In 2018, I wrote a post that, in part, warned about a solicitation from an obviously dodgy “ghostwriting” service (one big clue: the mangled English everywhere on its website).
With a bit of digging, I discovered not only that this service was a single scammer doing business on four different websites under four different names, but that domain registration, content, and other similarities linked the ghostwriting sites with nearly 30 other scammy websites offering other kinds of services, from logo creation to accounting.
Back then, ghostwriting scams (ghostscams for short) weren’t super-common. How times have changed. There are a TON of ghostscams now.
Similar to the Philippines-based publishing/marketing/fake literary agency scams I’ve expended so many words on, ghostscams sell services aimed at authors: editing, cover design, publishing packages, marketing and more. They too operate from overseas, primarily India and Pakistan.
However, ghostwriting scams differ from Philippine publishing/marketing scams in important ways. The emphasis on ghostwriting and book writing services, which you’ll find on every ghostwriting scam website, isn’t really a focus for the Philippine scams. Additionally, while the Philippine scams mostly target authors who’ve already self-published (claiming they can do better or transition them to trad-pub or movie deals), the traps ghostscams set are primarily for writers looking to publish new manuscripts for the first time.
Many do business under multiple names–ten, twenty, even more–and some are part of even larger complexes of predatory service providers: video creation, Wikipedia page creation, illustrations, web design. They misrepresent–and outright lie about–their qualifications, credentials, and especially their projects. A common feature of ghostscam websites is a false claim to have worked on books from well-known, trad-pubbed authors. Many have even gone to the trouble of inventing fake staff rosters.
Based on complaints I’ve gotten from writers who’ve fallen into the ghostscams’ clutches, as well as several chats with scammer sales associates, costs can range from $1,500 to $3,000 for a “written from scratch” book of around 350 pages–all paid in advance, naturally. Of course the initially quoted price is always higher–but there’s always a very special discount, just for you! Editing alone can be as much as $4,000, depending on manuscript length–though when I lamented that the price was more than I’d budgeted, several ghostscam sales associates offered to cut the cost by a third or more. If you want a cover and publishing services, those will set you back another $500-$1,000.
Here’s the “discounted” price Efficient Ghostwriter quoted for my 350-page “romance fiction novel”, including writing, editing, cover design, and publishing on Amazon, B&N, etc.:
Ghost Writer Experts was more pricey–and that’s even after granting me a super-exciting 10-Year Anniversary Sale! discount. But they did throw in a $550 publishing package for free:
What happens when you hire a ghostscam? It varies.
Editing and marketing may or may not be delivered (I’ve heard from multiple authors who paid for services and received nothing at all–a process drawn out by the ghostscam with evasions and excuses). Or, if the service is received, it may turn out to be substandard: edited or copy edited manuscripts full of errors and random formatting changes; or marketing that’s of similar low quality (AI-generated book trailers, for example) or that is completely unverifiable, with the author unable to determine that the claimed activities ever took place. Ghostscams also routinely fail to pay royalties or provide sales statements.
Although ghostscams often do actually complete and upload clients’ books–providing at least that much of the service writers have paid for–the primary purpose is to soften writers up for fraudulent offers and demands requiring enormous fees.
Book order scams, for example, where the author has to pay six figures for printing (the books, of course, are never produced). Fake contracts from Netflix and other production companies requiring buy-in from the writer (there should never be a cost associated with the process of rights acquisition). In some cases that have been reported to me, ghostscams engage in a form of extortion, with false claims designed to scare writers into handing over cash to keep their books in publication: for example, claiming that Amazon has changed its identity verification requirements and the writer must pay to fix the problem in order for their book to remain on KDP.
PROTECTING YOURSELF
How to identify whether that company you’re thinking of using to write, edit, and/or publish your book is a ghostscam? Following are some suggestions.
