Predators are on the lookout for scammable new or discouraged writers.
by Anne R. Allen
As long as there are writers, there will be writing scams. Hungry predators will always be lying in wait, ready to pounce on any tender young scribe who strays from the safety of the mainstream herd.
And now there are an increasing number of scammers who target the established writer as well—hoping to profit from the discouragement so many indies are feeling as Amazon’s changing policies and algorithms leave them behind.
In the 1990s, bogus literary agencies were everywhere. They advertised directly to writers in magazines and online—often buying ads in prestigious magazines like Writers Digest and Poets and Writers.
They charged huge “reading fees” for submissions, but never actually sold more than a handful of books to publishers. Or they sold manuscripts to bogus publishing operations they owned themselves. Often they’d also send their victims to their own run-through-spellcheck “editing services.” Another trick was to charge ridiculously high fees for “copying and postage” in the pre-digital submissions era.
In the 2000s, writers saw the rise of the bogus POD publisher. Companies like PublishAmerica scammed thousands with overpriced publishing services—often masquerading as traditional publishers. They also made predatory rights grabs—sometimes tying up an author’s copyright for a nearly a decade.
PublishAmerica quietly evaporated last year. But they never gave their authors a return of their rights. Writer Beware reports that some PA books are still selling on Amazon, but the authors get no royalties, because there’s no place to send the money.
Early in the last decade, the most successful vanity and self-publishing companies were bought out by the infamous Author Solutions. AS then managed to get into bed with some of the most respected names in publishing, like Thomas Nelson and Hay House, and even Big Five houses like Simon and Schuster and Penguin Random House.
Their big triumph came when Penguin Random House bought Author Solutions in 2012.
But PRH managed to unload it 2016 after a huge negative backlash.
Beware the Spawn of Author Solutions in 2019
Now, with the slow demise of Author Solutions, offspring of the mega-scammer are reviving its worst practices. Author Solutions has become a Hydra that constantly sprouts new heads.
These spinoffs are hitting our inboxes and phones with re-animated scams from the Author Solutions playbook. There are offers of marketing packages, pricey fake book reviews, and a new one: an offer to republish your self-pubbed book with a “real” publisher. (Bogus agent optional.)
A lot of the new crop of scammers are apparently former Author Solutions employees in the Philippines who have access to the Author Solutions database. This means former Author Solutions victims are being targeted once again
But even established authors are getting the emails. I’ve had a few. Mostly they’re obvious scams full of bad grammar and outrageous claims and promises, but some can look pretty legit.
One tip-off: the scammers tend to assume you have only one book. They often have researched enough to know one of your titles, and part of the pitch is to tell you how badly you’ve marketed it. They’ll also scornfully inform you that the price is too high or too low. (They usually don’t know that Amazon’s royalty shrinks from 70% to 35% if you price below $2.99, because that’s not true in many countries outside of the US/UK.)
Victoria Strauss gives a list of some of the companies Author Solutions has spawned at Writer Beware. It’s a long and fast-growing list. Most were only started in 2018, and I expect many more will sprout up in 2019.
Some of the most tempting targets for writing scams are:
- Veterans of the query-go-round who have begun to think there’s a secret path to publishing success that other people know about, but they don’t.
- Impatient newbies who can be convinced that throwing money at something is a substitute for networking, practice, and hard work.
- Frustrated KDP authors who believe mass quantities of reviews on Amazon will boost sales, and don’t mind breaking rules to get them—usually because they’re told “everybody does it.”
- Naïve indie authors who don’t study the marketplace before they publish, and are willing to pay huge amounts of money for out-of-date, useless, or bogus “marketing” that simply doesn’t sell books.
The most popular current writing scams can be divided into three categories:
1) Junk Marketing Scams
You’ve probably read some of the doom and gloom from big name indies saying that we all need to pay big bux for advertising to succeed these days. Russell Blake wrote one a couple of weeks ago that makes some good, if depressing, points.
But when he’s talking about marketing and advertising, he’s talking about pay-to-play Amazon ads, not throw-spaghetti-at-the-wall marketing.
Paid advertising on Amazon and Facebook as well as email bargain newsletters like Bookbub do get results for a lot of authors. And yes, legit advertising can be expensive—with some Bookbub ads running into the $1000s these days.
But even a Bookbub ad for a $2.99 mystery novel—at a cost of nearly $4000—is not as expensive as these useless junk marketing scams. Some packages run as much as $17,000.
Junk marketing includes: press releases, book fair exhibits, book trailers, catalog listings, Hollywood book-to-screen packages, fake social media followers, and endless Tweets by Tweet-bots.
These are things that give a very low ROI (Return On Investment) and are pretty much over in terms of useful publicity. (I know some book trailers are getting traffic for the authors, but they need to be well done, and the well done ones are usually not cost-effective.)
2) Paid Review Scams
In spite of Amazon’s draconian crackdowns, selling fake Amazon reviews is still big business. I get solicitations almost every day from outfits offering reviews for prices ranging from $30 to $500 per review. Some of them use rude, shaming tactics to try to bully an author into buying their scammy product. They may even use “F” bombs and other insults. Here’s a post about a particularly nasty one called “Black Sun Reviews,” which Victoria Strauss calls “super-dodgy.”
NOTE: If any company promises to put a review on Amazon, it’s a scam. Amazon does not allow payment of any kind for customer reviews.
Unfortunately, the crackdowns don’t seem to keep these review mills from churning out their one-line, grammatically challenged, generic reviews, while legit reviewers are being kicked off Amazon in droves.
This makes it even harder for authors to get real reviews, so even more authors turn to the scammers… and the cycle continues.
In 2018, Amazon made it more difficult to leave customer reviews by requiring that all reviewers buy at least $50 worth of merchandise from the Zon per year. It’s one more way they are trying to thwart the scammers.
