
A: More than likely, the editor we've requested the zine from is running a little behind. Usually, we e-mail you to let you know this and give you a choice of waiting until the zine comes in and getting the full order at once, or having us send a partial order now and the other zine when it arrives. If we fail to let you know this, I do apologize most sincerely, but as I mentioned, we're a small company and sometimes notifications slip through the cracks. Filling these orders takes time. Since this is a hobby and not our profession, we can only devote so much of our free time. Like most of you, we also have professional (work) and personal (family, advanced education, etc.) commitments.
Q: I sent in a Paypal payment, so why didn't I get my zine?
A: Did you also fill out an online order form? Since the order forms generate an order for us to fill, without that form, we're not aware that you've ordered anything. Likewise, if you've filled out the form, but stop before you hit the 'submit' button to go off to Paypal to make a payment, that order has not been sent in. You should submit the order first, then go to Paypal. Or go to Paypal, but come back to the order form and hit 'submit'.
Q: Do you have any zines with my favorite fandom in them?
A: We sure do! And the best way to find them is to use the search engine. It will pull up any zine, including multimedia zines, that have the fandom you're looking for. This is also a great way to find stories by your favorite author or artwork by your favorite artist. The search engine is a great tool that can help you find just about anything. And if nothing comes up on your first try, you might try shortening your request to just one or two key words, like 'Xena' instead of 'Xena: Warrior Princess.'
Q: I wrote you several e-mails in the last few days and you didn't answer any of them. Are you ignoring me?
A: No, absolutely not. We try to answer e-mail immediately, but sometimes we're out of town at a convention and unable to answer your e-mails quickly. If you're curious, check out our list of cons (the 'cons' link is at the top of the page) and see where we'll be and when. Don't forget to figure in travel time, as we drive everywhere we go. If we haven't answered an e-mail within a week, please write again.
Q: I wanted to buy a particular zine at a con you were at, but you'd sold out.
A: That happens a lot, especially with brand new zines. The best way to insure that a zine you want to buy doesn't sell out on you is to submit a pre-con order form (look under the 'orders' link at the top of the page). When you send us a list of zines you want to pick up at a con, we'll package them and hold them for you behind our tables. This also works great for older zines you're not sure we'll be bringing (the more new zines we have, the fewer older zines we can bring). You can go through our webpage, work up a list of zines you want and send them in as a pre-con order form, then pick them up at the con at your leisure.
Q: How do I submit a story for one of the zines you've got listed on the 'upcoming zines' page?
A: You send your story, poem or artwork to Mysti in an e-mail stating it's a submission and she'll take it from there. We're always looking for unposted stories or novellas to publish, too! If you're not sure, ask! We don't bite! (Unless you ask nicely.)
Q: I have a question you haven't answered here. How do I get an answer?
A: Send your question to Mysti and she'll be happy to answer it for you. If enough people ask, it may even be added to this list! ^[17]

Creative Disclaimers

This publisher included long, creative disclaimers/request for feedback in many zines.

from 1999, printed in the Sentinel zine, Nadir
from 1998, printed in the Sentinel zine, Come to Your Senses #8

The Shopping Cart That Never Happened

An announcement on the site's front page asked fans to be patient as a "shopping cart" was being planned was present from at least 2008 until the site's inactive status in 2015/2016. The shopping cart announcement: "NOTE -- We're in the process of installing a shopping cart on our site, and some listings will have an 'Add to Cart' button on them, and some will not."

One early mention of this shopping cart was printed in the zine Seasoned Timber in May 2008: "No bribes of someone to help with the database for the shopping cart were offered. Dammit. Laugh. Cry. Send LoCs!"

The Shopping Cart, in the end, was never created.

Controversies

Over the years, there have been complaints about unauthorized publication of fan fiction, unauthorized editing of submitted stories, selling bootleg print runs of agented zines, the poor production value of the zines themselves, of failures to account for zines sold, selling zines without permission, difficulty in getting property (including masters of their zines) returned, of unanswered emails, of false promises, poor bookkeeping, and general duplicitous actions.

One long 2003 discussion is Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher.

The majority of the comments on this Fanlore page are from 2001 and after. It is unknown if fan's concerns and complaints about Frank's decisions and behavior started to escalate after 2001 or if fans' access to the internet, and thus wider general communication, made comments and observations easier to find and respond to.

A fan in 2003 wrote:

Bootlegged zines, misrepresentation of her own inflated printing quotes as the *printer's quotes", refusals to let me see the printer's records/receipts, tacking on $5 to copies of my zine sold at cons (buyers informed me of this), trying to intimidate buyers who complained directly to me about problems with their copies of Changes or with receiving their orders, offering copies of the zine's art as reparation for a problem with an order, later threatening to sell my pre-printed zine illos as art prints without my knowledge for her own profit when I was considering putting the story online due to anemic sales, under-reporting the number of "Changes" she printed and sold (our conservative estimate, calculated from the discrepancy in the number of copies of pre-printed illos remaining after Mysti returned the masters/illos to me -- a number that could not even remotely be attributed to mistakes by the printer, a printer who has never made any mistakes with the illos for Changes when doing the zine for *me* currently -- was approximately 65 copies). In order to get my master returned, I had to hold a commissioned piece of art hostage, then eventually deny Mysti all printing rights (which I always own on all of my work, including the cover of Textual Poachers) when she simply continued to deny any wrongdoing (as she seems to be doing now.) My own perception, after what I've experienced and seen, is that she lies constantly, bootlegs whenever she can get away with it (which is often), uses artists' work shamelessly (my own prints came back from her all sticky -- with what, I shudder to think, and another artist had her artwork returned damaged and written-upon -- when it was returned at all) -- something that makes me unquestioning of the many writers who've posted here regarding her changing their work without permission.^[18]

From a 2003 thread:

In the past years, Mysti Frank has altered stories without authorial approval, failed to give zine publishers money for zines they sold through her, failed to stop selling zines when asked, produced substandard zines for exorbitant prices, and generally been rude, obnoxious, and alternately intrusive and unreachable to just about everyone she's ever dealt with. She makes a living off of fandom, and she doesn't really appear to care who she hurts in the bargain. (More specific details, once again, in this thread].) The solution for this is ridiculously simple: Need a zine? Don't buy hers. Need an agent? Don't use her. Want a story zine-published? Don't give it to her.^[19]

Another 2003 comment:

According to the people we know who attended the first convention [my zine] was available at, Mysti sold out of that first run of the zine at the con. According to the report I got back, she sold two copies of it. And continued to sell two here and three there at different cons for the next year, while the reports of people [we] knew who attended those cons indicated that she was selling enough of them to make up three or four print runs, rather than the one run we had agreed to. Also, the zines she was selling were really *badly* photocopied and bound rip-offs of the master I had sent her, not a true printing.^[20]

Some fans felt flattered that Frank offered to zine their fic,^{[note 9]} others felt she indiscriminately trawled for fic and being solicited by Frank was no distinct honor.^{[note 10]}

Her site was easy to find and order from, and she advertised widely, so many newbies first found zines through her. She also was a very reliable and visible presence at conventions.

Many fans were probably unaware of the behind the scenes issues and complaints, something the arrival of the internet shined a brighter light upon.

As to why fans continued to submit and purchase fics and songtapes to the site? It was the biggest print zine site on the internet and in that respect, very powerful in terms of visibility and that of a gatekeeper, something that online fic started taking a bigger and bigger share from.

In 2003, a fan wrote: "I also wonder if there's been reluctance to actually a) say anything and therefore be the first up to the plate to make accusations or b) believe and therefore actually admit that The Person Who Was The Answer To Your Zine Sale Prayers was ripping you off, big time." ^[21] In 2008, a longtime fan somewhat jokingly described "Agent With Style" as a crack dealer; fans were afraid to rock the boat and cut off their, and others', source of fanfic.^[22]

In 2003, Frank herself stated that she did the work because she was a hard worker doing a thankless task: "And anytime you want to step up and take over, sending out 1,500 zine orders a month world-wide, going to more than 20 cons a year, putting out over fifteen zines a year and not really having a life, I'd be more than happy to trade with you. Just say the word." ^[23] Another 2003 comment by Frank: "Not one -- not ONE of you -- has tried to do the agenting at the level I'm doing it at." ^[24]

Suzan Lovett commented in 2017:

Megan Genovese:I understand that you had some interaction with Agent With Style, the publisher.
Suzan Lovett: Yeah. Misty.
MG: I understand that there was some contention about her business practices or her, um, reliability. What were your interactions with her like?
SL: I knew Misty. I visited Misty at home when she had get togethers because we live in the same area. Awhile back, not recently. And, as a person, Misty was just fine. Her business practices were, uh, as I have learned as time went on, quite deplorable and, they are even more deplorable now since she has disappeared off the face of the earth. And with owing people a lot of things. I personally never had a single problem with her. I didn't, so I don't have anything against her personally, but I certainly had friends have problems.^[25]

Regarding the various specific sections below: some of the topics overlap.

Profit

Agent With Style sold a lot of zines and other fannish goods, and the amount of profit she made has been called into question on many occasions.^{[note 11]}

To give an idea of the scale of business:

A fan in 1997 commented that "... Mysti Frank ... cleared enough at MediaWestCon to buy a new effing laptop..." ^[26]

From a fan in 2003: "I had to wonder about her assertion that the income from her zine sales wouldn't pay even a quarter of her mortgage, when she later states that she sends out around 1,500 zines per month and pays $350 in just credit card and Paypal fees. Or that she does this 'part time', then later goes on about how it takes up all her time and she has 'no life' because of it." ^[27]

From Mysti Frank in 2005: "There are two -- a whopping *two* -- of us who handle more than 2,500 titles in dozens of fandoms and send out more than 300 orders *a week*. That's in and around our RL jobs and actually having a spare moment to go see a movie or visit with our 3-year-old granddaughter. I work on the webpage as often as I can, but I'm still about 400 zines behind in listing everything we have, and that's *just* listing the titles, a descriptive paragraph and a table of contents (if the zine has one) for each zine. It's been about eight years since I had the time to read every single zine we carry, so when listing the zines, I often have to ask the editors for a blurb or look through the zine and try to get the gist of the storyline so I can put it up on the website." ^[28]

[2000]:

But there have always been quite a number [of fanzine publishers] that make a few hundred dollars off of each issue. Sometimes more. .......[I know of one fanzine publisher who] always turned out a good product. But there's no way they weren't making a couple of dollars a zine -- with a 200-300 per zine print run. Minimum $400-600 a zine, and no, none of that went to charity. And I'm pretty much okay with that. A) I've always figured that the odds were good that a judge would look at the puny amounts and not even consider them true "profit", since if the zine ed were paying herself any sort of rational wage for her time, the profits wouldn't cover it, and B) everyone needs to make these decisions for themselves. I think Mysti charges too much -- but if she were putting out the best zines in fandom, I'd almost certainly pay. I don't pay, now -- but that's because they're generally mediocre, and I don't like to support someone who knows better putting out crap.^[29]

[2000]:

British Takeaway is one of the few zines that can be freely copied an distributed after its initial publication. In January 2000, Mysti announced she would be selling them herself. A fan announced in DIAL #13 (2000)]: Some of you may have heard that the British Takeaway series of zines are now being sold via Agent With Style. If you like your zines brand-new, all well and good - the BT series certainly contained some excellent stories and gorgeous artwork, and though they're mostly gen, they're still well worth reading. But if you're on a tight budget you might also like to know that at Zebracon, Kate N (their publisher) gave carte blanche for anyone to copy her zines. So if you've been holding back from copying a friend's, er, copy, by concerns about not infringing on the publisher's rights, go ahead and do it.

