Writer Beware

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Guest Blog Post: Can a Flawed US Legal System Discourage Fraud? A Look at the PageTurner Scam Prosecution

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JUN 19, 2026June 19, 20266 COMMENTS

In December 2024, the FBI arrested the CEO, VP, and an associate of PageTurner Press and Media, one of the most prolific and predatory of the many Philippine publishing scams. The government determined that over the course of six years, PageTurner--which did business in the Philippines under the name Innocentrix--defrauded nearly 900 writers of more than $48 million.

The gears of US justice grind slowly (especially these days), but in early May, PageTurner CEO Michael Cris Traya Sordilla pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one of money laundering. Although each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the government's sentencing guidelines in Sordilla's plea agreement suggest he will serve much less time.

The plea agreement also requires Sordilla to pay millions of dollars in restitution to his victims. Will anyone ever receive those payments, though? Today's guest post by retired Professor of Economics Trent Bertrand takes a look at that question, using the PageTurner prosecution as a lens to examine how the prevalence of plea bargains in US criminal prosecutions often serves the needs of prosecutors and defense attorneys rather than the victims of all-too-common frauds. For Mr. Bertrand, the issue is not abstract, as you'll see from his bio at the bottom of this post.

Has the Anthropic Settlement Changed Everything?

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MAY 22, 2026May 22, 202618 COMMENTS

Recent developments in the world of copyright have been making many writers rethink their attitudes toward copyright registration and reversion of publishing rights.

Because many artificial intelligence companies used pirated books to train their large language models, there are now a growing number of copyright infringement class action lawsuits against them. While it is still undetermined whether these companies’ use of the copyrighted material was fair use or not, it has become clear that the use of copyrighted material from pirate libraries is a no-no, especially when the method involves torrenting, which means the companies participated in redistributing the materials.

The first of these lawsuits, Anthropic v. Bartz, just held the final Fairness Hearing on a class action settlement and, although there were some minor factors which delayed Judge Martinez-Olguin’s approval, it looks as if the class action settlement will be approved and 1.5 billion dollars will eventually be paid out to claimants who met the definition of the class.

AI SCAMS

Book Festival Scams, Interview Fakes: Two New AI-Driven Impersonation Scams to Avoid

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MAY 8, 2026May 16, 202647 COMMENTS

Have you recently received an email invitation to be a featured guest at a book festival or conference event? Or to be interviewed on a radio show or podcast?

Literary agents, publishers, and major production companies don't typically cold-call authors. That unexpected "endorsement" from Amazon Studios, or expression of interest from a Big 5 editor, is never going to turn out to be legit. But literary events and interviewers do reach out to writers directly. Even in our current age of hyper-aggressive solicitation scams, that out-of-the-blue conference or interview invite might just be the real thing.

Unfortunately, AI-driven impersonation scams have glommed onto these events in a big way. I'm getting a growing number of reports from writers who've received credible-seeming invitations that have turned out to be completely fake. It's yet another area where writers must be extremely careful not to take anything at face value.

Anthropic Copyright Settlement: April Update

APR 10, 2026April 10, 20268 COMMENTS

The deadline to file a claim in the $1.5 billion Bartz v. Anthropic copyright settlement passed at midnight on March 30, 2026. Now that all claims have been filed, I'm taking a look at where things stand and what's yet to come.

If you need a refresh, my backgrounder on the settlement and the class action lawsuit that spawned it is here.

...though it could be further delayed. It's already been pushed back once.

OVERSEAS SCAMS

Watch Out For This Scam Impersonating Editors at Major Publishing Houses

MAR 27, 2026May 2, 202674 COMMENTS

I've recently gotten a slew of reports of emails purporting to be from editors at Big 5 and other large publishers, in which the supposed editor expresses interest in the writer's work and asks whether they have a literary agent.

I've posted a number of examples below. Apologies for so many images, but I wanted you to see, beyond the gen AI personalization and praise, how similar they are--including the identical phrases I've highlighted in red (I've redacted the authors' details, along with information specific to their books).

I've seen additional emails--with the same highlighted phrases--using the names of Gabriella Mongelli of Hachette, Sarah Peed of PRH, Jesse Richards of Workman Publishing, Masie Cochran of Tin House, and Megan Tingley of Little, Brown. No doubt there are others. (UPDATE: Adding Brendan Deneen of Blackstone Publishing, Rosa Schierenberg of Viking Fiction, Viengsamai Fetters of Kensington, Liese Meyer and Asya Muchnick of Little, Brown, Jennifer Brehl of HarperCollins, Anna Michels of Sourcebooks, Laurie Johnson of Severn House, and Daphne Durham, Maddie Caldwell, and Megan Wenerstrong, all of PRH.)

BOOK TO FILM

The Two Faces of Woodside Motion Co.

MAR 20, 2026March 28, 202621 COMMENTS

Last spring, I began hearing from writers who'd received the email below. (Note the phrase I've highlighted; you will see it again.)

Judging by the number of reports I received, as well as this lengthy Facebook discussion thread (which includes responses from Woodside), a lot of these emails were going out.

Emails received later in the summer looked a bit different. References to "proof of concept" and "visual representation" were gone, and, contrary to the first email's caution that "this isn't a submission to studios just yet", Woodside now indicated that its interest was in finding books to present to "our network of producers and investors."