Writer Beware

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

Header image: Black-clad hacker, shown from the neck down, on a dark red background, holding a humanlike mask in one gloved hand, while the other gloved hand rests on a keyboard (Credit: tete_escape / Shutterstock.com)

MAY 8, 2026May 8, 202616 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, 20265 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, 202656 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, 202616 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."

Deadline Approaching to File a Claim in the Anthropic Settlement

MAR 13, 2026March 13, 20266 COMMENTS

Just a reminder: if your book or books are included in the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement, the deadline to file a claim is fast approaching: March 30, 2026.

Relevant resources:

A note for Amazon Publishing authors like myself: Amazon will not be a claimant, and is assigning all rights of recovery to authors--i.e., if you're an APub author, you don't have to split your payout with your publisher. You can download the assignment letter--which can be included with your claim, or submitted to amend your claim if you've already filed it--here.

OVERSEAS SCAMS

Not Simon & Schuster: Deconstructing an Impersonation Scam

Header image: white full-face mask lying on a textured gray background, surrounded by a black splatter-pattern halo (Credit: Photo by Edilson Borges on Unsplash.com)

FEB 28, 2026February 28, 202636 COMMENTS

For writers chasing a traditional publishing contract, an email from Big 5 publisher Simon & Schuster inviting submission might seem like a dream come true.

Just one problem: major publishers like S&S, which acquire mainly via reputable literary agents and expect manuscripts to come to them rather than the other way around, don't email random authors out of the blue. Also, impersonation scams are extremely common these days, with fraudsters posing as publishers, literary agents, film production companies, even editors (see my previous post on this subject). Any publishing- or movie rights-related email or phone call that you can't tie directly to a submission or a contact you yourself made is highly likely to be a scam--and with generative AI infesting every aspect of the writing scam industry, the scams can be quite elaborate and authentic-seeming.

Given the amount of time I spend writing and warning about such things, it's always funny (well, kind of) when an impersonation scammer tries to target me.