Unfortunately, the scammers persist. And the pool of legit reviewers shrinks yet again.
But the crackdowns also make it much more dangerous for an author to get away with paying for reviews. If you’re caught, you don’t just lose your reviews. You can be banned from selling anything on Amazon for life. Not worth the risk.
3) Bogus Publisher Scams
I have only heard from one of these scammers personally, but I have to admit I was intrigued for about half a minute. These people pretend to be literary agents, or “book scouts” who love your work and want to give your book wider distribution than you’re getting from your current publisher or self-publishing business.
This is what a lot of authors are dreaming about these days as the self-publishing bubble deflates.
Some of these people are skilled, and their praise and enthusiasm can draw you in. Until you stop and read carefully. Then you realize the praise is all generic, they don’t have a clue what your book is about and it’s just a mass-mailed piece of spam.
Their English language skills will often be a little shaky for people who are supposedly literary professionals.
These people also target newer unpublished writers, pretending to be legit publishers who are eager for new work.
All of them play the old Author Solutions game, offering publishing services at wildly inflated prices plus junk marketing packages and fake reviews.
It’s just another offspring of A.S. feeding on your dreams as they shatter them.
How to Spot Writing Scams
The number one give-away for a whole lot of these predators is ridiculous promises of huge sales. Nobody can guarantee your book will be a bestseller.
Some pretend they’ve had a previous conversation with you and you’ve already obligated yourself to them in some way. They’ll start with “Did you get my last email?” or “You never got back to me. Are you onboard?”
They sometimes they’ll tip you off by giving themselves improbable names like Trenton Bob Steve or Hans Christian Goldberg (I’m not making those up. I’ve really had spam from people using those names.) Third world scammers have a lot of trouble with English-speakers’ names.
They’ll contact you via cold calls or spam. Always be wary of unsolicited email, DMs, and cold-calls from strangers. Visit the website and look for grammatical errors, over-the-top testimonials, and bashing of the publishing industry or their competitors.
Be especially careful if they’re long on promises but short on specifics. Who are these people? Who have they worked with? Do they have any connection to known legitimate companies? Do they list their credentials? Are the credentials legit?
The publishing business is a fairly small one. Be careful of anything fringey that has no track record. I recently checked out one of these outfits that promised lots of advertising on their website. So I checked the site’s Alexa rating. It was over 10 million. (The lower the number the better.) Only 23 sites linked to them. Basically, they were advertising to crickets. For $35 a month. Yeah. Not exactly cost-effective.
Always Google a company with the word “complaints” and then ask around. Networking with other writers is essential for keeping safe in today’s dangerous publishing environment. If you’re looking for self-publishing help, Alli has a vetted list of self-publishing services reviewed on their website. And never engage with a company until you’ve checked them out with industry watchdog Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware.
***
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) January 6, 2019
What about you, scriveners? Have you run into any of these scams recently? Are you getting offers from paid review mills? Have you been scammed in the past? What drew you into the scammer’s web?
Featured Image: The Big Bad Wolf by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)
Many thanks to Penny Sansevieri at Author Marketing Experts for naming Anne to her list of 19 Author Marketing Gurus to Follow on Twitter in 2019!
BOOK OF THE WEEK
This is a timeless novel by Anne’s mother, Shirley S. Allen, who taught creative writing for many years at U.Conn. It’s a story of how the west was won, based on the life of Anne’s great, great grandmother, Roxanna Britton
Roxanna Britton: A Biographical Novel
by Shirley S. Allen
“Jane Austen meets Laura Ingalls Wilder”…Mark Williams, editor of the New Publishing Standard
The ebook is available at all the Amazons, Kobo, Nook, iTunes, and Scribd
This novel, by my mother, the late Dr. Shirley S. Allen, is a rip-roaring tale of how the west was won. It also happens to be all true. It’s the story of my great, great grandmother, Roxanna Britton, who pioneered the Old West as a young widow with two small children.
It’s got romance, action, cowboys (not always the good guys) Indians (some very helpful ones) the real Buffalo Bill Cody, and a whole lot more!
Widowed as a young mother in 1855, Roxanna breaks through traditional barriers by finding a husband of her own choice, developing her own small business, and in 1865, becoming one of the first married women to own property. We follow her through the hard times of the Civil War to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 to a homestead in Nebraska to her final home in Elsinore, California.
OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
STORY QUARTERLY (the literary magazine of Rutgers University.) $15 ENTRY FEE. First prize $1,000 and publication. Shorts, short shorts, & novel excerpts up to 6,250 words .1) LITERARY FICTION CONTEST: December 17, 2018-February 17, 2019. 2) CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTEST: November 9, 2018-January 12, 2019.
DISQUIET LITERARY PRIZES $15 ENTRY FEE. Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction categories. Up to 25 pages for prose 10 pages for poetry. The top fiction winner will be published on Granta.com, the nonfiction winner in Ninthletter.com, and the poetry winner in The Common. Grand prize winner will receive a full scholarship including tuition, lodging, and a $1,000 travel stipend to Lisbon in 2019. Runners-up and other outstanding entrants will receive financial aid. Deadline January 10, 2019.
The Mary McCarthy Prize for Shorter Fiction. $2000 prize plus publication by Sarabande Books and 2-week residency at their Kentucky retreat. Submit a collection of stories or novellas or a short novel of 150 to 250 pages. $29 entry fee. Deadline February 15, 2019.
Wild Women Story Contest $20 entry fee. $1,000 prize and publication in TulipTree Review. Write about “women who are the heroines of their own lives.” Submit a poem, a story, or an essay of up to 10,000 words. Deadline: February 23, 2019.