[2001]:

Um...here's me being brave and standing up for what I believe in, and/or obnoxious. :) Depending on your point of view.
Just to let you know, Agent With Style currently is a for-profit zine publisher and agent. I personally feel that is antithema to the spirit of fandom and fanzine publication. Most zine publishers hold other jobs and do their zines for the love of it; they apply any profit they happen to make totally to future fannish efforts. That's what I feel fandom and fanzines *should* be all about, not money. Consumerism is bad enough IRL, ya know?
Of course, despite my opinion, it's completely everyone's individual decision what to do or not do with that information. Also, in the interest of disclosure, it should be noted that this publisher and I have had professional differences in the past; I pulled a story because I felt neither it nor I was being treated well, due to this very issue of the publisher's becoming business-oriented and for-profit. FWIW. Off my soapbox.^[30]

[2002]:

Profit without permission. To endeavor to profit by the creative work of other people who have not even been *informed* that you are doing it, is unethical. Zines should not be a business. Those of us who contributed 20 years ago to truly non-profit publications did what we did as a labor of love. Who could have guessed that we might see our work (signed with our real names) offered for sale indefinitely over a time frame of *generations,* in different binding style/print method, advertised by previously unknown medium, with potentially world-wide distribution? There is simply no way that 20 years of "on demand" publication counts as "first publication rights." ... No one ever tried to contact me. I can't be the only one.) No one, not the agent and not the publisher, has a right to "own" other people's creative work indefinitely. Or to profit, when we all agreed originally that what we were doing was *not* about profit. The *amount* of profit involved is irrelevant. Zine distribution may or may not be a lucrative business, but the simple fact that it is a business at all is unethical. It abuses the trust of the original contributors, and breaks the good-faith bond which is the basis of fandom.^[31]

[2003]:

Mysti's problem is that she charges the same price for a zine that's poorly xeroxed, has fewer pages, has no art or poorly reproduced art, and has had little or no actual work put into it. She does make a profit -- enough that she lives off of it. For that, I wouldn't pay her one red cent.^[32]

[2003]:

sure, i sometimes think it would be nice to have a cut of that money. once in a while i wonder what she made off something like panther tales. but, hey, i signed up for it knowing the facts. i can deal.^[33]

[2003]:

I have seen her sell zines for as much as $5 over and above what they should be sold for at cons. (Meaning, the publisher is selling them at, for example, $13; the average amount an agent would get would be about $2. But Mysti will sell that zine for $20. I have witnessed this.)
I've heard from others (second-hand, but those people are reliable) that Mysti will agent a zine or piece of artwork for the agreed-upon amount at a con - until the publisher/writer/artist has left. Then the price goes up by, again, approximately $5.
[...]
My personal experience with Mysti is this: She was pre-selling two zines at a con. Each was $20. I paid cash and was told they would be in my hands by the end of the following week since the zine was at the printers at that moment. Nearly a month later I still hadn't received either zines. I was given the standard statement that all checks had to wait four to six weeks before orders were processed. I reminded her that I had paid cash. Two weeks later I finally received my zines.^[34]

[2004]:

Don't we rip Agent With Style six ways from Sunday for trying to use the excuse "I don't profit from the zines, I profit from the action of agenting the zines"? (Granted, Mysti gets ripped for other things too and I'm not trying to start that flamewar again, I'm just saying it's a handy example for why this is confusing me.) ^[35]

[2004]:

Paper zine producers (Mysti Frank excepted) don't make a profit off their zine readers.^[36]

[2004]:

Let's see. Cost a book.
5% to the author. Fanzine: nothing to the author.

10% to the editor. Fanzine 10 % to editor?

25% to printers. Fanzine: 90% to printers

60% to publisher. Fanzine... er, unless you're Mysti Frank, no percentage left.^[37]

[2005]:

Well, Mysti Frank has certainly been pilloried in any number of forums for her zine-selling practices--she just seems to have the chutzpah to keep trying to get fandom to pay you an entire year's salary with no guarantee of a finished product.^[38]

[2009]:

There's certainly some debate in fandom about [Agent With Style's for-profit reality]. I don't like the idea of someone living off of what's supposed to be an amateur, not-for-profit enterprise that historically has been done purely for pleasure. In theory it raises a legal concern, and morally, hell, if I'm providing stories for someone else to sell and live off of - not clear costs, but profit from, I'd like more than a trib copy, you know? I'm by no means an expert - I've only witnessed the debate on it and personally was appalled at the idea that for all these years people have felt that fanzines were, you know, what we fans did for each other. Not, I hasten to add, that I think a publisher should have to pay herself to put out a zine (the whole concept of fandom is that it's as cost-free as possible, and that any costs are shared by the whole fandom); I understand wanting to break even if you're putting out zines. But that's the difference between sharing expenses on a labor of love (which is what I thought fandom was) and a profit-making enterprise. And, again, nothing against the publishing business - but I always believed fandom wasn't business. That it couldn't be, legally, and that we all were operating under the assumption that it wasn't someone's profit machine.^[39]

Selling Zines After She'd Been Requested Not To

There have been many complaints of failures to account for zines sold and difficulty in getting copies of zines that they themselves had printed, along with masters of their zines back.

[2001]:

PLEASE NOTE: Mysti Frank/AGENT WITH STYLE is NO LONGER AUTHORIZED (as of May 29, 2001) to produce, sell or distribute Jean Kluge's zine, Changes, or any portions thereof. If you buy the zine from Agent With Style at a convention or elsewhere, you are getting an unauthorized copy.^[40]

[2006]:

At first, she sold a decent number for us and all was well. But sales slowly dried up and she claimed it was because now our zines were old and people had moved onto newer stuff. Except word got around that she was still selling plenty of older zines for us and everyone else. But she had made her own masters and printed up her own copies, and THOSE were the ones she was selling! ^[41]

[2010]:

On September 21, 2010, Dargelos, the author of White Rabbit, left a message on Fanlore indicating that she has withdrawn permission for the zine to be sold in print format by Agent With Style and is taking steps to remove the story from online archives via the Wayback Machine. Also see, Talk:Dargelos.

[2011]:

Agent with Style is, effective IMMEDIATELY, November 1, 2011, no longer permitted to sell our books on her website, or in person. Please do not place orders for them, no matter how long they remain on her site.^[42]

Printing Quality

[2013]:

Agent With Style produces zines that look like they were printed out in someone's school computer lab. I've bought things I was dying to read, but the prices are through the roof for what is typically an inferior product. The advantage there and with eBay is relatively timely shipping and a professional interface. Other zine buying usually requires more interaction, so if you're a lurker looking for a 'buy it now' link, this is offputting. (Yes, Agent With Style is a frequent cause of wank in zine circles. The woman who runs it is prone to flaming people and throwing fits when she's criticized too.) ^{[note 12]}

[2015]:

A lot of the classic writers [ Professionals ]are already on the web, and people who are still keeping their zinefic with editors like Agent with Style are not necessarily... that good, to be honest." And "Agent With Style? Blech. So overpriced, and the paper and binding quality are always low." ^[43]

Recording Quality

Regarding vids in 2000: Originally, copies of Escapade vid shows were mastered, duplicated, and mailed directly to convention attendees on behalf of the concom by staff member Kandy Fong. At one point, she supplied some of these high-quality tapes to Mysti Frank to sell at cons Kandy herself wasn't attending, but after learning that Mysti had inflated the prices and kept the profits, Kandy rescinded any permission for Mysti to copy, distribute, sell, or in any way be associated with Escapade con tapes.^[44]

In April 2014, it was discovered that Mysti had been making and selling lower-quality Escapade tape copies without the concom's or vidders' knowledge or permission, and also without including any of the vidder credits that Kandy had originally provided. Concom member Charlotte Hill then contacted Mysti and asked her to stop distributing tapes in order to protect the quality and reputation of both the vidders and the vid show.^[45]

Not Receiving Trib Copies or Masters

A fan in 2001 broadcast her displeasure on a many zine, Highlander, Sentinel and other mailing lists, saying she'd asked Frank to stop selling Chronicles of the Heart #1. She wanted fans to know that any copies of this zine "Agent With Style" was selling at cons should be considered a bootleg, and sold without the publisher's permission. The reasons she had pulled her zines from "Agent With Style's" website were due to inaccurate and duplicitous recounting of funds, profit, late checks, and general duplicitousness. The fan also relayed a long, detailed recount of trying to get her zine masters returned, of countless emails that were never responded to, were responded to with promises that weren't kept, and were responded to with "nasty grams." The fan said she'd hoped to keep this issue private, but felt forced to now alert everyone on public mailing lists.^[46]

[2003]:

There is a zine out there called "Lover's Walk". There is a story of mine in there. It's an Angel/Wes, previously unpublished story that I wrote a few years ago. I submitted the story, got immediate feedback from the person putting the zine together and then didn't hear from them for over a year, even though I wrote a few times to try to find out what the status was. I then heard from them out of the blue saying they were doing the zine at last and could I give my address for my trib copy. I said sure, sent my address along and then never heard from them again. I also never got my trib copy. Since then I've heard scattered reports of this zine appearing, Elvis-like, at various locations. The worst of which was on an Agent With Style table so I would like to make it clear that no, I did not publish anything with AWS and I probably wouldn't have submitted the story in the first place if I'd known it would end up there. I don't know if the original zine publisher had a deal with her or if it was just a random copy that AWS got ahold of though. I have to admit I'm slightly bitter about the whole thing and not inclined to recommend the zine to anybody since I'm not overly fond of encouraging zine publishers who take stories but don't fulfill their end of the deal. I mean it's not even the free zine itself - I'd have paid if I had to - but the lack of communication is a little lame if you ask me. Who knows? Maybe my emails all got lost or something. It could happen. And because of that possibility I haven't backed out of my end of the deal, which is to not post the story on the net for at least a year after the zine's publication. But beyond that that's all I can tell you. Yes it's a story of mine, yes you haven't read it yet and no, I don't know that I can say you're going to get anywhere if you try to buy it. (Or at least buy it from the publisher directly. I don't want to cast aspersions on anybody out there who is simply selling or agenting the zine. That's a separate issue.) More than that I couldn't say. And hey - if anybody out there can actually get in touch with the publisher and ask what happened to my trib copy, more power to you. =)" ^[47]

[2003]:

Many writers have stated that they have had to wait months after a zine premieres before they get their tribber copies. Most times they have to request their copies repeatedly. Standard practice is for the writers to get their copy from the publishers first.^[48]

[2016]:

Barb Fister-Liltz said she had been at a Steampunk convention the same weekend as MW*C a year or two ago, and made a special trip up to Lansing to meet with Mysti who had promised to return HER masters AND pay her money owed. When she arrived, Mysti burst into tears, saying Donna had to leave because her son was dying, and she would have to send them a check. She did give them SOME but not ALL of their masters. A check never showed up, either. Same song and dance.^[49]

Quality of Editing, Revisions Without Permission, and Publishing Without Permission

[1993]:

The bigger thing is Mysti as a whole editor/pub. She is a nice lady (I don't know her well, but have never had any trouble with her) but she is one of the most inconsistent editors out there. I admit I am a slash slut, and will read almost anything, but I wouldn't publish much/most of what I read. Mysti is great about deadlines, mails her orders out as soon as she gets them, does proofread for typos and basic grammar mistakes, and puts out very regular zines, which is enough for some good writers to trib to her. She also prints great amounts of shlock.
I keep hoping that someone a bit more discriminating, with a real interest in editing, as opposed to proofing, will volunteer to work with Mysti.
[snipped]
Basically I guess this rant is because of the waste. There aren't that many really good motivated publishers in fandom. As Jenn has pointed out, it is hard thankless work. Someone with the skill and motivation to turn out full zines every year, on time, make her commitments, be a good publisher, should have an editor so that all of that work isn't just wasted.
Generally, I hate to complain (openly) about things I don't intend to do anything about; but I don't know what I *could* do in this case. Maybe that's way I find it so frustrating!