(NOTE: One of the hallmarks of ghostscams is a short shelf life–a strategy they employ to stay ahead of complaints and domain shutdowns. By the time you read this post, many of the scams mentioned below will have vanished, and the links will not work. That’s why I’ve provided so many screenshots.)
Solicitation
I’ve said this so often that I’m sure my readers are sick of hearing it, but these days, THE NUMBER ONE SIGN OF A WRITING SCAM IS SOLICITATION.
I’ll say it again. The. Number. One. Sign. Of. A. Writing. Scam. Is. Solicitation.
Just like reputable literary agents and publishers, who only very rarely reach out to writers they don’t already represent, reputable ghostwriters and editors will not email or phone you out of the blue to try and convince you to buy their services. Especially with something as cheesy as this:
Here’s another thing no reputable company will tell you: that your book can (or will) be a best seller. That’s a guarantee no one can make (well, no one who isn’t a con artist or a liar), and reputable companies and individuals know better than to make it.
Bonus bogosity: the email address in the solicitation above references one ghostscam (Pearson Ghostwriting). The text references another (Paramount Ghostwriting). And the links lead to a third (Central Ghostwriting) and a fourth (Ghostwriting Publication).
UPDATE: In addition to soliciting, ghostscams now have aggressive presence on Facebook and Instagram, and advertise on both. For example, Book Publishing Plus. Its Facebook page includes its ads and Reels, and if you click the About link in the menu bar and then Page Transparency, you can see the page manager’s location: Pakistan.
English Language Errors and Lapses
If you’re going to hire someone to write an English-language book for you, or edit or copy edit or proof your English-language manuscript, they should be capable of producing literate English prose. Right? I mean, it just makes sense.
As noted, ghostscams are based overseas, and are created and staffed largely by people for whom English is a fluent, but second, language. When I first started investigating them, their websites almost universally featured ungrammatical, tortured, and sometimes incomprehensible English. The advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has made that quite a bit less common–but many still maintain sites larded with laughable errors. For instance this, from Pacific Ghost Writing:
Or this, from Paramount Ghost Writing (note that they get their own name wrong):
Or this, from Ghostwriting Avenue:
As a side note, one common English-language error on sites like this is misuse of the word “avail.” If you see something like this, it’s a sure-fire tipoff that whoever you’re dealing with is not a US company:
Seriously, if you want to hire someone to pen down your creativity, publish your beautifully conjured fiction, or harness your creative horses, don’t overlook bad English in their self-presentation. If a company doesn’t care enough, or isn’t capable, of producing a grammatical, error-free website, what reason is there to assume that their writing and editing staff will be any more competent?
I am constantly amazed by how many writers ignore or overlook this huge flashing warning sign.
Unverifiable Claims of Expertise
You wouldn’t hire a writer or editor who couldn’t demonstrate that they have the credentials to properly do the job, would you?
A reputable writing- or publishing-related service provider should offer concrete, specific information about itself and its staff, including staff names and biographies, that make it possible for you to assess–and verify–its bona fides. The absence of that information, or info that’s so vague it can’t be researched, or claims that can’t be confirmed or turn out to be false, are warning signs.
Something like this, for instance (from Ghost Writing Professionals) doesn’t cut it:
Which bestselling authors? Which former editors? Which PhD experts? A reputable company would tell you.
Of course, a disreputable company can simply lie. A number of ghostscams provide fake author rosters, using stock or AI-generated photos, made-up names, and, sometimes, fake biographies.
An example: these identical rosters of Experienced and Renowned Ghostwriters claimed by The Book Writing Corp, Professional Ghostwriter, Creative Bookwriters, and Ghostwriting Avenue (note how similar all these websites look). The images are stock. The supposed authors are nowhere to be found online. And the wordy but completely specifics-free “biographies”, which are as horribly written as the rest of the text on these four sites, are nonsensical.
More identical fake staff rosters from Ghost Writing Publication and Ghost Writing Solution. These guys aren’t trying nearly as hard: it’s just stock images and fake names.