Glimmer Train Fiction Open: Fee $21 1st Prize $3000. 2nd Prize $1000. Any genre. 3000 to 28,000 words. Deadline: February 28, 2019
SEQUESTRUM EDITOR’S REPRINT AWARD $15 ENTRY FEE. $200 and publication in Sequestrum for one previously published piece of fiction or nonfiction and one previously published piece of poetry. A minimum of one runner-up in each category will receive $25-$50 and publication. Maximum 12,000 words for prose and three poems. Deadline April 30, 2019.
Don’t let those published short stories stop working! Here are 25 Literary Magazines that will take reprints.
7 PUBLISHERS FOR MEMOIRS! And no, you don’t need an agent. From the good folks at Authors Publish
I’ve not run into any of the publishing scams, but I do get a marketing email at least once or twice a week. Almost always they mention my first book, not my latest. Big red flag there.
My publisher didn’t make a book trailer for my last book although they did for the first three because it was too expensive and took too long. I thought mine were well-done, so I understand that.
Alex–Those are the ones that are filling up my inbox, too. Somehow the fact I’ve got 13 books out totally eludes them, so they’re not looking at Amazon or our websites or any of the other normal places to look. They must be consulting some elderly database.
The jury’s out on book trailers, I know a lot of trad publishers still use them and until recently thought they were cost effective. But for indies who have to foot the bill, the cheapo ones are pretty useless and the good ones are a little out of the old price range.
Anne—Thanks for the heads up about the world’s 2nd oldest profession—scamming authors. As always, caveat emptor!
Ruth–Haha! It IS the 2nd oldest profession! 🙂
Good stuff, Anne – Thanks for looking out for us. I’m not sure if you’re part of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) but they’re also a resource for flagging scammers. Here’s their page for the Best & Worst Self-Pub Services, if others aren’t aware of it. https://selfpublishingadvice.org/allis-self-publishing-service-directory/self-publishing-service-reviews/#listing-X IMO, they seem to be a good & reputable filter for who’s honest & who’s shady.
Gary–I’d meant to put in a link to Alli, so thanks much for the reminder. They’re a fantastic group for self-publishers, and a lot of these scams are aimed at self-publishers, not newbies going the trad route. I quote Orna Ross, founder of Alli in my next post, but I’d left her out of this one. Many thanks!
The scammers will also mine the copyright database for names. I had sent up copyrights for the first few indie books I published. I got a phone call about a short story asking if I wanted to pay to publish it….
But there’s also one scam missing, and no one really talks much about it. It’s online writing classes. There’s a lot of them out there, and some are taught by “fake experts”–often people without much expertise. I think most of them think they know what they’re talking about and don’t realize they don’t.
Research the instructor is key. You should be able to go online and find lots of books by them. If you’re goal is fiction, they should have at least ten novels out. There’s a writer I know from my blogging class. She teaches a novel writing class and has about 7 or so books on writing out. No fiction. How is she qualified to teach fiction?!
If the writer has only 1-2 books, he’s still a beginner. Think about this: Many writers disappear after writing only 3 books. If you aspire to be a writer over the long term, look for classes by long-term writers. Even you can only afford one of those over a year, you’ll still be better off. I took about 30 or so classes by the fake experts. They were cheap classes. None of them advanced my skills. I tried screening them by asking questions, and even that didn’t help. It was only once I started screening by their publication credits that I found classes that could push my skills.
Writers sometimes forget their time is valuable. If you’re spending time listening to a class and doing an exercise, it has to be worth that time.
Linda–Thanks!! Great points. This is really valuable information.
I didn’t know scammers mine the copyright database. That’s a biggie!
And bad online courses are definitely another source of scammery. People discover they can make more money selling online courses than writing books and so they take a course in how to sell courses and the scamming spirals out of control.
Great advice! Always check out the teacher’s credentials! So many online courses involve the blind leading the blind. They are also one of the chief sources of those stupid writing rules that make real writers so furious.
So, so true! A great breakdown of the scams hitting the writing community. Every few days some marketing or editing offer lands in my inbox. Some offers look tempting, but I’m going with the “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” theory of emptying my wallet. Not all are scammers, but in general, publicity services are not cost effective. I wish that were not so, as this would seem to be a good business niche, but the options for book marketing that really work are shrinking.
Carmen–You bring up a good point I probably should have mentioned. Not all publicity services are scams. But most do not provide a good ROI. They’re using out of date methods that no longer work, like mass-Tweeting.
I’m in a FB writing group where people are great about tweeting each others sale books. I had a record number of tweets of one of my sale books last month, thanks to the group. Nearly 1000. Number of sales that day? Two. Twitter does not sell books. Neither do most of the other things the publicity people offer.
Thanks to you Anne, I will know what to look for. I feel a little less vulnerable having read your article.
Ken
Ken–That’s what we aim for–to make writers a little safer in this cut-throat business. Glad we can help.
Terrific analysis Anne! Kind of depressing to know how scummy some folks are, and at the same time amusing to hear of their incompetence.
I’m still under the radar for most of these. One minor wrinkle I have encountered, though, are offers through my blog mailing list to optimize and market my site (not my books) for best performance. Most of them are like your other scams of marginal English skills, none so far has shown any awareness that I am an author. Oh, and just another thing- they’re promising to help me make money on a site where I never have and won’t consider trying to advertize. So, yeah, kind of a red flag.
But I keep hoping one of them will still download the two free stories, maybe by accident, and then become a fan!
Will–We do seem to live in an era where scummy incompetence reigns, don’t we? Those people who promise to make my blog “a success” are hilarious. I went to one of their blogs and the guy had an Alexa rating of like 20 million. But he’s going to improve MY traffic? Yeah, right. And their English skills can be pretty comical.
