Scam of the day. East London Book Club of Wanstead had probably never heard of me until I inquired with one of their admins to verify that this email was not really from them.
Just as well, because as my Amazon author bio states, I live "in Mimico on the shores of Lake Ontario". I would have no means of affording a flight on or before 23rd March to "drop in" on a book club meetup anywhere.
Impersonation scams in publishing tend to be variations on a theme, since the goal is always the same: to sell you something. In that sense, the scams below, which are aimed at tricking writers into paying for editing, don’t break new ground. Still, the approaches are distinctive, and I’ve seen enough examples at this pointRead More
ayup, and the second one just responded with a very floury email, containing this line: "There is a one time submission fee"
Yet another scam to rake money off indie #writers
This was "The Cambridge and Boston Book Club Spotlight"
I am getting emails from people claiming to be the organizers of book clubs, and inviting me to have my latest book "spotlighted". The first one was quite upfront that there would be a $150 fee, the second one was fairly effusive about my book, and has so far not made any payment demands.
I am always a bit suspicious of highly complimentary emails.
Is this "author spotlight" thing always a scam, or do some book clubs actually do this?
It’s been a busy year in writing scams (but then what year isn’t?). From the new AI marketing scams, to nasty contract clauses, to publishers behaving badly, to the biggest copyright infringement restitution in history, Writer Beware has been on the beat. If you missed any of our posts, here’s your chance to catch up.Read More
One of the latest scam emails of its kind specifically claims to be from Sonja Heck. In my case it offered special feature treatment for "The Gift-Knight's Quest".
Which amused me slightly, because that book's been permanently delisted from sale. Apropos, you're free to read the definitive full rewrite called "The Last Gift-Knight" which is due for an April release.
I have enclosed the scam email for educational purposes.
Scammers gotta scam.
#WriterBeware #Writing #Writer
"This is a complicated, layered fraud, with two distinct versions and two different endpoints. But they both start the same way."
You open your email program one morning. The usual work stuff. Some spam (annoying that it got past your filters!). A couple of newsletters (maybe later). You sip your coffee, scroll down. Wait. What’s this? An email from…Suzanne Collins? The Suzanne Collins? This can’t be real, you think. Why would Suzanne Collins be contacting youRead More
#Writing #Authors @bookstodon #WriterBeware
Via Victoria Strauss (on Bluesky), a writer beware thread:
1. Have you just received an email like the one below from Excalibre Writers' Hub, touting itself as a "learning platform" with webinars, workshops, and author services, inviting you to become a member? Here are some thoughts. (thread continues in images)
by Victoria Strauss of WRITER BEWARE®. Learn why official copyright registration matters, how to protect your work, and what authors need to know to avoid scams and qualify for remedies in the US legal system.
Dylan Madeley
Angie Mangino
Humphrey Archer
John M. Gamble
Cecilia Tan
azteclady
SFWA Blogs (unofficial)