Along with websearches on the supposed authors’ names to see if you can find any professional references, reverse image searches can pinpoint a scam (you can use TinEye or Google Image Search). Some of the more advanced scams employ deepfake algorithms to produce unique images, but many just use Shutterstock or another stock photo provider. For instance, here’s “Nicholas Brown” from Paramount Ghostwriters and Versatile Ghostwriters:
And here’s “Nicholas”, who normally resides on stock photo site Alamy, where he’s described as “Attractive man in armchair looking at camera”.
Non-Credible Testimonials
Not all ghostscam websites include client testimonials, but many do. Five stars! Best experience ever! Highly recommended!
However, like staff credentials, they often are conveniently non-verifiable, with no last names or book titles (never trust first-name-only testimonials!). Any included images may be stock or stolen (here again, a reverse image search is your friend). Also, genuine testimonials will vary, citing different benefits and highlights based on individual experiences, while fake ones all tend to sound alike.
Another non-credible testimonial source sometimes cited by ghostscams: TrustPilot. Reviews on TrustPilot can easily be purchased, making company ratings easy to game (note to writers: when trying to verify a company’s legitimacy, don’t trust Trustpilot and similar review sites). For example, Maven Ghostwriters has twelve five-star reviews on TrustPilot from happy customers…all but one of whom provided equally happy reviews for Ghostwriting Proficiency.
Inconsistencies and Discrepancies
Internal inconsistencies and claims that can be disproved are also signs that a site is dodgy.
Perhaps the ghostscam claims a US, UK, or Canadian address, but its website is littered with English-language errors. Why would a company based in an English-speaking country have such trouble producing clean, grammatical text? (And why would you want a group like that to write or edit your book?)
Does the company address look like a regular business address? Google it. The fake addresses claimed by scammers are often Mailbox Depots, virtual offices, or random residential addresses–not what you’d expect from a reputable business.
Does the company say that it’s been in business for X number of years? Check its domain registration (you can use a site like DomainTools). You may discover that has only been around for a few months. For example, Chamber of Authors claims “10+ years of experience”, but its web domain was registered less than a year ago. Ditto for Efficient Ghostwriters, which also claims 10 years. Ghostwriting Solution’s claim of 9 years is slightly closer to the truth–but that doesn’t make it truthful: its domain wasn’t registered until February 2020.
Or maybe there’s one name in the header of the site, but text or testimonials reference a different one. Wiki Ghost Writer’s footer apparently belongs to Pacific Ghostwriting. Finest Creative Writers doesn’t seem to have realized (or doesn’t care) that all the text on its website refers to Book Writing Founders. All the testimonials for Paramount Ghostwriting credit Ghost Writing Guru.
It’s important to carefully peruse the website and supporting materials of any service you’re thinking of using, and to double check any claims.
Duplicate Websites
A reputable business doesn’t generally need to maintain more than one website (along with a matching social media presence). Scammers, on the other hand, maximize their victim-harvesting potential by doing business under multiple names and websites. If a site looks iffy–or even just to double-check–some websearching is in order.
Does the website provide the names of writers or staff? Google one or more. For instance, searching on “Scott Truax ghostwriter” (one of the purported ghostwriters at Pro Book Author) reveals that “Scott” is featured on at least eight other sites, most of which have identical formatting and text.
Googling the site’s business address can also expose duplicates (be sure to put the address in quotes to exclude irrelevant results).
Phrase searches can work as well. Copy a distinctively-worded sentence from the website (you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one), and paste it–in quotes–into a browser. Try this phrase from AD Ghostwriting: “Our diversified talent pool with multiple unique skillsets has enabled us to specialize in various genres”. Result: nine other ghostwriting sites using the identical phrase (some that Google has identified as dangerous).
Searching on this, from Stellar Ghostwriting–“Our team of most scintillating ghostwriters are extremely skilled in creating innovatively brilliant content for your book related to any genre”–turns up several other sites using identical language.