Not the best pool for fishing for new fans. 🙂
::looks both ways :: Maybe these guys have a future… in online dating?
Haha!
Hey Anne,
Early on in my writing pursuits I paid one of these scam agencies a hefty reading fee. It kind of cured me of believing these types of promos. Though I have noticed I am getting a slew of ‘offers’ from companies to help me promote my books. They often have a subject line with one of my titles in it. Inferring that they somehow know me or we’ve done business before.
But as you say, many of them speak in gibberish or make promises that only the very naive could buy into. We’re all looking for a break and affordable advertising and that sometimes makes these scams very tempting. But as you and your readers have suggested – check these people out. What books have they helped promote? What authors are writing success stories about them? Who endorses them?
Sadly, even some of the ‘big names’ in indie publishing seem to be on their band wagons.
As to the writing courses, that is another big scam. As one of your readers mentioned above, many of them have written no fiction or one fiction book, yet they are presenting themselves as teachers. I encountered a so called ‘book coach’ on FB. She messaged me after I’d accepted a friend request (I’d seen her around in one of the writer groups I am in) and she seemed friendly enough until I asked her what exactly a book coach did. Her response was that she turned lumps of coal into diamonds. The so called lump of coal, obviously being the books by her author clients. My first thought was that I’d never work with someone that arrogant and who would look at my work as a lump of coal she had to fix. Interestingly enough, when I checked her on Amazon she had a bunch of books with 1 or no reviews, horrible covers and blurbs, etc etc. I had to wonder why anyone would think she could coach them on improving a book if she herself had not figured out how to do it for herself.
Bottom line, check out people who promise you the sun, moon, and stars – chances are their skills come from a box of crackerjax.
Good post.
Annie
Annie–Those are the ones I’m talking about–with your title in the subject line. So you always open the email, right? But as you read on, you see a bunch of red flags. But this stuff must work, because they keep doing it.
The only marketing that can get you traction in Amazon’s new jungle is buying Amazon ads. It’s pay-to-play. I haven’t done it yet, but it looks like we need to do that, or do a big blitz on Kobo and hope to make up the lost sales there.
And honestly, why do these people think insulting you is the way to get more business? I’ve never met a “writing guru” quite as bad as your “book coach,” but I sure get horrible insults from the marketing people. Even if they could make me a bestseller, I wouldn’t work with them.
Crackerjax. In more ways than one. 🙂
I guess it does work on somebody. We are all vulnerable when it comes to our work – our little literary babies that we hold so dear. I guess we want to believe that someone can make our dreams come true.
Yes, it does boggle the mind that these scammers think insulting you is the tac to take.
LOL – yes crackjax.
No, no scams to speak of beyond getting sucked into the vortex that ASI. The only aggravation I get these days is from vanities that have purchased my work number (the only real valid number ASI had of mine) calling me a work about my sucky (yes, it was) novel that I published thru ASI. I wait for roughly 20 seconds to start their pitch, then I lay into them as much as I publicly can (remember, this is my work number) before “politely” telling them to put me on their “do-not-call” list.
GB–I thought of you when I saw that former Author Solutions employees are trying to re-scam the scammed with those phone calls. Good you could put them off right away. If you show any interest at all, they keep calling.
This is one of the most helpful posts you’ve ever written, Anne. The links you included were really valuable, too.
New writers often ask me about so-and-so publishing company, marketing service, etc. that had contacted them. They always have stars in their eyes b/c of the scammer’s flattery about their work. I hate to dash their hopes when the publisher turns out to be a scam but better that than have them lose $$$$ they can ill afford to lose.
Thanks for being a great watchdog!
Debbie–Thanks!
It’s so painful when you have to shatter a newbie’s dreams, isn’t it? And sometimes they simply don’t believe you. One woman who went with a scam publisher after I warned her still maintains that it was worth the money. And I guess to her it was. I hold my tongue now, unless I can see that the writer really might have a career if they wait for a legit contract or truly self-publish. Otherwise, I just make small suggestions, like “shop around for a better price” or “Google them to make sure there aren’t a lot of complaints.” Sigh.
All I can say is thank you so much for this helpful post. I’m always so glad to be able to read your Sunday posts because they’ve guided me along my “writing path”. I agree that when I have a question I put it out there to other authors and they’re more than happy to lend a hand. I’ve learned not to leap before doing due diligence.
Patricia–Now more than ever, networking is the key to publishing success. Always ask your friends before you give anybody any money. Glad to hear you’re staying safe!
Thanks, Anne. for the link to my post about Black Sun and its paid review scam. After my encounter with the foul-mouthed Ann at Black Sun, I did report the company to the Information Commissioner’s Office in London as it’s a UK-based company.
That body deals with data including spam/abusive emails. It took my complaint seriously and followed up asking if I had received any further communications from the company. To date, I have not.
One further point on scams – if any author has a Facebook page, watch out for this one: Last weekend I received a message on my author Facebook page asking if I wanted to pay for reviews. The woman, Samantha Caroline, purported to be an employee of Amazon in Seattle and in India.
It was clearly a fake Facebook profile and a scam.
Writers beware indeed!
Stephen–Thanks so much for your enlightening post about Black Sun reviews. Great that you reported them!
And thanks for the heads up about Facebook messages offering reviews. “Samantha Caroline” is a dead giveaway. 99% of spammers give two first names as their name. That’s because English/American surnames are too complicated for them. As I said, people named Kevin Bob Steve contact me all the time, especially on Facebook. It gets pretty comical.
Let me know if you hear anything else from the foulmouthed scammers at Black Sun!
On July 1, 2021, I paid Black Run $898 to promote my self-help book using their Prestige Package. As of October 20, book sales have not increased even slightly. I filed a dispute with my credit card company (VISA) alleging a defective service and VISA resolved the dispute by posting a permanent credit to my account.