Poor Mysti -- or indeed, anyone really, can't pick and choose what writers will send her submissions. I don't know; what does an editor say to someone whose story needs work- a lot of work- say, for instance, a massive rewrite? ;) Or in editing, how much weight does the editor have with plotline and characterization? Can she say "I don't think that Avon would act that way" or "Perhaps it would be better if _this_ happened instead"?
Mysti Frank is a lovely person, but I have to agree that I rarely want to buy the zines, either, for all the same reasons. She is very good about keeping them coming and that has to count in any fandom. I just wish they were better. I have often bought just to get Ellis ward stories.^[50]

[1994]:

Choosing to send stories only to Mysti because Mysti 'turns out a good enough zine; she does do line editing, but she won't make me change anything...' is a red flag to me. So is saying that 'I rather have fun, than worry about my writing..." ^[51]

[2003]:

More than one writer I know personally has stated that Mysti changes text significantly within stories without consulting the writer beforehand. This isn't an occasional situation - it has happened frequently enough that those writers will no longer deal with her.^[52]

[2003]:

I got the slash zine and opened it eagerly to my story. My first zine story... And the very first sentence had been rewritten! It had a nice repetitive quality to it when I wrote it ("waiting to be waited on") and she blunted the feel of it completely! I was so mad, I could hardly think! I believe I did confront her on it, and she said something vague like "oh! I was sure we sent you an edited copy..." Whatever.^[53]

[2003]:

...I replied to one of MF's solicitation letters and sent her a story, figuring to be a mensch; luckily, she sent me the story back to review before printing. I was skimming it and I was--well, at first confused, and then angry. The anthropologist? The smaller man? She'd taken out my names and my nice clear verbs (is and says) and put in epithets and "exciting!" verbs like "yowls"--okay, not yowls, I don't remember what she put in, but she put in things for "said" which flipped me out. So I pulled the story from the zine, but the thing is--what does this mean for the newbie fan who doesn't realize that she's being edited poorly? or doesn't feel she has the right to complain? ^[54]

[2003]:

I made the mistake of agenting a 'zine through her once--*shudder*. Took me 6 months to get my cheque to cover printing costs, and then I found out what she did to a friend of mine--which consisted of re-printing said friend's 'zine (after said friend had said NO) badly (from a xerox instead of the master) and lying about it (even after getting caught selling one of the pirated 'zines) and keeping the damn money--and that was IT as far as I was concerned.^[55]

[2003]:

I was just getting into online *fanfic* (as opposed to *fandom*), and I got one of the standard irritating emails (which, as a newbie to the whole net/zine thang, didn't strike me as irritating at the time), and sent off two stories, one slash, one gen. I got no edited version back, and given that I'm a little psycho/anal about editing myself before sending things for printing, I figured there were no problems.
[rant on] I got the slash zine and opened it eagerly to my story. My first zine story... And the very first sentence had been rewritten! It had a nice repetitive quality to it when I wrote it ("waiting to be waited on") and she blunted the feel of it completely! I was so mad, I could hardly think! I believe I did confront her on it, and she said something vague like "oh! I was sure we sent you an edited copy..." Whatever.
This made me eschew zine writing at all for years.^[56]

[2004]:

In October 2004, a fan recounted her powerful frustration about unauthorized changes that Mysti Frank had made to her story in "Seasoned Timber #3." She described how Mysti had made over 47 unapproved changes to her story [mainly adding epithets], putting in what the fan felt to be "clichés and awkward phrasing" into her story. Mysti, she said, agreed to add a vague errata to the zine, but the fan felt that this was a terrible solution, saying that it made the poor writing to be the fan's fault and that the fan would never know if fans were reading the version with the errata or the version without. The fan said she'd wished Mysti would have just put in an errata that said she'd made changes without the fan's consent. " I still think it's incredible that an editor would actually put cliches and awkward phrasing INTO a story, rather than take them out." ^[57]

[2004]:

The author of the fictin in A Little Bit of Cyn was upset at the changes made by Mysti without her consent to the stories in this zine. One was the addition of epithets, the addition of the word "cock," and many other changes that the author discovered when using a computer program to merge the versions of her submitted original text and the text that was eventually printed. The author stated it shocked "hell out of me," and that so many changes were made in one of the stories it didn't even feel like hers anymore.^[58]

[2005]:

it boils down to the lady who runs AWS being a piss-poor editor (in love with epithets), refusing to listen to the authors when it comes to formatting/editing, financing her lifestyle by overpricing the zines and publishing some people's work without their permission. It was a bit more complex than that (and -- Mysti Frank, I think her name is -- found the discussion and turned it into a full-blown argument) but those were the basic accusations, and there were too many well known names weighing in on it for me to discount it. While I've never published with her, as a reader, I don't care for the zines either. Nearly every zine I bought from that place was loaded with "the dark haired man" and "the Mountie/Cop/whatever," plus, and you're right, sometimes the quality just plain sucked with faded and/or missing pages, badly hole punched, grainy, copied artwork, etc. If I were to buy zines again, I'd buy them used or from other publishers.^[59]

[2008]:

[periwinkle27]: I used an agent.
Now, there were two different types of zines. One was "Ducky's Pain" which has a white cover with one striking graphic. The others were some of the BOLO series. Part of the point of the BOLO series is that the covers always match in color (think like "Relative Secrecy".)
[snipped]
Then I started seeing on ebay zines of these titles but with colored covers. I had been writing to ebay and saying those were xerox copies until I learned that the agent had replaced my covers. Now there are all these yucky copies floating out there, and if someone wants to resell it I won't acknowledge it.

[suchthefangirl]: ... it is not an agent's place at all to do something like that... an agent is like a babysitter, their job is to care for the baby not tattoo it.^[60]

Content Quality and/or Labeling, Incomplete Info on the Website

[1993]:

Well, Blake, Rabble and Roll #2 really only has one good story, and this is it. It is 37 pages (I counted this time) and the only slash in the zine, and most of the gen should be ashamed trees died for it.
It doesn't have a price, but most of hers run around $15--It's a little small, but has a (badish) color cover.
So that explains why I didn't just say, run out and buy this (though I do think it is still in print).
The bigger thing is Mysti as a whole editor/pub. She is a nice lady (I don't know her well, but have never had any trouble with her) but she is one of the most inconsistant editors out there. I admit I am a slash slut, and will read almost anything, but I wouldn't publish much/most of what I read. Mysti is great about deadlines, mails her orders out as soon as she gets them, does proofread for typos and basic grammar mistakes, and puts out very regular zines, which is enough for some good writers to trib to her. She also prints great amounts of shlock.
I keep hoping that someone a bit more discriminating, with a real interest in editing, as opposed to proofing, will volunteer to work with Mysti.
She has a long running series of Pros zines, (Chalk and Cheese, from Cowley calling Bodie and Doyle that). Many of them have good stories, all of them have some dreck. It is a pain to copy comb bound copies so you can keep the one or two good ones. I don't think we (even with a multiperson buying group) have bought one in many issues. I haven't heard good things about Green Eggs and Ham, or Brit Shriek.
Basically I guess this rant is because of the waste. There aren't that many really good motivated publishers in fandom. As Jenn has pointed out, it is hard thankless work. Someone with the skill and motivation to turn out full zines every year, on time, make her committments, be a good publisher, should have an editor so that all of that work isn't just wasted.
Generally, I hate to complain (openly) about things I don't intend to do anything about; but I don't know what I *could* do in this case. Maybe that's way I find it so frustrating!
Sandy ^[61]

[2003]:

Both zines [I ordered] were less than 100 pages and the color covers consisted of B&W artwork with only the name of the zine in color. One of the zines was almost completely net-published with only one new story. The other was a reprint of a story from a previous zine with a second story as a continuation of the first. For $20 apiece, the page count alone should have been higher but there was no way to know that in advance since neither zine was available at the con. It was also impossible to know that neither zine was completely new material and Mysti didn't volunteer that information at all.^[62]

[2003]:

I cannot comment on what has happened to others. In my case I bought a zine from Mysti a few years ago. Luckily I started reading it at the con and found that many pages were missing. Mysti was willing to allow me to exchange it at the con -- but I had to sort though the box of zines myself before I found one that did not have missing pages. I didn’t mind doing this -- but what bothered me was her unwillingness to remove any other defective zines I found or to advise others that they may want to check for the missing pages. She said that was the responsibility of the zine editor. In any event, a simple note on the table asking fans to check their zines would have been fine, IMHO. She did not do so. Most other zine sellers have sent out e-mail messages or alerts when they find they may have sold zines with missing pages. And since Mysti has her own announcement mailing list I was surprised she didn’t use that either. I am left with the decision to be very very careful before buying any zines from her again. I want to also say that this experience has *not* soured me on zines or buying zines. Most fans are really kind and will bend over backwards. ~Meghan ^[63]

[Comments by Mysti Frank 2005]:

There are two -- a whopping *two* -- of us who handle more than 2,500 titles in dozens of fandoms and send out more than 300 orders *a week*. I work on the webpage as often as I can, but I'm still about 400 zines behind in listing everything we have, and that's *just* listing the titles, a descriptive paragraph and a table of contents (if the zine has one) for each zine. It's been about eight years since I had the time to read every single zine we carry, so when listing the zines, I often have to ask the editors for a blurb or look through the zine and try to get the gist of the storyline so I can put it up on the website. As for reading and then listing a blurb for *each* story... Well, most anthologies have an average of ten stories, some with less, but many with fifteen or more. Multiply that by listing 30 or so zines each time I update the webpage, and you get an average of *300* synopses! And trying to guess *word count*...! I don't know about you, but I just don't have that kind of time. I give as much information as I can, and if someone asks for specifics on a zine, I try to answer their questions to the best of my ability.
If you'd like to come help us add all that information to the website, I would more than welcome it! Seriously! How close do you live to Maryland? I guarantee that if you sit for about ten hours and get the exacting specs you mentioned done for about 15 zines, then look at the other 2,485 to go, you'll quickly realize we do well to list as much information as we do. Especially when we've added another 20 zines to the pile while you've been working. Now you're five zines *behind* where you were when you sat down...
Looking at a zine's table of contents will at least give you an idea of how big the zine is (page numbers are included), and which fandoms are inside (if it's a multimedia zine) and how big each story is, as well as which artist(s) did the cover and interior work. That should help with the decision-making.
Come down to my house for just one day -- just one -- I'll even pay for your flight -- and immerse yourself in our business and *then* I'll listen to what you have to say. If you haven't been on this side of producing and selling zines, you really only have a faint idea of what goes into it, especially on a grand scale. And I repeat, if *you* want to spend all that time calculating word counts on zines that I only have paper access to (so no Word doing all the work), then I'm more than happy to let you. I just don't have the time. But if anyone has questions on a zine, I'll do my best to answer them.^[64]

[2007]:

I didn't realize until I wasted money on *two* 'zines, that h/c gen is sometimes code for J/D preslash. At least that's what the stories seemed like to me. I was furious about it. Hell, I'm still pissy about it. Agent With Style is lucky I didn't burn her table down at Shore Leave last year. Now I know better and won't waste my money on *any* 'zine anymore. I can't trust the descriptions because I don't know all the code words, apparently." ^[65]

Outing of Legal Names/Not Respecting Changes in Pseuds

In June 2001, a fan angrily took Frank to task on a mailing list for not only not returning the masters for her zines, not responding to or sending rude emails, but also outing her real name. The fan wrote that Frank had done it on purpose out of anger and when confronted, told her ""And sorry, I just posted also on the lists, using your real name since you decided to take everything public. If you're going to so open, I am, too." ^[66]

Fans have also complained about Frank's refusal to remove full names off of the "Agent With Style" webpage when requested to do so. Decades later, there are still names there that fans have asked multiple times to be redacted or changed.^[67]

A fan in 2001, astolat, posted a comment to Prospect-L, saying "feel free to repost this. :/" In the message, she said that she'd submitted a story to Mysti Frank some time ago to a zine. Despite the fact that she'd always posted under her pseudonym, Frank printed the story using her real name. Not only was this real name in the print zine, it was also on Agent With Style's website. astolat said she'd written Frank five times over the last two to three years and had never gotten a reply nor was the change made to the zine or the website. astolat said that she strongly urged other fans not to submit anything to Frank until she deals with this outing issue.^[68] In 2003, astolat wrote: "I'm the person who had problems with Mysti using my real name on a zine story and in the website listing and not removing it. Anyone who's interested in my comments on the topic can see my lj entry on the subject, since this thread is getting gigantic." ^[69]^{[note 13]}

Postage Scam

A fan in 2016 recounted how Frank would refuse to combine shipping packages and costs, a common courtesy. Frank would then ultimately send several zines together in single package and pocket the full shipping costs.^[70]

Communication

Frank was known for ignoring emails and letters from zine eds and writers asking for clarification regarding money and product. There have also been many complaints of rude, abusive emails from Frank to fans after Frank had been directly questioned about business practices.^[71]}}

Fiction Publishing Rights Permission

While "the rules" changed over the years, Frank kept a tight hold on submitted fiction early on.

By 1994, Frank was sending formal letters of agreement to her contributors. From one author:

Some publishers are now changing the standard "rights revert to author on publication" notice. Mysti Frank (of Chalk & Cheese) is sending a "Letter of Agreement" to all authors which states that she retains all rights to distribute the story for a period of one year, after which the author can do whatever she wants with it. This serves to put the above, previously unwritten "politeness rule" into a written form, which should certainly help prevent potential misunderstandings, and I think it's a good idea.^[72]

This contradicts what she said three years later regarding the submissions to Chalk and Cheese #18:

CHALK AND CHEESE 18--deadline Sept. 15, 1997. This issue is dedicated to Steven Alder (Murphy), who died recently, although any type of story, straight or slash, Murphy or not, is more than welcome! My guidelines are extremely simple: The story must be (and must remain) unposted anywhere on the net. The story must be 3 (of my) pages long to get a trib copy. Anything less gets you $5.00 off the price of the zine in which your story appears. I'm a very easy editor to work with, so let's showcase your work! Send me a story! ^[73]

The Hawaiian Request

In March 2007, Mysti Frank asked for fan donations to take a vacation:

Mysti posted this message to various mailing lists, including Prospect-L:

Also, I'd really like to take my partner Donna to Hawaii, but we can't come close to affording it, so, knowing how generous fans are, we're hoping there might be some of you out there who can donate Hilton Honors points, Delta Skymiles, Goldpoints, Mypoints, and if you don't collect them yourself, Coke Rewards numbers, which can be found under red caps on Coke products, as well as at the end of 12-can cartons. We'll accept just about anything. E-mail me at zines at agentwithstyle dot com if you'd like to donate any or all of the above. Thanks so much! ^[74]

From the zine Supernatural Virtual Season #5:

No bribes of more Coke Rewards points were offered. Dammit.

Some fan response to this request focused on Frank's "entitlement." One excerpt:

... it bothers me to see this creeping into fandom, people simply asking for money for what is basically a luxury, not a necessity, this idea that we should have something better and someone else should pay for it. Is it better if fans make up tragedies like attempted pseucide or fake illness and ask for money? No. But there's no credit given for being honest about wanting a vacation for free. Either way, it's still *wanting*, not needing, something at someone else's expense, it's still that sense of entitlement that we should just have what we want. ^[75]

Frank's response that same day (March 12, 2007), posted to Prospect-L:

Well, since I'm the one who asked, I figure I'm the one who should answer. Yes, I asked if anyone had any spare points or miles, if they wouldn't mind sending them my way. I said right up front why I was asking -- no, no one in my family is ill (thank Goddess), and, no, there's no attempted suicide or anything like that. I simply watched my hard-working partner spend hour-after-hour-after-day-after-day on her feet working her job, and felt sad that I had never been able to give her the honeymoon we both craved six years ago. I decided then and there that I was going to take her to Hawaii for a week, no matter what it costs. Well, it does cost -- a lot. So I thought maybe, while I'm working all my credit cards and points programs to get every last point and mile I can put toward that trip, a few fans might have some Coke rewards points they were just going to throw away, or some Hilton Honors points that were going to disappear because they weren't used in time. I've already said "thanks, but no" to five different wonderful fans who offered me money. I DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY. And if it comes to January, 2008, the month I'm working toward taking the trip in, and we don't have enough points or miles, then...we just don't go. It's as simple as that. If you can help, bless you! If not, that's okay, too. But I don't feel any entitlement, and all I can offer in exchange is lots of pictures from the trip, but if the trip doesn't happen, then... that's life.

Website Problems -- Failure to Deliver Products Paid For: 2015 and Onwards

Despite the fact the webpage appears to be active, this publisher is no longer in business. Do not send payment to this zine publisher.

As of 2015, Mysti Frank has disappeared and has not settled accounts with customers beforehand—she owes customers their paid-for zines—she owes publishers their sales receipts, zine masters, and their preprinted copies—she owes authors and artists their trib copies, and agreements regarding future publications—as well as many other financial obligations.

From an undated note at another zine publisher's website:

Although the website "Agent With Style" used to sell my hardcopy fanzines, sadly this is no longer happening. I'm not sure what happened to her--the website is still up, but no one has received anything they have ordered since May of 2015 and I have not been paid for zines sold. Please do not order from the site.^[76]

A February 22, 2016 repost from Zinelist:

If you possibly can, and permission to forward to other lists and venues where fanzine information is WELCOMED....
Please let people know that if they were considering ordering a zine from Agent With Style that they should perhaps ask here in zinelist or ask about and see if the zine is offered direct from the publisher. From an inquiry I've seen by someone who ordered a book from AWS, there are people who do not realise she is not the publisher of all those books, and they may get it far sooner going directly to the publisher. (and often cheaper).
AWS currently is MIA (but not deceased) and is not filling orders. MANY MANY of the zines on that site are offered by others. But some fen simply don't know that.^[77]

There are many comments on Agent With Style's Facebook page that complain about non-delivery of goods and no communication beginning in 2015. Some samples:

"Mysti I need you to contact me. I've been trying to reach you for months."
"I spent over $230 on zines that never appeared!!!! I want my money back!!!"
"Hi, I ordered a zine from you awhile back and have heard nothing...if you aren't going to send it to me can I have a refund please? I don't have money to throw away and a zine is a special treat for me. Please contact me."
"To who it may concern! I had gave you money through Pay Pal for some Fanzines. I have not received my Fanzines, But you received my Money. I was told by others that I am not the only one that has had this problem.I have tried several times to contact you. you did not return my Message."
"I HAVE TRIED TO CONTACT YOU AT YOUR WEBSITE ABOUT MY ORDER 3 TIMES!!!! AND BEEN IGNORED ALL 3 TIMES!!!! YOU ARE NOT COMING ACROSS AS A RELIABLE BUSINESS!!!!!! THESE SITE IS UNRELIABLE!!! I SUBMITTED 2 ORDERS 2 MONTHS AGO!!! THEY TOOK MY -MONEY, IGNORE ALL MY E-MAILS AND NEVER SENT MY FANZINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I also have an order problem. Ordered in jan. Yet to receive. Money down the drain." ^[78]

Zine Agents Withdraw Permissions: May 2016

While some zine publishers had previously stated that Agent With Style would no longer be allowed to sell their zines as early as 2006,^[79] a mass exodus occurred in 2016.

From Elan Press:

Agent With Style no longer has permission to sell any zines from Elan Press. These include any issue of Our Favorite Things, either issue of Vice Verse, or The Real Ghostbusters and the Web of Evil. At MediaWest*Con, Elan Press zines can be obtained from Jan Keeler, who sells out of her room. Otherwise, you may contact me directly for prices, info, and availability. Thank you. -- Elaine Batterby

From The Presses:

Agent With Style, and Mysti Frank, is no longer authorized to sell/distribute publications produced under THE PRESSES (specifically Bodacious Press and Heart of the Matter Press), or any titles by author Tami Marie, TM Alexander, or Robyn LaSalle. Agent With Style was ordered to cease production and sales of these publications in 2010, with an additional request to return all masters. As of May 2015, only a limited number of masters had been received. All zines are still listed for sale on the AWS website but it has been reported that no orders are being filled. This is considered an act of fraud. At this time, there are no authorized dealers of THE PRESSES publications. -- Tami Alexander

From Ancient's Gate:

As of February 2016 Agent With Style no longer agents our zines. Please do not purchase there as it appears they are not fulfilling orders.^[80]

From Ashton Press:

Agent with Style is no longer authorized to sell/distribute any Ashton Press publications. To the best of my knowledge they have not been filling orders since last July or August. I have received no communication from them since shortly after ShoreLeave. I have had no payment from them for zines sold since last MediaWest nor has the stock I provided them with been returned to me. Some of my zines are listed for sale on their website. Please do not order from them -- not only are they not authorized, they are unlikely to fill your order. All zines remain available directly from Ashton Press. -- Ann Wortham

From MKASHEF Enterprises:

As it's become extremely clear over the past month or so that Agent With Style is no longer functioning, I am withdrawing all my fanzine titles from Agent With Style. This means AWS is no longer permitted to reproduce any of my fanzines. Also, all my titles should be considered UNAVAILABLE through her website.
I'm sorry it's come to this, but it's obvious she isn't replying to any e-mails from fandom so I've been forced into this action.
All MKASHEF Enterprises fanzines are available from me, the editor/publisher. My website is only partly functioning at the moment so if it doesn't work for you, please contact me directly via e-mail ([email protected]) with any questions.
Should anyone become aware of my fanzines either being sold at conventions or via the AWS website, please let me know.
Thanks and sorry for the interruption!
Dovya Blacque

Hindman's Open Letter: February 2016

Hindman posted the open letter below to Mysti Frank's Facebook page on February 28, 2016.^[81]