(UPDATE: For a really extreme example of the duplicate website gambit, see my blog post about the ghostscam with twenty-nine of them…and counting.)
Company Names Designed to Deceive
Some ghostscams name themselves in ways that they hope will cause you to mistake them for a different (real, reputable) company.
Major book publishers are a popular choice. There are dozens of ghostscams using permutations of the Penguin name: Penguin Book Writers (they even have a penguin logo), Penguin Random House Publishers, Penguin Books Publishers, to mention just a few. Or Wiley Book Writers, which (based on identical homepage content) also does business as Double Day Publisher. Or Harper Book Publisher. Or Hachette Publishing Company.
Then there’s the whole subset of ghostscams that use the Amazon name and trademarks (or strategic abbreviations thereof) to trick authors into believing that they will be working with Amazon affiliates, or even Amazon itself: Amazon Publishing Agency, Amazon Publishing Hub, Amazon Publishing Labs, AMZ Marketing Hub, Amazon Kindle Network, Amazon Kindle Publishers, AMZ Kindle Publications, KDP ProPublisher…the list goes on. And on. (UPDATE: I’ve published a post about ghostscams that misuse the Amazon name; you can see it here. Amazon is suing several of them.)
Other self-publishing platforms don’t escape the ghostscam treatment, either: Ingram Book Publishing certainly hopes you’ll be confused, as does Ingram Spark Publishers.
So if the name seems familiar but maybe just a little off, be sure to double-check. Some ghostscams that “borrow” names in this fashion include small-print disclaimers in their footers, so don’t forget to look at the bottom of the website. Not all bother with this fig leaf of accountability, though, so you’ll need to do some checking on your own (you can always email Writer Beware).
And remember–traditional publishers do not sell services or publishing packages or charge any fees to publish, and both the Amazon and Ingram self-publishing platforms are free. Fees–of any kind–are a sure indicator that you are not dealing with the publisher or platform whose name the ghostscam has appropriated.
Exploiting the Bestseller Dream
Become a Best-Selling Author! Be the Next Best-Selling Author! Fulfill Your Destiny to Become the Best-Selling Author! Win the Title of Best Seller!
These and similar hyped-up come-ons top the home pages of many ghostscams. As noted above, reputable companies don’t engage in this kind of flimflam: no one can guarantee a best seller, and reputable writers and editors know this. Reputable companies don’t employ these kinds of cheap recruitment tactics.
False Claims
In addition to fictitious staff and fake origin stories, many ghostscams include an array of book covers featuring books by (often well-known) trad-pubbed authors, to encourage potential victims to believe these are books they’ve actually worked on. Here’s Book Writing Bureau:
Even if you’re prepared to believe that acclaimed Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison didn’t write her own famous novel, how plausible is it that an online ghostwriting service with “10 years of experience” produced a book originally published in 1987? Or that it worked on Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, originally pubbed in 2010 (in Japanese)?
Such claims are simply ludicrous, and fall apart under the lightest of investigation.
The shameless con artsts at Creative Book Writers are claiming they ghost wrote my novel TRUE FICTION. When my brother @todgoldberg called & confronted them about it, they hung up on him. I tried calling, too, but nobody answered. pic.twitter.com/O2j9p5jh2W
— Lee Goldberg (@LeeGoldberg) January 18, 2022
Well. This was a very unpleasant, and very unexpected surprise, and it looks like I’m gonna have to break my metaphorical foot off in somebody’s ass. This ghostwriting scam site is claiming to have written my book, THE HOLLOW PLACES. pic.twitter.com/F78FclweCg
— Kingfisher & Wombat (@UrsulaV) January 18, 2022
Falsehoods aren’t limited to website claims, either. The (real human) sales associates who staff the ghostscams’ chat windows are happy to lie:
This one didn’t just lie, but embellished:
Final Note
In researching this post over the past five days, I chatted with dozens of ghostscam sales associates to get an idea of pitches and price ranges for various services. The scams’ chat windows are normally super-eager to engage visitors…but my explorations–plus, possibly, the brutal trolling by Lee and Tod Goldberg and the attendant social media call-outs–seems to have triggered some alarms in scamland (remember, most of these sites are connected, so it makes sense they’d notice patterns).