However, Black Sun threatened me with retaliation if I did not pay the bill. So I contacted my VISA provider and told them to cancel my dispute, repost the charge to my account, and pay Black Sun. They did as I requested.
Black Sun has not yet received the payment and is unwilling to wait any longer. I have contacted them several times in an attempt to facilitate the transfer of funds to them. They naively insist I pay the invoice a second time. They have cancelled my contract and are proceeding with retaliation.
Anne at Black Sun is a defensive, impatient, disagreeable person. Because of the company’s inept promotion, I advise other authors to avoid throwing their money away with them and to seek promotion with a reputable promoter.
Larry–I’m so sorry to hear you had to go through this. Black Sun is a notorious scam company. I suppose their “retaliation” is going to be 100s of one star reviews? If you have a newsletter or fan base, do warn them all that the review swarm is coming, so they can fight back with good reviews. And if you get more than one bad review from them on Amazon, report it. They specifically ban review swarming in their Community Guidelines. And it’s easy to report abuse of their system. Amazon won’t tolerate it.
Goodreads, unfortunately, is the Wild West. One of the latest scams is the “Goodreads extortion racket” where thugs threaten authors with 100s of one-stars if they don’t pay a ransom. I wonder if it’s Black Sun just being more obvious in their criminal behavior. More on this scam in my post from September https://selfpublishingsites.com/2021/09/publishing-scammers-how-to-stay-safe/
I hope you’ve reported these people to local law enforcement and/or the FBI. The FBI has a scam-reporting website. And tell the scammers you’ve reported them. Say you’re also reporting them to the government in the Philippines, where they’re most likely located. “Retaliating” against a client who no longer wants your services is illegal everywhere. At least report this to Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware and she can put out another warning that these people are criminals and nobody should fall for their lies.
You could actually turn this into a big source of publicity for your book if you work it right. When I got a review swarm from some Goodreads thugs, my fans posted a ton of counter reviews, bought the book and pushed it into the bestseller list.
I didn’t realize people were buying or selling reviews. It’s good to know that’s a scam. Thanks for the heads up.
Lydia–Paid Amazon reviews are a huge problem for the company and they have taken many review mills to court. But more spring up all the time. Amazon is using some pretty draconian methods to combat them, so a lot of legit reviews and reviewers have been removed. I’ve lost a bunch of mine, especially long, thoughtful ones from book bloggers. I write about the problem quite often. Here’s one of my posts. https://selfpublishingsites.com/2015/05/paid-reviews-why-authors-should-never/
As a business start-up mentor (I volunteer for SCORE.org) I run into this every week. I am our local chapter’s go-to resource for would be authors and always surprised and disappointed that so many will willingly fall for this stuff. The most disturbing to me are the faith-based authors whose books are, frankly, not up to snuff. But they get suckered into thinking big money is theirs if they just buy the package of so-called ministries who will make them famous and wealthy…for a price. Tragically it is almost always widows on a limited income trying to find a path to money who get taken in the most. Thanks for detailing the dangers.
Jack–Thanks for being a volunteer! SCORE offers wonderful help for people trying to start new businesses.
I wish the general public knew how little money most writers make. They see the huge figures that celebrities and politicians get for their books and think they can make that kind of money too. If only they understood that they would probably make more money picking up cans from the highway for recycling. Sigh.
I’ve noticed that religious people do seem to be the most easily scammed. They believe their faith-based books are going to do good in the world. I think that’s why Author Solutions targeted Thomas Nelson and Hay House especially, since they’re religious/spiritual publishing companies. (Nelson has since been bought by PRH)
All we can do is keep putting the word out and hope we can save a few of them from being ruined by these scammers. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for sharing this very important information. These days we can’t be vigilant enough for any kind of predators. I have been invited to book fairs, I knew the calls came from calls centers abroad and never responded to those phone messages.
Valentina–I think there are more people making money off authors these days than there are authors making money from their books. Scammers are everywhere. Those phone calls are probably from the Philippines, where Author Solutions has its headquarters. The book fair thing is one of their biggest scams.
Black Sun Reviews hit my inbox more times than I care to remember. I would never pay a review service, so they wasted their time with me. Still, it’s one more email clogging up the overflowing inbox. Lately, I’ve been getting hit on Twitter with a flurry of “buy this if you want to succeed” services, and all via private messaging. Ugh. Sadly, aspiring writers and authors will always be targets.
Sue–I get so many emails from paid review sites that I don’t even remember their names. But it sounds as if Black Sun is especially aggressive and unpleasant. I feel the same way about my overflowing inbox.
Scammy DMs on social media make me furious. Anything unsolicited that comes via DM is suspect. Legit companies don’t violate your boundaries like that. DMs are personal.
You’re right that there will always be clueless newbies, alas.
Always useful for seeing the latest in scams.
I keep seeing people doing stuff like buying ‘conversion services’ to put their Word document into a Kindle file. That’s what KDP do when they take your Word file when you upload it to publish.
The proof-reading or ‘editing’ scene is rife with scams. The trouble is, just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean its not a scam!
Life gets more difficult by the day…
Jemima–Actually getting professional book formatting is often worth the price, even for ebooks. I’ve picked up so many indie (and sometimes trad-pubbed) ebooks that are badly formatted. For people who aren’t tech savvy or don’t know the conventions of book publishing, a professional formatter can make all the difference. Usually they provide a .mobi file for Kindle plus an epub file for other retailers as well as a .pdf which you can use for a print book.
Finding the right editor can be scary. Some of the cheaper editing services just run your book through a spell and grammar check and others can be quirky and weird. Anybody can call themselves an editor, so it’s buyer beware. And some editors who are great at one genre are terrible for others. It’s always best to talk to authors they’ve worked with and find out if there are any red flags.