Many of my friends won't know what this is about. Those who do understand, please SPREAD THE WORD. This is not rumour. This is FACT.
Agent with Style, aka Mysti Franks, who has agented zines for decades, is now not filling orders. She was last seen at Shore Leave in August 2015...
[...]
She is not filling orders, and has no, since at least August of 2015. I do not know if orders placed prior to that were filled. I and my publishing partner have gotten inquiries about it. IMPORTANT; If you placed, or know someone who placed an order with the AWS website, IMMEDIATELY go to Paypal and demand your money back. If you mailed a check and it was not cashed, and is of significant amounts, do a stop payment. If it was cashed, REPORT MAIL FRAUD at the post office. There ARE laws about offering items for sale and not delivering.
I know fandom does the "oh, maybe there's reasons..." and acts like we should all forgive each other everything. Bullshit. Allow me to put forward an idea:
Mysti Franks has treated fandom like an abuser treats an abused spouse. Do what she wants, then apologies, makes promises, suckers in people who believe the very convincing and apparently heartfelt apologies and excuses and oh... poor Mysti her family is always sick, her spouse didn't understand, we're mean and taking your money for zines isn't 'real life.' She gets forgiven by people who've not actually been cheated and they convince others that maybe we were wrong.... and Rinse and Repeat. This is ABUSER BEHAVIOUR.
Mysti has zines printed by other people in her house or somewhere. Zines that cost people thousands of dollars to print. They will likely never see them again. She has paper masters to other people's books and ignores all requests to return them. She has digital masters of those book at her printer's and will not tell anyone who that is, so they can tell the printer to not make more of certain titles. She has printed books without authorization (of mine and my partners, she's got about $5000 cover price of our books she was specifically told not to make. I have 3 inches worth of printed emails to back up exactly what she was told, and her admitting she did as she liked.).
She has not given some publishers an accounting and their money in over a year. A YEAR.
She has books on her site she is no longer authorized to sell and after years of "my site guy has to take them down," I have a snippy email saying she is the site guru. I have additional emails clearly pointing out her bold faced lies.
It is time to stop being ENABLERS. Mysti is the latest in a long line of fuckers who've ripped fandom off. Some have simply been incompetent with no head for business whatsoever, who didn't intend to rip off people, but that was the end result, usually due to them no listening to anyone who might know what the hell they're doing. MYSTI FRANKS is NOT in this category. This behaviour has been going on for nearly 30 years, and she's been caught in the past even pirating zines. She does as she damn well pleases and sucks up to you if you catch her. It's time to call a spade a spade.
THIS IS NOT JUST A SPITEFUL RANT. I CAN PROVE EVERYTHING I SAY IS COMPLETELY TRUE, AND NAME AT LEAST SEVEN PUBLISHERS WHO'VE BEEN SCREWED OVER. I don't hope anything like suicide or such, but I never want to see her near fandom again.^[82]

Metamorphoses Press' Open Letter: May 2016

This letter by Metamorphoses Press and TM Alexander was posted in two places: Facebook: AWS ^[83] and Facebook:Metamorphoses Press.^[84]

This open letter was followed by a list of 46 zine titles, representing about 57 zine issues.

PSA FOR FANDOM (cross-posted from Metamorphoses Press):
It has come to the attention of several fanzine editors who entrusted Mysti Frank (aka AGENT WITH STYLE!) with the distribution of their publications that orders being made through this site are not being filled, and that all communication with Ms. Frank have ceased. Many of us had lodged formal requests with Ms. Frank to refrain from selling our publications, and to return the masters to said publications, with little to no gratification. Speaking for myself, I requested a return of all masters in 2010; as of 2015, I had only received a fraction. Furthermore, repeated requests for a full accounting of zines in stock, and a request for the name of her printer so a Cease and Desist letter could be issued, had gone ignored or outright refused.
The last physical sighting of Ms. Frank had been last year at Shore Leave, a Maryland convention, where she has always had dealers tables; in 2015, her usual spot had been filled by another huckster. AWS has also failed to appear at other conventions, including RevelCon in Houston, and is not expected to show up at MediaWest*Con in Lansing, MI, over Memorial Day Weekend. All attempts to reach her by email, phone, and through other forms of social media have gone unanswered. There are many zine editors who have not been compensated, some for years, for sales of their publications. Ms. Frank must be aware of how much money she owes which we suspect is one of the reasons why she has been keeping such a low profile.
I and other editors, writers, and artists whose work is still being advertised on the AWS website strongly encourage fans not to purchase from this source, or Mysti Frank, now or in the future. Anyone who has placed an order through the AWS site and has not received merchandise, should contact PayPal and file a complaint citing fraud for a full refund.
Because this is fandom, we (the editors) do not stand a chance of any success in taking legal action against Ms. Frank -- although I and certainly any others who have original (read: non-fannish) publications might have some footing. I will be looking into this matter, and hope other writers/publishers whose work is listed on the AWS site under the "Original Fiction" heading will take similar action.
On a personal note, I am deeply dismayed by Ms. Frank's blatant disregard for the people she represented as well as the buyers. Fandom was the first place where I felt accepted for being "different" -- for being that girl who loved science fiction books, and writing stories about her favorite TV shows; who was considered a weirdo for dressing up as her favorite Star Wars characters, and for doodling pictures of Mr. Spock while sitting in class and listening to the teachers' daily lessons. Fandom is where I found family, after my own blood relatives had turned their backs on me. Fandom is where I learned to trust again...but over the years, I found that it was no different from anywhere else, especially when it came to my involvement with Mysti Frank. She pretended to be my friend. She bullied me into consenting to let her agent my work. She lied to me about how many copies of my zines she had sold. She refused to return my property which makes her a thief. I had defended her to all the people before me who said she was bad, because she had been so good to me in the beginning. Once I had my eyes opened, I apologized to those whose claims I had long denied and doubted. And that is why I have joined them in this fight, and am doing my best to spread the word. Because what Mysti Frank has done to Fandom is wrong. As long as the AWS website remains up and open to taking orders, she will continue to cheat fans -- zine editors and buyers alike.
I am also joining other zine publishers in issuing formal statements that AWS and Mysti Frank are no longer authorized to distribute my work. The following is a list of my publications (by fandom and title) currently listed on the AWS site; please do not order these from that source. Again, if you have placed an order that has not been filled, contact PayPal immediately for a refund.

Requiem's Open Letter: June 2016

This letter by Requiem Publications was posted in many places, these are two: Facebook: AWS ^[85] and Facebook: Requiem.^[86]

This open letter was followed by a list of 168 zine titles, representing about 238 zine issues.

The following email was been sent to Mysti Franks, her new spokesperson Casey Allen, on June 10, 2016.
It has also been sent to ConCom members of Tribal Forces, Shore Leave Dealers, Media West, ConneXions, Revel Con. It has been posted on the Facebook pages of Requiem, Agent With Style, and Mysti Franks.
PERMISSION AND REQUEST to share in appropriate venues where AWS may be advertising, or information re: media fanzines is relevant. Thank you.
June 10, 2016
Mysti Franks, aka Agent With Style, and Casey Allen,
By this email Bast Ravenshadow and Hindman, aka as Requiem Publications, do hereby state that the contract of May 2012 has been breached many times over by Agent With Style, by AWS's failure to 1. provide monthly statements on the 15th of each month since August 2015, (after being warned about this failure on previous occasions since May 2012) 2. represent and offer all books by Requiem which were in stock as of May 2012 at the conventions listed on the AWS website, 3. take and fill orders in a timely manner, and lastly 4. remove all sold out titles from the website within a month of sell out.
Timely manner for zine delivery is commonly described as well under a year, and some books remain, though sold out, several years later. Orders have not been filled in over ten months. AWS was to maintain communication in the event of an issue with any of the above, and has failed to do so on all counts. A communication black out of nearly ELEVEN MONTHS is certainly breach of contract in all regards.
Due to these breachs of contract, we now exercise our right to rescind all rights of selling on hand (as of May 2012) stock granted previously to AWS, and now demand the removal of ALL TITLES published by Requiem Publications, under that name or any division or previous incarnation thereof, (including but not limited to: AngelWings Press, Devious Developments, Secret Pleasures) from the AWS website, and all inventory of books printed ahead, (which we continue to maintain were done strictly against ALL written and verbal agreements of business with AWS), be completely destroyed. The right to sell this stock was strictly and entirely contingent on the May 2012 contract being fulfilled by AWS; this was not the case, so right to sale is irrevocably and immediately REVOKED.
Agent With Style is not to sell or offer any title whatsoever of Requiem Publication, in person or via the website retroactive to August 2015, when the contract was breached. Any orders now in house for these books should be REFUNDED to the buyer. We will be taking steps to notify fandom at large, as well as all Con Committees for those Fannish cons where zines are permitted, that any Requiem Publication titles being offered by AWS are wholly illegal and pirated copies and should be removed from the tables by the Con Committee and destroyed.

Thief in Fandom: Agent With Style's 1997 Now-Ironic Open Letter

In 1996, Peg Kennedy took over Bill Hupe's zine publishing and agenting empire, calling her new publishing company New Leaf Productions.

In a July 3, 1997 open letter, Mysti Frank, owner of "Agent With Style," ranted about Peg Kennedy's inability/refusal to fulfill financial and fannish obligations, something Frank duplicated in her own zine publishing and agenting business roughly seventeen years later.

This letter was sent far and wide. Some recipients: Virgule-L, the Quantum Leap slash list, Senad, and the Sentinel list gen mailing list. Mysti Frank's 1997 letter to fans:

This is a call-to-arms. I need to hear from any dealers who have been lied to and deceived by Peg Kennedy (aka New Leaf Productions) and would like to join a group of dealers who are putting their collective foot down. We are informing fandom at large that Peg Kennedy no longer has the right to sell our zines and we demand our stock and all monies owed to us be sent to us IMMEDIATELY. Join us and be counted. I will be writing up a statement that will be sent out to all dealers who wish to stand with us and make a joint statement so that they may make corrections and additions, then together we will be sending this missive to everyone in fandom we can think of. Please pass this message on to ANY list and ANY person you can think of so that we can stop Peg Kennedy from drawing in any new dealers who are unaware of the situation and how she has been treating all the people she is supposedly agenting for! Let's show Peg that fandom as a whole WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS.

See Thief in Fandom for more context, including a follow-up letter by Frank, as well as some fan responses.

General Reactions and Reviews

1999

From the author's notes on the online version of White Rabbit: "Thanks too, to [...] Agent with Style – who stepped forward and took a great load of work off of me by agreeing to print and agent this puppy."