When I tried to use chat windows yesterday evening, as part of proofing and double-checking this post, I either could see no chat windows at all, or got a message like this:
Looks like they blocked me. Oh well.
UPDATE 7/20/22: Most ghostscams offer a money back guarantee, but you wouldn’t be wrong in suspecting that that’s just window dressing to soothe the anxieties of potential marks. I just heard from a writer who paid one of the services mentioned above, but then had second thoughts and asked for a refund. First they were strung along with excuses (We sent it! No idea why you didn’t get it! etc.), but eventually, when they kept pushing, were told flatly that the company didn’t consider that they deserved to be reimbursed.
UPDATE 3/1/23: Many ghostscams are fly-by-night: here for a few months, then gone. Some are more enduring, however, and there’s especially long-lived one about which I’ve gotten enough complaints that it deserves to be called out by name: Elite Book Writing.
Complaints include paying thousands of dollars for services that are delayed with one excuse after another, heavy upselling pressure, substandard products (“editing” that inserts errors), writers being ghosted after asking questions, and book order scams (the author is told there’s been an order for hundreds of books that Elite will distribute–the author has to pay for printing but will receive “guaranteed royalties” for all sales–needless to say, there are no orders, no royalties, and once the writer hands the money over that’s the last they will ever hear from Elite).
You can see similar complaints at the BBB.
UPDATE 3/32/23: Based on questions I’m receiving from writers, there’s currently a mini-boom in ghostscams using Amazon or Amazon-adjacent terms in their names, in an attempt to deceive writers into believing they actually are Amazon or Amazon-affiliated: Amazon Digital Pro, Amazon Publisher Pro, Amazon Publishing Hub, KDP Publishers, Amazon Publishing Solutions, Amazon Publishing Center, Amazon Kindle Direct Publication…the list goes on.
Typical of ghostscams, most do business under multiple (Amazon-imitating) names. Likely to elude legal action by Amazon, they often have a short shelf life.
UPDATE 7/7/23: Further to the update above, I’ve written a post about the growing number of Amazon fakers.
UPDATE 9/22/23: Instructive: this Reddit post from a writer describing their encounter with a ghostwriting scam and their efforts to research it.
UPDATE 1/21/25: Angela Hoy’s Writers Weekly has been paying attention the problem of ghostwriting scams, investigating companies and compiling a list of names to avoid (be aware that this only scratches the surface; there are literally hundreds of these companies).
UPDATE 11/16/25: The Guardian has published a detailed article about ghostscams’ targeting of Australian authors. In a twist that made me LOL, vanity publisher Atmosphere Press, which employs aggressive advertising tactics of its own, had images of its books stolen by one of the ghostscams and is big mad. “[Atmosphere’s] CEO, Nick Courtright, told the Guardian he considered this “brazen theft” and has since issued a cease and desist notice.”
Hi Victoria,
I am from Quebec, Canada. I am a mental health socialworker. One of my patients who wants to publish his book does business with ” Ghostwriting Wizard ”. He is confident that his book will be published soon. He spent more than $34,000 with them (and $32,000 with ” Stellar Ghostwriting ”, but he stopped working with them). Is ” Ghostwriting Wizard ” a scam? I speak more French, so there are certain aspects that are more difficult for me to recognize, like English mistakes. But I can definitely see some clues, like images that appear to be AI and names that seem fake. But I want to be sure, he showed me his contracts and his invoices.
Thank you very much, from a socialworker who wants the best for her patient.