Profitting from people’s dreams, oldest scam in the book.
I might add that even legit ‘book tours’ and such are not often productive and Facebook’s own advertising promises are questionable. I know someone who got an email saying if he bought $10 worth of advertising they would give him $30 advertising free. He took them up on it and has been charged the $30.
An indy author can do as much marketing as any of these companies in an hour a day. The only things you should pay for are contracted services like a book cover artist and professional editing.
Jaq–Paid blog “tours” vary widely. If you find one that targets your particular audience, they can work out very well, but many of them don’t and I agree they usually don’t provide a good ROI. I prefer to plan my own blog tours, but I know a lot of bloggers. Not everybody does..
I wouldn’t condemn all marketing services. Some are very helpful and worth the money. Not every writer is a skilled marketer, and some of us older authors aren’t tech savvy.
Lots of the publishing sites offer glowing testimonials from the people who have used their services. It’s worth looking up these people at Amazon and checking the ‘Paid in Kindle/books’ rank displayed in the Details section (Ignore any ‘Best selling in…’ ranks). A ‘Paid in Kindle/books’ rank of over 2 million for an ebook/book indicates it is not selling and that glowing testimonial is undeserved.
John–Great tip! Yes! Always check to see how their authors really do in the marketplace. Amazon sales rank will give a pretty good indication. Thanks!
This is a terrifically helpful post, Anne. Thank you!
I recently had a reader (who is also an aspiring author) write to me with excitement about his upcoming book release. The way he described his relationship with his publisher sounded a bit sketchy, so I looked the publisher up on Writer Beware, and it was exactly one of these A.S. repeats you describe. I felt terrible sharing the news with him, but I would’ve felt worse letting him continue on that path not knowing what he was getting into.
Too many indie authors head into the business without realizing it’s a *business* with all of the pitfalls and hazards of any new venture. Thank you for everything you do to help educate your readers on the pros and cons of the industry.
Melissa–Publishing IS a business. I even wrote a blogpost about it last spring. http://bit.ly/2RBXYZH It’s so hard to tell somebody who is all excited about a scammy publisher that they’ve been had. There’s no good way to do it, but you feel awful if you don’t.
I fear some newbies expect publishing to be something like an extension of elementary school, where everybody gets a gold star for participating. 🙂 Those are the ones who are easily scammed.
Great article Anne. I loved it so much I just purchased your blogging book.
Maureen–Yay! I hope you find it helps you with blogging. Most people tell me my methods increase their traffic by a lot.
Hi Anne. This post should be printed and kept handy by all the rest of us. Thank you. What (if anything) do you think of Blogpros?
Barry–I hope the right people see this post!
I’m not sure an author blog would get a significant ROI with Blogpros. That’s mostly for people starting up a business blog where they sell advertising. For those people, a service like Blogpros might be worthwhile.
Thank you. My thinking was that boosting blog posts that include a link to my book or website would offer a means of learning more for those who read the blog posts, and were curious.
I had a gentleman contact me with an intellectual property question. A purportedly “real” publishing company had published his book (i.e., one of those scammy overpriced POD setup vendors) in paperback only, NO ebook!!! They’d also tied up his rights, but thankfully, for only one year. I had to break the bad news that he had w-a-y overpaid for them to essentially only format a POD file, no ebook conversion, no editing, and zero marketing. AND … to boot … they’d given him bad intellectual property advice!!! I gave him the resources, when his year is up, to go self-publish it on his own :-/
Anna–Thanks for being such a great watchdog for indie authors! That’s a common scam from these guys. They often target older people who aren’t tech-savvy enough to know that all publishers put out ebook these days. They lure them with visions of seeing their work in a bookshop window some day. (Although of course they do nothing to distribute to retailers.) They concoct a story about being real publishers and pretend to “accept” the book, so the victims feel like they’ve finally made it Nasty stuff. I’m glad you helped this writer so he can self-publish when his year is up.
I am a newbie “writer” myself and maybe a third of the way through writing a first book.
I tell myself that I just want to be able to say I did it, but I’d be lying if I did not admit to wanting to get published and be taken seriously.
Reading some of the commentary here about how hard it is to make money is especially distressing, but I have heard it before and believe it.
I did NOT know there were so many sharks in the water though!
I am not yet connented on line with blogs or other outreach tools, and wonder if there are mistakes you made that I could avoid? Do you a list of some kind?
Dave–Welcome to the writing profession. You don’t have to put “writer” in quotes. I always say a writer is somebody who writes. You don’t have to justify that label to anybody.
Yes, it’s hard to make money writing. It’s hard to make money at golf, too, but is that any reason not to want to be the best golfer you can be? 🙂
There’s tons of info right here on this blog. Go to the menu bar at the top of the page and click on Resources for Writers, then How to Get Your Book Published, and then the Archives, where our posts are listed by topic
And if you want to get away from the computer and read up on it all, I wrote a book with Amazon superstar Catherine Ryan Hyde, called HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE: A SELF-HELP GUIDE.. It’s written for writers just like you. You’ll find out all about it on my book page. (Click Books and there’s a drop-down menu where you can choose Ruth’s books or mine.)
Thank you for spreading the word, good lady! I was scammed once by these predators, but I learned a valuable lesson! AuthorHouse is indeed a scam!
Levi–Sorry to hear you got caught up in their net. You’re not alone. A lot of very good writers started out with an AuthorHouse fiasco. We learn from our mistakes. And our broken hearts. Glad you’re here and still writing!