2000

"Agent with Style... Yes, she's a wee bit pricey, but she is reliable and agents for a lot of people and for several fandoms; I think it's worth paying the extra for the convenience of credit card payment to abroad and the certainty of getting your zines." ^[87]
"As regards Agent With Style I've used them several times and found them to be prompt. It's a way to get zines otherwise not available, and to be honest I don't find their prices too bad. The normal price for K/S zines from the various publishers is $26/$28, and AWS's media zines run from $19-30, so it's much the same. Perhaps someone not used to paying $26 regularly for zines might be shocked but I've done it in K/S for so many years AWS doesn't seem overpriced." ^[88]
"I would also like to thank Mysti Frank for agenting my zines. Mysti, you're all doll!! And please feel free to visit her website for more great zine deals." ^[89]

2001

"I hope you get [the zines you ordered]. Personally, I wouldn't buy from Agent With Style. Or if I did, it would be in person, at a con, and not via mail order. I hear nothing but complaints about their mail order service. :-( ^[90]

2003

"geez, people. the thought occurs to me; get a life. if you don't like the way mysti does business, then don't do business with her. i want to say, right here and now, that i've never had a problem, and i've never witnesses anyone else having one. it's too easy to go online and say she did this or she did that, but, y'know,i take it all with a grain of salt. i wasn't there. i don't have a any firsthand accounts from people i trust. so, as far as i'm concerned, it didn't happen. the best way to judge accusations like this is through my own experience, and it's been fine. even good mysti has always delivered what she said she would (even when i was a rank newbie and didn't know shit). i find her a reasonable editor. she gets good art for my work, which thrills me. if her great crime is making money off zines, then, gods, let's tie her to a stake and burn her! better make it a fucking *big* stake, though, 'cuz we'll have to include all those fan artists out there as well. the ones that sell their work. at cons. sometimes at *gen* cons (heaven preserve us!) if fanfic writers are noodling with copyrights, what the heck do you call *that*? using a person's actual likeness and making money from it, rather than writing about characters. sure, i sometimes think it would be nice to have a cut of that money. once in a while i wonder what she made off something like panther tales. but, hey, i signed up for it knowing the facts. i can deal." ^[91]
"Some of the "feckin'" nonsense about Mysti is not that she makes money dealing zines. The objection I and many others have are about her questionable practices in the selling and publishing of zines. [...] Yes, there are those who have no problems whatsoever with Mysti. (I know of at least two publishers who are completely content with her and use her regularly.) However, these cases don't negate the negatives that I've heard and witnessed over the past several years and, honestly, I won't buy a thing from her and tend to warn anyone that asks of her reputation." ^[92]

2005

"Worse, they're publishing [the zine] out of Agent With Style, which guarantees that I wouldn't be buying it, even if it were a pure McShep zine. (I really wish I'd saved that LJ discussion about the horrors of publishing with AWS before it was taken down; man, was that ever an eye opener. I already knew their editing sucked, but, wow.) ^[93]

2008

"Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher: Thank you very kindly for your sixth letter of sycophantic praise for my four-year-old story, and for your praise of my blog, which I hope you find a pleasure to read today. I am flattered by your excitement at finding my email address (which has not changed in four years, and which is the admin email address of a list which I run and of which you are a member). While I am happy that you enjoyed the story, assuming you've actually read it rather than simply calculating its popularity and possible profit margin, nothing has changed since your last request to put this story in a zine. As I said then, I still find you morally reprehensible—a parasite upon the back of fandom rather than a participant in fandom—and I still wouldn't let you publish another story of mine if you were the last zine publisher in an ever-expanding zine-starved Universe. Though it is true that you haven't cheated and lied to every single writer and artist I know, I am confident that this is merely an oversight on your part, due most likely to time constraints for which no one could hold you responsible. Still, thanks for checking in! I promise to alert you to any change in my value structure significant enough to allow me to work with you (though in that event I may be too busy holding all Middle Earth in my dark thrall to respond to email in a timely fashion). Please address any further correspondence to someone who actually did just discover fandom yesterday. No love, -- Merry [edited to add: Comments on this post are now disallowed due to the fact that there were waaaaaaay many of them and I was getting bored.]" ^[94]
"I don't think we've ever actually tried actively shunning someone. We all whispered about Mysti Frank, we even spread information, but how many of us tried banning her from posting her ads on our lists? Or even calling for her to be banned? (And hey, guilty there myself.) From selling at our cons? Maybe shunning doesn't work, but I'm personally willing to give it the old college try." ^[95]
"She's said I can continue posting online (and if I was told no I just wouldn't do the zine). I hadn't even considered having a zine made until she e-mailed me to ask. I don't know what a 'trib' copy is and I don't use beta readers... She's said she'll be looking into getting artists for the covers, but she'll show them to me beforehand (the pictures that is, not the artists, lol). She also said if there was anyone in particular I wanted to just let her know. I know some people have had trouble with her Not to be nosy, but could you elaborate for me? Send it in a message to me if you prefer, but I'd really like to know what you mean by that. It makes me nervous. (In case nobody's noticed I'm very nervous about this now that I've agreed to it).^[96]

2009

"I'd just like to point out that Zines Aren't Dead. I mean, it's a specialist practise, like radio drama, but people still do it! (I know, because Mysti Frank keeps spamming the few mailing lists I'm on!)" ^[97]

2011

"I want to thank Mysti Frank, Judith Proctor and Kathy Resch for publishing my stuff for many years. They've always been aboveboard and honest to and with me." ^[98]

2013

"I've ordered a few fanzines from them and received them very quickly, with no problem, but be warned some of them are pretty expensive."—Another fan replies: "Update: Good Heavens, I just checked out the Agent With Style site and they ARE expensive. I will use discretion in deciding which ones to get and proceed with caution." ^[99]

Notes

^ From August 8, 1997, posted to a Pros mailing list: "Since I've been writing this privately for several weeks now, I'd like to make a list-wide announcement, if I may: THE FOLLOW ZINES ARE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS:" -- from Mysti Frank at CI5 Mailing List, listed were Chalk and Cheese #18, Sinful Simon, Come to Your Senses #4 and #5, Scared Senseless, and Sentry Duty #2, all but "Chalk and Cheese" were not Pros, which was an example of some very scattershot advertising.
^ In November 1997, Frank began requesting checks to be sent to "Agent With Style": "Please make all checks and money orders in US funds out to "Mystery Frank" and send to: Agent With Style, Mysti Frank" -- her November 11, 1997 ad for Chalk and Cheese #18 at CI5 Mailing List
^ a 1999 or earlier blurb: "We accept Master Card, Visa, and Discover. You can either fill out our secure order form below, send us your name as it appears on the card, the card number and expiration date by snail mail, or call us with the information at [redacted]. The answering machine on this line is secure and accessible only by Agent With Style employees. This information will be kept strictly confidential and will be destroyed upon completion of the transaction, if you wish. Conversely, you may leave your information on file with us, and whenever you wish to order some zines, you can simply send us the titles you'd like, we'll debit your card that amount and send out your zines immediately. There is a 5% processing fee on domestic (U.S.) credit card orders and an 8% processing fee on foreign credit card orders." --Wayback link to AWS
^ The domain name was updated on January 28, 2015. The registrar of the domain name, however, does not host the website. Network Solutions is the largest domain name registration service - they merely point the website "address" to the company that hosts the website files. Some people use the same registrar and the host, other people use different ones. "Agent With Style's website host is https://www.aplus.net/.
^ "We can now take orders by fax! Just fill out the order form, print it out and fax it to: (208) 567-8632. We've added a form where you can leave feedback about any of the zines you've bought from us. Let the authors, editors and other readers know what you think!"
^ "If you have a question or aren't sure about something, please e-mail us at AWS Answer Department. But if you'd like to leave feedback about a zine, please do so below. And feel free to comment on as many zines as you like, but please fill out a form for each one. Filling out a form does not guarantee that your comments will be posted on the webpage, although there's an excellent chance they will. Any comments will be passed on to the editor or author concerned. Please note that any profanity will be edited out, so if you can't think of another way to say it, we'll be happy to do it for you. Full names are not required, but do look nice, however, net names will be accepted. So....what did you think of that last zine you bought from us?"
^ "Put in a claim with Paypal. you will never see your zines. She's been totally out of fandom since August of '15." -- comment by Hindman at Facebook, January 11, 2017, see AWS Facebook page for other similar messages.
^ Mysti Frank's partial response on a mailing list to fan who complained about the incompleteness of info regarding zines on her website. Posted October 13, 2005
^ "I was just getting into online *fanfic* (as opposed to *fandom*), and I got one of the standard irritating emails (which, as a newbie to the whole net/zine thang, didn't strike me as irritating at the time), and sent off two stories, one slash, one gen." -- comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ "Thank you very kindly for your sixth letter of sycophantic praise for my four-year-old story, and for your praise of my blog, which I hope you find a pleasure to read today... While I am happy that you enjoyed the story, assuming you've actually read it rather than simply calculating its popularity and possible profit margin, nothing has changed since your last request to put this story in a zine." - comment by merryish at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ "I'm thinking about the attitude towards Mysti Frank, who makes her living from selling zines and is much reviled for it because it is so out of the fannish norm." -- moonlettuce: So, I was thinking..., ^{Archived version} (2004)
^ "(Yes, Agent With Style is a frequent cause of wank in zine circles. The woman who runs it is prone to flaming people and throwing fits when she's criticized too.)" -- Fandom, uh.... unicycles? Re: Does anyone here buy fanzines, or have you bought them in the past?, January 26, 2013
^ Reply from Frank at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher: "One person asked me to change her real name to a psuedonym on the table-of-contents listing on my webpage, which I did immediately in March, 2001. She continued to harrass me about it; I continued to tell her I *had* changed it. She finally complained on a mailing list in August, 2001, so I repeated that I *had* taken her name off the webpage months ago. It turns out that she was repeatedly accessing the search engine on my webpage rather than looking at the listing directly. The search engine, since it was free, hadn't updated itself in several months, even though I had requested that service from the company. Had she simply looked at the actual listing, she would have seen that I complied immediately. Yet the rumor still persists. Did she say she was sorry in the same public forum she had used to accuse me? Of course not. Did she even apologize in private e-mail? No. And as you can see from my various posts, even though I know many of your real names, I'm not using them because that would be a breach of confidence. Since I understand the need to keep real names hidden sometime, I am always willing to make *any* changes to names when asked."