In a word–yes. Ghostwriting Wizard is a scam. Scam markers mentioned in my post are present, including a completely false page of supposed ghostwriters (the images are stock or stolen, plus the names don’t always match the gender of the images) and using images of traditionally-published books in their portfolio sections to falsely suggest they had something to do with them (in several cases, those books were published long before Ghostwriting Wizard’s domain registration date of November 2021).
Ghostwriting scams often never publish the books that writers pay for; they like to keep writers dangling so they can be pressured to spend more money on supposedly necessary additional services. Or else they target writers with more serious fraud, such as book order scams. I really hope you can persuade your client not to continue with Ghostwriting Wizard (and to avoid similar scams in the future).
Hi Victocia,
Thank you very much for your response and your time. I will share your very relevant information with my patients.
Happy holidays !
Ghostwritingsquad.com is a total scam. They got my parents and luckily we stopped it before it went any further. It seems to be already mentioned here but I wanted to comment so that people know they are still going strong.
Hello Victoria,
I have a dire situation I need guidance on. A family member of mine just published a book from a ghost writer company that I believe is a 100% scam. He has paid no small amounts of money but thousands of dollars. They have made a ton of false promises like telling him he has sold almost 3,000 copies providing no proof. They promised to send 250 of his books which he has yet to receive. They also offered him a Netflix contract which I believe to be 100% fake and said Netflix wants to make his book into a movie. He had no seen one ounce of REVENUE, and I don’t even think he has ownership to his book if I’m being honest. The sites images look completely AI generated, and when I search up the books posted on the site I can’t even find some of them. The ones I have found the publishing company is completely different than the actual ghost writing publisher. This has been completely heartbreaking for my family and I want to ask if there is any way to help? What are some steps we can take?
The company is:
https://bookpublisherexpert.com/
Also an important note the sites work team look completely AI generated and don’t have a single autobiography of them to even see their expertise.
I’m sorry to say that you’re correct–Book Publisher Expert is indeed a scam. Beyond the failures, false claims of sales, and fake contracts that you describe (which are typical of this type of scam), the website displays multiple red flags: shaky English, failure to replace default fake-Latin text filler, fake books, and the AI “staff” images you note. Ghostwriting scams often do business under multiple names; you can see the identical lineup of images here: https://booklovers.ancorathemes.com/publishing-house/. I was also able to find identical content, including some of the fake books, on other websites, including the deceptively-named Bloomsburry Publishing).
I’m going to pass on some general advice that I give to everyone in this situation–in complete understanding that it can be extremely difficult to persuade someone that they’ve been scammed, particularly if the problems have only just started to manifest and the scammers have gotten psychological hooks in (which they can be very good at doing). You may not be able to convince your family member to do any of what I suggest.
The first thing I’d advise would be contacting the scam and terminating the contract, citing lack of communication and lack of fulfillment (if you wait longer, you’ll be able to cite non-payment, since ghostwriting scams routinely don’t provide royalty payments or reports). Be prepared for them not to cooperate, or even to threaten retaliation (such threats are all B.S., intended solely to intimidate; these people, who aren’t even in the USA, will not take legal action or “blackball” the author or any of the other things they may threaten). But it’s worth at least trying, on the chance they feel they’ve gotten their moneysworth from your family member and are prepared to let them go.
Ghostwriting scams don’t provide refunds, never mind their money-back guarantees. But it’s worth at last trying to recover funds. If payment was by credit or debit card, I’d suggest disputing the charges, citing non-performance (if a service was performed, even badly, the credit card will probably deny the dispute). This is worth trying even if it’s beyond the timeframe for doing so (usually 180 days after purchase). Banks and credit card companies may be willing to work with fraud victims even if they’re beyond the deadline. At the very least, you or your family member can ask for a fraud alert to be placed on their account.
I’d also suggest contacting any one of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion–to place a fraud alert on your family member’s credit report: https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/CreditBureauContacts . You don’t have to contact all three–the credit bureau you contact must alert the other two.