Yes, reviewers, the bane of all authors. I had fellows, they were from Nigeria (I can see from the spelling and tracing them is easy) threatening to write horrific reviews unless paid to write good ones. Shrug, that is called blackmail. At the end of the day, we don’t or at least I don’t write to please reviewers but because I have something worthwhile to say. Thank you for this article, it ought to be prescribed reading for every new author. I also learned that the best reviews are in kind emails/responses directly to me, never on Amazon or anywhere else. Perhaps what is more annoying is friends/family always asking “How much money did you make?” Regards, GMJ
GMJ–OMG, that’s a new one to me. How horrible. People want you to pay for their grammar-challenged reviews, or they’ll write bad ones? Yes, that’s blackmail. Actually, a few laughable one-stars don’t always hurt sales. But buying reviews and getting caught sure does.
Nothing is quite as nice as a personal email from a reader who loved your book. It’s good when they put it on Amazon too, but they can’t always do that. Now people have to have spent $50 on Amazon in the last 12 months to be able to review.
Isn’t it annoying that so many people think writers make pots of money? When non writers ask how much money you make, you can always say, “well, it’s more than you made with yours.” 🙂
That is just horrible! Those people are ingenious when it comes to criminality. I believe the FBI can help–I know we had squads dedicated to ethnic fraud. By the way, this topic is really resonating with me. My first book (It’s Your Camino: One Couple’s 500-mile Pilgrimage Across Spain” came out on Amazon this week. I don’t mind sharing that, while I feel a sense of accomplishment, I also am a little fearful–fearful about negative reviews. And then I saw this blog. Wow!
Seriously, I’ve asked a few clergy members (book is religious/travel) to read and review. We’ll see what they say. And by the way, I don’t know if this is appropriate or not, but Anne R. Allen is one of the nicest people in the business–I’ve only been able to learn from her experience and wisdom. Anne, you’ve got a copy of the book coming your way!
Ken–Congrats on the publication of your new book! I look forward to reading it. This is a big moment for you.
Reviews are an obsession with some authors, so try to let it go and realize that reviews often have nothing to do with your book and everything to do with the reviewer’s state of mind. But I know the bad ones hurt anyway.
Just now I got a comment on another blogpost that was absolutely toxic, calling me a “horrible old hag” for hosting one or our most popular and funniest guests. Some people have no sense of humor. They also may be drunk, high, or mentally ill.
I felt myself getting angry, and then I realized there were over 100 great comments on that post. One humor-impaired troll should not outweigh them. I tried to reply politely, until I realized I should not allow her to poison my blog.
Unfortunately, you can’t do that with Amazon reviews. The awful ones will just sit there. You have to grin and bear it. It’s part of being a writer. Not the fun part. But you’ll survive. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. A great antidote to that troll’s venom.
I just want other people to know that a company called “BRANDING NEMO” has been contacting authors for an $8,000 “Hollywood Book-to-Screen” service. A guy named “Brian Watsons” has been pestering me for days now and I don’t think I’m the only one they’ve contacted about this.
here’s a link to their website: https://www.brandingnemo.com/
BEWARE!
Bob–Many thanks for the heads-up. My spam-blocking elves put this in spam, but I’m glad I caught it. This is so valuable. I hope more authors will come forward when they’re contacted by these scam outfits. You’re helping us all. These scams are proliferating like Tribbles. The scammers often have slightly improbable names like Brian Watsons or Johns Ted. Third world scammers have a big problem with US/UK names.
I’ve been contacted numerous times by Branding Nemo, a few times in 2020, and then just today, and today the hard sell for a “discounted” $2,500 promotion scheme was so bad that I wound up shouting at the woman on the phone – and I never yell at people on the phone. I demanded (for the second time) that they remove my phone number from their calling list (I’m on the national do not call register and have an unlisted number), and then I had to tell her no several times, and finally hung up on her. It’s an amazingly hard sell for a ridiculously expensive program, and they are calling me about a book that was first self-published 20 years ago. So it’s not like it’s a new book I’m trying to launch and promote. It took a lot of persistence for me to get her to even tell me what they charge for what she was selling. She did not want to put that up front. I smell a scam, and I told her so.
Barbara–I hadn’t heard of “Branding Nemo”, but they’re obviously relentless scammers. Thanks for letting us know. Authors need to know the name. No legit company would behave that way. I’d love it if you’d add this comment to this year’s scam post. Here’s the link. https://selfpublishingsites.com/2021/01/publishing-scammers-2021/
Thanks! I have had 3-4 people recently ask me to write a chapter for a book they are compiling. Is this another scam? Do they just want me to write something they can publish and profit from? They are really persistent. Here’s a recent message
i we’re currently looking for funtional medicine doctors and health practitioners to collaborate and launch a book together about the future of health and we would like to know how you would feel about being considered as one of the co-authors?
Jodi Franklin, Functional Medicine Practitioner
Hi. I’m so flattered that you are considering me. Right now I have absolutely no time to write. I have a full practice with a waiting list. I wish you much success with it though.
Thank you for responding! We understand that it is difficult to write / co-author a book with the kind of schedule you have in the field that you are in, but have you ever thought about writing a book, sharing your experience, and what functional medicine is about? If you have the chance to do this even with your full schedule is that something that you’s want to do?
I definitely have thought about it but it’s not in the cards right now. Thanks anyway.
That’s great! we have functional medicine doctors and health practitioners who are currently commited to the book, they too have very hectic schedules. What we do is write your chapter for you, in your voice. We only have to interview you and let us know what you want your message to be. In case you change your mind you can always message me, right now we still have spots available for the current book that we will launch before christmas, but of course we still have more to come, now it’s about the future of health the next one is about female health.
Hi Jodi–Or is that Dr. Franklin? I’d say this has “scam” written all over it. Any outfit this pushy can’t be legit. So many unanswered questions. What other doctors are “currently committed to the book? Who’s publishing it? Who’s editing it?
And what are the royalties and how often will you get paid?