References

^ AWS's Facebook page (accessed June 19, 2910)
^ A list of 2000-05 cons posted at the website is here, a 2001 list is here.
^ untitled Facebook post, June 12, 2016, ^{Archived version}
^ includes fan discussion at Frank's public Facebook page: Facebook, ^{Archived version}
^ AWS's Facebook page (accessed June 19, 2910)
^ "Domain Name: AGENTWITHSTYLE.COM Registry Domain ID: 1916704_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com Updated Date: 2011-09-03T12:41:44Z Creation Date: 1998-09-04T04:00:00Z Registry Expiry Date: 2020-09-03T04:00:00Z Registrar: Network Solutions, LLC. Registrar IANA ID: 2 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected] Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 1.8003337680 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/eppclientTransferProhibited Name Server: NS1.ABAC.COM Name Server: NS2.ABAC.COM DNSSEC: unsigned Last update of whois database: 2018-01-16T17:57:12Z" -- Whois, accessed January 16, 2018
^ "What's New". Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
^ her comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ from [C C] at Dear Disreputable Zine Dealer
^ stated on a mailing list, from MPH's notes, May 9, 2003
^ Feb 23, 1994 post to the Virgule-L mailing list, quoted anonymously with permission.
^ Morgan Dawn's personal notes accessed April 19, 2016.
^ "To notify subscribers of any changes, new listings or brand new zines available on the Agent With Style webpage. Tired of wading through all the listing to find the new ones? Subscribe to this announcement-only list and never have to do that again!" (Unless you want to!) -- agentwithstyle
^ Facebook Timeline
^ "Facebook page". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help)
^ from WANT US TO AGENT FOR YOU?, accessed March 2, 2016
^ from WANT US TO AGENT FOR YOU?, accessed March 2, 2016
^ Jean Kluge at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ Lorelei. "PSA about zine publisher". Archived from the original on 2021-01-25.
^ "Public Service Announcement Bandwagon". Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
^ timberwolfoz at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ Mrs. Potato Head's personal recollection.
^ her comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ her comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Suzan Lovett
^ comments by Sandy Hereld on a private mailing list, quoted with permission (July 3, 1997)
^ from [C C] at Dear Disreputable Zine Dealer
^ Mysti Frank's partial response on a mailing list to fan who complained about the incompleteness of info regarding zines on her website. Posted October 13, 2005
^ anonymous, discussion on a private mailing list dated July 19, 2000, quoted with permission
^ quoted anonymously from The Pits mailing list (May 22, 2001)
^ comment, used here anonymously, from a mailing list, October 17, 2002, MPH's notes
^ PSA about zine publisher, post by Lorelei, March 6, 2003, accessed November 14, 2008, a copy is archived here
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by saraid, September 7, 2003
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003
^ The Brat Queen at Explain this to me like I'm a four year old, ^{Archived version}, April 7, 2004
^ {{cite web | url = http://moonlettuce.dreamwidth.org/118085.html | title = So, I was thinking... | author = mandragoral } archive link }
^ temaris. "So, I was thinking..." Archived from the original on 2016-06-11.; archive link
^ comment by Darththalia at Fandom and Money, August 11, 2005
^ leethet at MCU_Canteen. "But, seriously folks". Archived from the original on 2016-05-11.; archive link (June 2009)
^ a post to a mailing list, July 2001
^ On Zine Costs post dated Jul. 13th, 2006; reference link.
^ [1], forwarded post to MFU_Canteen by Bast of Requiem Publications, November 2, 2011
^ "Re: Old fandoms".
^ from Escapade/Escapade 2000
^ from Escapade/Escapade 2000
^ Mrs. Potato Head's notes and general recollections.
^ comment by The Brat Queen On zines and such, September 7, 2003
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003
^ comment by Tami Marie Alexander at Facebook:Metamorphoses Press, ^{Archived version}, February 25, 2016
^ comments by Sandy Hereld, posted to virgule-L, quoted with permission, first response by a fan named [A R], second response by Ruth Kurz (May 4, 1993)
^ Sandy Herrold, from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (January 10, 1994)
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003
^ from a comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003
^ from a comment by cesperanza at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003
^ comment by ljc at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)
^ from a comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003
^ from MPH's notes
^ MPH's notes, 2004
^ "Missing the Zine Love". Archived from the original on 2016-07-11.
^ "I needs opinions or at least to stop being incandescently mad". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help)
^ Sandy Hereld, from a post to Slashfen on May 4, 1993, quoted with permission
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003
^ from a comment by Meghan at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003
^ Mysti Frank's comments on a mailing list, October 13, 2005
^ Canon vs. Fanon, part 8: Daniel, Pacifism, and Weapons Skills, comment by shuttthef-up, February 7th, 2007
^ Mrs. Potato Head's notes and personal recollection.
^ Mrs. Potato Head's personal recollection
^ paraphrased message posted to Prospect-L, August 9, 2001
^ from Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher
^ comment at Zinelist, June 8, 2016
^ "Fandom, uh.... unicycles? Re: Does anyone here buy fanzines, or have you bought them in the past?".
^ Feb 23, 1994 post to the Virgule-L mailing list, quoted anonymously with permission.
^ Frank's comment on Virgule-L (August 8, 1997)
^ one of Mysti Frank's March 2007 posts various mailing lists, one them was Prospect-L on March 12, 2007.
^ comment at Prospect-L, quoted anonymously (March 12, 2007). More of this response: "One of the things I love about fandom and that always keeps me coming back to it is the warm fuzzies I get from it. People do help each other out often and hugely at times. I've been on both sides of it, asked for help when I needed it and I do my best to pass it on whenever I can. We give, we help, we cry, we laugh, we're there for each other, we bring out the best in each other. And in TS fandom, I've really liked all the charity work, instead of giving things to the actors (who generally do have money, even on the smaller shows, they usually still make a good living), helping out those in need, helping out animals, it encourages us to think beyond ourselves, beyond that TV show, to be better people. So it bothers me to see this creeping into fandom, people simply asking for money for what is basically a luxury, not a necessity, this idea that we should have something better and someone else should pay for it. Is it better if fans make up tragedies like attempted pseucide or fake illness and ask for money? No. But there's no credit given for being honest about wanting a vacation for free. Either way, it's still *wanting*, not needing, something at someone else's expense, it's still that sense of entitlement that we should just have what we want. The statement was made elsewhere that asking for points isn't asking for money but I disagree with that. Points are earned by spending money and when used, they take the place of money, getting free or upgraded airline tickets or hotel rooms, getting free or cheaper products, so yes, points *are* money. And somewhere in there will be someone who reads that and says "oh, I don't have any points or credit cards or whatever so here, let me give you some cash. I can shut my mouth and let it go, say it's none of my business, say it doesn't really hurt anyone - but it does, I think we all become a little less if we don't push ourselves to be better, don't speak up when we see something happening that we think is wrong."
^ "Lone Money Ezines". Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
^ "Tea and Swiss Roll: Zines and Agent with Style Distributor". Archived from the original on 2016-05-07.
^ comments at AgentWithStyle Facebook
^ One example was Ashton Press in 2006. Another example was GriffinSong Press in 2007.
^ Ancient's Gate, ^{Archived version}
^ Beth Singer reposted it to her own Facebook page on February 29, 2016, along with a reminder to fans that since Agent With Style was out of business, Singer would be very happy to sell zines to fans. -- Doctor Beth's Facebook Page, February 29, 2016
^ Official Notice, ^{Archived version} (February 28, 2016)
^ archive link for the post at Facebook: AWS
^ archive link for the post at Facebook: Metamorphoses Press
^ archive link for the post at Facebook: AWS.
^ archive link for the post at Facebook: Requiem.
^ from DIAL #14
^ from Discovered in a Letterbox #16
^ from The Alternate Sentinel, author's introduction
^ Shayney at Mary Rottler & Lynn Syck , July 7, 2001
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by saraid, September 7, 2003
^ mysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003
^ "Missing the zine love". Archived from the original on 2016-07-11.; archive link (April 5, 2005)
^ Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher accessed November 19, 2008, a copy is archived here and here
^ 2008 comment by cereta at one evil preppie, ^{Archived version}
^ comment by sarkywoman at Fanzine, ^{Archived version}, May 10, 2008
^ zvi. "Re: Old fen, new Dreamwidth". Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. archive link (April 16, 2009)
^ comment by Melody C at FYI About my fanzines, ^{Archived version}, December 4, 2011
^ blue enigma. "The Quantum Leap Podcast". Archived from the original on 2016-07-23.; archive link

[6] From August 8, 1997, posted to a Pros mailing list: "Since I've been writing this privately for several weeks now, I'd like to make a list-wide announcement, if I may: THE FOLLOW ZINES ARE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS:" -- from Mysti Frank at CI5 Mailing List, listed were Chalk and Cheese #18, Sinful Simon, Come to Your Senses #4 and #5, Scared Senseless, and Sentry Duty #2, all but "Chalk and Cheese" were not Pros, which was an example of some very scattershot advertising.

[7] In November 1997, Frank began requesting checks to be sent to "Agent With Style": "Please make all checks and money orders in US funds out to "Mystery Frank" and send to: Agent With Style, Mysti Frank" -- her November 11, 1997 ad for Chalk and Cheese #18 at CI5 Mailing List

[8] 1999 or earlier blurb: "We accept Master Card, Visa, and Discover. You can either fill out our secure order form below, send us your name as it appears on the card, the card number and expiration date by snail mail, or call us with the information at [redacted]. The answering machine on this line is secure and accessible only by Agent With Style employees. This information will be kept strictly confidential and will be destroyed upon completion of the transaction, if you wish. Conversely, you may leave your information on file with us, and whenever you wish to order some zines, you can simply send us the titles you'd like, we'll debit your card that amount and send out your zines immediately. There is a 5% processing fee on domestic (U.S.) credit card orders and an 8% processing fee on foreign credit card orders." --Wayback link to AWS

[10] The domain name was updated on January 28, 2015. The registrar of the domain name, however, does not host the website. Network Solutions is the largest domain name registration service - they merely point the website "address" to the company that hosts the website files. Some people use the same registrar and the host, other people use different ones. "Agent With Style's website host is https://www.aplus.net/.

[11] "We can now take orders by fax! Just fill out the order form, print it out and fax it to: (208) 567-8632. We've added a form where you can leave feedback about any of the zines you've bought from us. Let the authors, editors and other readers know what you think!"

[12] "If you have a question or aren't sure about something, please e-mail us at AWS Answer Department. But if you'd like to leave feedback about a zine, please do so below. And feel free to comment on as many zines as you like, but please fill out a form for each one. Filling out a form does not guarantee that your comments will be posted on the webpage, although there's an excellent chance they will. Any comments will be passed on to the editor or author concerned. Please note that any profanity will be edited out, so if you can't think of another way to say it, we'll be happy to do it for you. Full names are not required, but do look nice, however, net names will be accepted. So....what did you think of that last zine you bought from us?"

[14] "Put in a claim with Paypal. you will never see your zines. She's been totally out of fandom since August of '15." -- comment by Hindman at Facebook, January 11, 2017, see AWS Facebook page for other similar messages.

[18] Mysti Frank's partial response on a mailing list to fan who complained about the incompleteness of info regarding zines on her website. Posted October 13, 2005

[29] "I was just getting into online *fanfic* (as opposed to *fandom*), and I got one of the standard irritating emails (which, as a newbie to the whole net/zine thang, didn't strike me as irritating at the time), and sent off two stories, one slash, one gen." -- comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[30] "Thank you very kindly for your sixth letter of sycophantic praise for my four-year-old story, and for your praise of my blog, which I hope you find a pleasure to read today... While I am happy that you enjoyed the story, assuming you've actually read it rather than simply calculating its popularity and possible profit margin, nothing has changed since your last request to put this story in a zine." - comment by merryish at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[36] "I'm thinking about the attitude towards Mysti Frank, who makes her living from selling zines and is much reviled for it because it is so out of the fannish norm." -- moonlettuce: So, I was thinking..., ^{Archived version} (2004)

[54] "(Yes, Agent With Style is a frequent cause of wank in zine circles. The woman who runs it is prone to flaming people and throwing fits when she's criticized too.)" -- Fandom, uh.... unicycles? Re: Does anyone here buy fanzines, or have you bought them in the past?, January 26, 2013

[82] Reply from Frank at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher: "One person asked me to change her real name to a psuedonym on the table-of-contents listing on my webpage, which I did immediately in March, 2001. She continued to harrass me about it; I continued to tell her I *had* changed it. She finally complained on a mailing list in August, 2001, so I repeated that I *had* taken her name off the webpage months ago. It turns out that she was repeatedly accessing the search engine on my webpage rather than looking at the listing directly. The search engine, since it was free, hadn't updated itself in several months, even though I had requested that service from the company. Had she simply looked at the actual listing, she would have seen that I complied immediately. Yet the rumor still persists. Did she say she was sorry in the same public forum she had used to accuse me? Of course not. Did she even apologize in private e-mail? No. And as you can see from my various posts, even though I know many of your real names, I'm not using them because that would be a breach of confidence. Since I understand the need to keep real names hidden sometime, I am always willing to make *any* changes to names when asked."

[1] AWS's Facebook page (accessed June 19, 2910)

[2] A list of 2000-05 cons posted at the website is here, a 2001 list is here.

[3] untitled Facebook post, June 12, 2016, ^{Archived version}

[4] udes fan discussion at Frank's public Facebook page: Facebook, ^{Archived version}

[5] AWS's Facebook page (accessed June 19, 2910)

[9] "Domain Name: AGENTWITHSTYLE.COM Registry Domain ID: 1916704_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com Registrar URL: http://networksolutions.com Updated Date: 2011-09-03T12:41:44Z Creation Date: 1998-09-04T04:00:00Z Registry Expiry Date: 2020-09-03T04:00:00Z Registrar: Network Solutions, LLC. Registrar IANA ID: 2 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected] Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 1.8003337680 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/eppclientTransferProhibited Name Server: NS1.ABAC.COM Name Server: NS2.ABAC.COM DNSSEC: unsigned Last update of whois database: 2018-01-16T17:57:12Z" -- Whois, accessed January 16, 2018

[13] "What's New". Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved March 1, 2016.