And then this…”What we do is write your chapter for you…”? Uh, I don’t think so..
There are fine anthologies out there. I’ve been in many. They will always crow about the big names on board and who’s editing. Some donate all royalties to charity and that can be okay if 1) you want to support the charity, and 2) This will raise your profile by linking you with some big name writers.
I’d say block the email address. They may send you more scammy stuff in the future.
I’m reporting a fraudulent company called “Bright Lights Distribution LLC” that is cold calling authors, collecting financial information over the phone and the non-delivery of goods or services that have been paid for.
Their website: https://brightlightsdistribution.us/
They are based in CEBU CITY, PHILLIPINES disguised as an American marketing firm located in 16 Boxwood Lane Hicksville NY 11801 and 9422 Phillip Avenue Norfolk VA 23503.
They are “highly trained scammers” and are led by the owner Raphael “Ralph” Mariño and goes by the phone name: “Darren Matthews” and is usually the one you get to talk with when you give out your credit card information. He also uses another phone name: “Zack Daley” when calling VIP LEADS to make a sale of his own.
I hope that this can help you and many more others that may fall victim to these scammers.
Joy–Thanks for this detailed information. I hope you have sent it to Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware. She is constantly warning writers about these offshoots of Author Solutions that are proliferating in the Philippines. Author Solutions trained an army of these people to scam writers with bogus publishing and marketing packages. With the demise of Author Solutions, these highly trained professional scammers have gone off to form their own companies. There are so many that we need watchdogs like you to keep track of them. Thanks for the heads-up!
I started following a few legit companies’ (publishing & agencies) twitter profiles and immediately got a message from “BlackSun Book Reviews”. Literally within minutes. It was a yawnfest tearjerker about covid with a dash of “we understand what you’re going through”. This was followed by an attempt to rush me to make a “great deal … but we can only take a few authors”. Big promises about success and sales and all that. “After all, book business has moved online now.” Hmm… So, I had to check their background and found, among others, this post.
Hello
What about Book Writing Hub?
Please everyone be aware of Prodigy Gold Books . I was assured of two books being published but he never did . I paid 850 USD for nothing ! Avoid him please
I’ve noticed a ton of Book Review sites in India and have been approached by them. They want a PDF or word file. Are they mining for books they can plagiarize? Are these sites safe?
Tam–I haven’t run into these, but I’d be very wary. Book review scams are everywhre. I don’t know if they’re pirating books or simply charging for Amazon reviews, which can get you kicked off Amazon. In either case, I’d stay away.
Am looking for insight on Stary Writing Academy (https://h5.ringdomstory.com/act/StaryWritingAcademyII)
Do they actually award prizes? Do they help in any way?
My website is business related, you can find my stories on WattPad.com
Contact me directly (brock@bhenderson.com) or by responding to me here.
Brock–I’ve sent you an email. Stary is an operation out of Singapore that has very bad contracts for writers. When you “win” you may get a prize (much later) but they will own all rights to the story. Writer Beware says stay away.
Thanks for this. I am being contacted by Brainz on line magazine. They want me to be an “Executive Contributor”. The crazy thing is they want me to pay them $65 a month in fees to do this. I see many others who are announcing that they are Executive Contributors for Brainz. But, I know they are paying in order to have this designation. Seems very cruel to me.
I received this email as well. That is how I found this thread. I’m not even a writer. It sounded suspicious to me too.
Marliana–So they’re still at it? This is such an obvious scam, people are bound to catch on before too long. Maybe they’ve run out of writers to scam so now they’re targeting the general public.
Yes l got that one too. Googled them plus scam. That my writing tutor encouraged us to do and found this. What a cheek. Makes me glad I am not a writer anymore.
Hi, Anne. Thanks for posting about scams targeting authors.
Brainz contacted me, too.
I am pasting in their bland all-purpose pitch.
Beware, everyone.
– –
rec’d on Feb. 23, 2022
Hi LindaAnn!
My name is Vassy and I’m Linda’s assistant from Brainz Magazine’s Selection Committee.
I came across your profile and find what you do both inspiring and in line with our topics and audience.
We’re currently sourcing entrepreneurs for the opportunity to be registered as potential guest writers for free publicity opportunities, or to invite them as contributors for Brainz Magazine.
We’re also looking for inspiring coaches, leaders, and entrepreneurs who could be featured on The Brainz CREA Global Award List 2022 – a global list that will be released in June, and has featured names like Oprah Winfrey, Robin Sharma and Marisa Peer, to name a few.
Is any of this something you would be interested in being considered for?
Best regards,
Vassy
Executive Assistant | Brainz Magazine
http://www.brainzmagazine.com
The information contained in this communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and others authorized to receive it. It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
LindaAnn–This is a new one to me. Thanks a bunch for bringing it to our attention. Boy does it sound slimy. You can write for them for free! And they give out bogus awards! Sounds fabulous! Not.
Just got the same email which brought me to this site. Thanks for posting about it so I don’t waste my time!
Signed–Glad we could help!
Yes, I got the same. The, they want you to pay on an automatic schedule to be a part of it. It’s all BS.
Stories–I think I’m going to have to write another post on these “writing communities” I see advertised, especially on Facebook. You have to pay a monthly fee and you get “community and encouragement”. Um, the same as you’d get from a free Facebook group?
Hi! Do you know of a Massachusetts-based company called Bright Writing, headed by Brian Wright? The company seems to claim that they have offices based in Massachusetts and Johannesburg, but no contact details or social media presence other than an email address.
They claim to look for English teachers who can write paragraphs for specific grades.
Raz–I can’t find any info on them, but you don’t want to get mixed up with these outfits that write fake homework assignments for rich kids to buy. They’re highly unethical and pay almost nothing.