[15] r comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[16] rom [C C] at Dear Disreputable Zine Dealer

[17] stated on a mailing list, from MPH's notes, May 9, 2003

[19] Feb 23, 1994 post to the Virgule-L mailing list, quoted anonymously with permission.

[20] Morgan Dawn's personal notes accessed April 19, 2016.

[21] "To notify subscribers of any changes, new listings or brand new zines available on the Agent With Style webpage. Tired of wading through all the listing to find the new ones? Subscribe to this announcement-only list and never have to do that again!" (Unless you want to!) -- agentwithstyle

[22] Facebook Timeline

[23] "Facebook page". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help)

[24] rom WANT US TO AGENT FOR YOU?, accessed March 2, 2016

[25] rom WANT US TO AGENT FOR YOU?, accessed March 2, 2016

[26] Jean Kluge at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[27] Lorelei. "PSA about zine publisher". Archived from the original on 2021-01-25.

[28] "Public Service Announcement Bandwagon". Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved November 14, 2008.

[31] timberwolfoz at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[32] Mrs. Potato Head's personal recollection.

[33] r comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[34] r comment at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[35] Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Suzan Lovett

[37] ts by Sandy Hereld on a private mailing list, quoted with permission (July 3, 1997)

[38] rom [C C] at Dear Disreputable Zine Dealer

[39] Mysti Frank's partial response on a mailing list to fan who complained about the incompleteness of info regarding zines on her website. Posted October 13, 2005

[40] ymous, discussion on a private mailing list dated July 19, 2000, quoted with permission

[41] quoted anonymously from The Pits mailing list (May 22, 2001)

[42] t, used here anonymously, from a mailing list, October 17, 2002, MPH's notes

[43] PSA about zine publisher, post by Lorelei, March 6, 2003, accessed November 14, 2008, a copy is archived here

[44] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by saraid, September 7, 2003

[45] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003

[46] The Brat Queen at Explain this to me like I'm a four year old, ^{Archived version}, April 7, 2004

[47] {{cite web | url = http://moonlettuce.dreamwidth.org/118085.html | title = So, I was thinking... | author = mandragoral } archive link }

[48] temaris. "So, I was thinking..." Archived from the original on 2016-06-11.; archive link

[49] t by Darththalia at Fandom and Money, August 11, 2005

[50] thet at MCU_Canteen. "But, seriously folks". Archived from the original on 2016-05-11.; archive link (June 2009)

[51] st to a mailing list, July 2001

[52] On Zine Costs post dated Jul. 13th, 2006; reference link.

[53] [1], forwarded post to MFU_Canteen by Bast of Requiem Publications, November 2, 2011

[55] "Re: Old fandoms".

[56] rom Escapade/Escapade 2000

[57] rom Escapade/Escapade 2000

[58] Mrs. Potato Head's notes and general recollections.

[59] t by The Brat Queen On zines and such, September 7, 2003

[60] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003

[61] t by Tami Marie Alexander at Facebook:Metamorphoses Press, ^{Archived version}, February 25, 2016

[62] ts by Sandy Hereld, posted to virgule-L, quoted with permission, first response by a fan named [A R], second response by Ruth Kurz (May 4, 1993)

[63] Sandy Herrold, from Virgule-L, quoted with permission (January 10, 1994)

[64] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003

[65] rom a comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003

[66] rom a comment by cesperanza at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003

[67] t by ljc at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher (2003)

[68] rom a comment by deannie at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003

[69] rom MPH's notes

[70] MPH's notes, 2004

[71] "Missing the Zine Love". Archived from the original on 2016-07-11.

[72] "I needs opinions or at least to stop being incandescently mad". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= requires |archive-date= (help)

[73] Sandy Hereld, from a post to Slashfen on May 4, 1993, quoted with permission

[74] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003

[75] rom a comment by Meghan at Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher, 2003

[76] Mysti Frank's comments on a mailing list, October 13, 2005

[77] Canon vs. Fanon, part 8: Daniel, Pacifism, and Weapons Skills, comment by shuttthef-up, February 7th, 2007

[78] Mrs. Potato Head's notes and personal recollection.

[79] Mrs. Potato Head's personal recollection

[80] raphrased message posted to Prospect-L, August 9, 2001

[81] rom Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher

[83] t at Zinelist, June 8, 2016

[84] "Fandom, uh.... unicycles? Re: Does anyone here buy fanzines, or have you bought them in the past?".

[85] Feb 23, 1994 post to the Virgule-L mailing list, quoted anonymously with permission.

[86] Frank's comment on Virgule-L (August 8, 1997)

[87] Mysti Frank's March 2007 posts various mailing lists, one them was Prospect-L on March 12, 2007.

[88] t at Prospect-L, quoted anonymously (March 12, 2007). More of this response: "One of the things I love about fandom and that always keeps me coming back to it is the warm fuzzies I get from it. People do help each other out often and hugely at times. I've been on both sides of it, asked for help when I needed it and I do my best to pass it on whenever I can. We give, we help, we cry, we laugh, we're there for each other, we bring out the best in each other. And in TS fandom, I've really liked all the charity work, instead of giving things to the actors (who generally do have money, even on the smaller shows, they usually still make a good living), helping out those in need, helping out animals, it encourages us to think beyond ourselves, beyond that TV show, to be better people. So it bothers me to see this creeping into fandom, people simply asking for money for what is basically a luxury, not a necessity, this idea that we should have something better and someone else should pay for it. Is it better if fans make up tragedies like attempted pseucide or fake illness and ask for money? No. But there's no credit given for being honest about wanting a vacation for free. Either way, it's still *wanting*, not needing, something at someone else's expense, it's still that sense of entitlement that we should just have what we want. The statement was made elsewhere that asking for points isn't asking for money but I disagree with that. Points are earned by spending money and when used, they take the place of money, getting free or upgraded airline tickets or hotel rooms, getting free or cheaper products, so yes, points *are* money. And somewhere in there will be someone who reads that and says "oh, I don't have any points or credit cards or whatever so here, let me give you some cash. I can shut my mouth and let it go, say it's none of my business, say it doesn't really hurt anyone - but it does, I think we all become a little less if we don't push ourselves to be better, don't speak up when we see something happening that we think is wrong."

[89] "Lone Money Ezines". Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved March 13, 2017.

[90] "Tea and Swiss Roll: Zines and Agent with Style Distributor". Archived from the original on 2016-05-07.

[91] ts at AgentWithStyle Facebook

[92] One example was Ashton Press in 2006. Another example was GriffinSong Press in 2007.

[93] Ancient's Gate, ^{Archived version}

[94] Beth Singer reposted it to her own Facebook page on February 29, 2016, along with a reminder to fans that since Agent With Style was out of business, Singer would be very happy to sell zines to fans. -- Doctor Beth's Facebook Page, February 29, 2016

[95] Official Notice, ^{Archived version} (February 28, 2016)

[96] rchive link for the post at Facebook: AWS

[97] rchive link for the post at Facebook: Metamorphoses Press

[98] rchive link for the post at Facebook: AWS.

[99] rchive link for the post at Facebook: Requiem.

[100] rom DIAL #14

[101] rom Discovered in a Letterbox #16

[102] rom The Alternate Sentinel, author's introduction

[103] Shayney at Mary Rottler & Lynn Syck , July 7, 2001

[104] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by saraid, September 7, 2003

[105] ysti frank and feckin nonsense, ^{Archived version}, comment by shelaghc, September 7, 2003

[106] "Missing the zine love". Archived from the original on 2016-07-11.; archive link (April 5, 2005)

[107] Dear Disreputable Zine Publisher accessed November 19, 2008, a copy is archived here and here

[108] 2008 comment by cereta at one evil preppie, ^{Archived version}

[109] t by sarkywoman at Fanzine, ^{Archived version}, May 10, 2008

[110] zvi. "Re: Old fen, new Dreamwidth". Archived from the original on 2019-10-16. archive link (April 16, 2009)

[111] t by Melody C at FYI About my fanzines, ^{Archived version}, December 4, 2011

[112] ue enigma. "The Quantum Leap Podcast". Archived from the original on 2016-07-23.; archive link

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[2]

[3]

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[note 2]

[note 3]

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[note 4]

[note 5]

[note 6]

[7]

[note 7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[note 8]

[11]

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[13]

[14]

[15]

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[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[note 9]

[note 10]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[note 11]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[note 12]

[43]

[44]

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[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

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[52]

[53]

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[55]

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Zine Publisher
Name:	Agent With Style
Contact:	Mysti Frank
Type:	agent, publisher
Fandoms:	multimedia
Status:	In 1986, it began offline as "Whatever You Do, Don't Press" ^[1] -- In 1997-2015, the name changed to "Agent With Style." -- Between August 2015 and August 2020, the website was still online, the Pay Pal button was functioning, but customers did not receive their orders.
Other:
URL:	Agent With Style (offline beginning in mid-2020) archive link for the main site page 2011 banner
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Some Historical Dates 2 Some Insight into the Massive Volume and Scale of This Business 3 Some History 4 Web Presence 5 Requesting Zines to Sell 6 The FAQ Page 7 Creative Disclaimers 8 The Shopping Cart That Never Happened 9 Controversies 9.1 Profit 9.2 Selling Zines After She'd Been Requested Not To 9.3 Printing Quality 9.4 Recording Quality 9.5 Not Receiving Trib Copies or Masters 9.6 Quality of Editing, Revisions Without Permission, and Publishing Without Permission 9.7 Content Quality and/or Labeling, Incomplete Info on the Website 9.8 Outing of Legal Names/Not Respecting Changes in Pseuds 9.9 Postage Scam 9.10 Communication 9.11 Fiction Publishing Rights Permission 9.12 The Hawaiian Request 10 Website Problems -- Failure to Deliver Products Paid For: 2015 and Onwards 10.1 Zine Agents Withdraw Permissions: May 2016 10.2 Hindman's Open Letter: February 2016 10.3 Metamorphoses Press' Open Letter: May 2016 10.4 Requiem's Open Letter: June 2016 10.5 Thief in Fandom: Agent With Style's 1997 Now-Ironic Open Letter 11 General Reactions and Reviews 11.1 1999 11.2 2000 11.3 2001 11.4 2003 11.5 2005 11.6 2008 11.7 2009 11.8 2011 11.9 2013 12 Notes 13 References

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Agent With Style

Some Historical Dates

Some Insight into the Massive Volume and Scale of This Business

Some History

Web Presence

Requesting Zines to Sell

The FAQ Page

Creative Disclaimers

The Shopping Cart That Never Happened

Controversies

Profit

Selling Zines After She'd Been Requested Not To

Printing Quality

Recording Quality

Not Receiving Trib Copies or Masters

Quality of Editing, Revisions Without Permission, and Publishing Without Permission

Content Quality and/or Labeling, Incomplete Info on the Website

Outing of Legal Names/Not Respecting Changes in Pseuds

Postage Scam

Communication

Fiction Publishing Rights Permission

The Hawaiian Request

Website Problems -- Failure to Deliver Products Paid For: 2015 and Onwards

Zine Agents Withdraw Permissions: May 2016

Hindman's Open Letter: February 2016

Metamorphoses Press' Open Letter: May 2016

Requiem's Open Letter: June 2016

Thief in Fandom: Agent With Style's 1997 Now-Ironic Open Letter

General Reactions and Reviews

1999

2000

2001

2003

2005

2008

2009

2011

2013

Notes

References

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