Also consider filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, where other writers may see it, and with law enforcement. A single complaint probably won’t produce any action, but a volume of them may. There’s a list of places to file complaints here: https://writerbeware.blog/2024/06/28/cheated-swindled-or-scammed-whats-a-writer-to-do/
If your family member is unwilling to take these steps, be prepared for the scam to come up with more fake offers like the Netflix contract, or to resort to extortion. I’ve recently heard from authors who were told that they had to pay for a trademark in order for their book to continue to be on Amazon, or that Amazon had spotted “problems” and it was necessary to pay multiple thousands of dollars to fix them (both claims totally false). Refusing to pay up can result in the book being removed from Amazon and elsewhere–but in reality, that would be the best outcome, for your family member to get their book free of the scammers’ clutches.
Ghostwriting scams generally hijack writers who are looking to self-publish. For (reliable and true) information on self-publishing, along with scam warnings and resources to help find a reputable self-publishing company or platform, see Writer Beware’s Self-Publishing page.
Please feel free to email me if you have more questions or need more info: beware@sfwa.org.
Is anyone familiar with ghostwriting squad, supposedly out of Texas?
It’s a scam, like the ones discussed in my post. Read the post to see the markers to look for.
Can it be a scam if they have a good review on the BBB? Their definitely sounds too good to be true…
Questionable companies have various ways of getting good reviews, including offering incentives to clients who write them, or just buying them outright from places like Fiverr. Also, scams often do initially provide the services people pay for, so there can be happy customers (at least at first).
Genuine good reviews mention specifics about the good experience, rather than just a lot of vague or over the top superlatives; and they are varied (i.e., they don’t all sound alike). A parade of 5-star reviews (like you often find on sites like TrustPilot) that all say more or less the same thing is a marker for fakery.
Has anyone heard of Delta Ghostwriting? I have suspicions after looking at their site. I engaged them for a book idea I have and now they are trying to sell me another package that would involve amazon best seller writers! I see stock photos on their site and the key word “Avail” on their home page. I think their address is a restaurant and lots of bad reviews on BBB not to mention that they are not recognized by BBB. I think most of the signs are there, but would like to confirm. I also see the same staff names with different pictures on Amzn Publisher and I think the book examples they give are published by other sites, one of them even by Paramount Ghostwriting!
Dear Victoria, Do you have any information about Oscar Ghostwriting? I have been working with them on a book. They have all of the characteristics you describe. They are hounding me right now for thousands to publish and promote my book. I appreciate you immensely for the warnings you are posting for writers. I did some investigating on my own. I looked carefully at all of the information received from them. In the email where they sent a contract, I found some text on the edge of the file with the name of a person from Pakistan. I checked the name out. He operates a film and video business, which makes me wonder if he uses any writers’ work to get his film ideas.
Linda, I think you’ve answered your own question: between the false claims at its website, the emphasis on ghostwriting, and the connection to Pakistan, Oscar Ghostwriting is clearly a scam. I just recently got a question about it from someone else, and on researching it, I discovered that it does business under at least three other names: Collins Book Publishers, Native Book Publishers, and The Native Publishers, all of which have identical websites. That’s another strong marker of a scam.
I don’t think you need to worry about plagiarism or intellectual property theft: I’ve been following these kinds of scams for years and I’ve yet to get a credible complaint of that. Really they are just interested in how much money they can extract from you.
Wow!! I am so grateful for this article! I was in the midst of negotiating a contract with Best Seller Ghostwriting and although their English isn’t off, my feelings about the whole thing were. I told them I wanted to do some research and check the BBB and other sources. He gladly provided me with a link to All the reviews specifically on a website you said not to trust. All the other markers also are there. I am so thankful for you taking the time to share this.
Now… who do you recommend to publish a cookbook that will also be available on Amazon? 😄
Is anyone familiar with Adept Ghostwriting?
I was referred to Pacific Ghost Writing by a coworker who has successfully published five books through them. I’ve even seen his books on Amazon so I knew it was legit. They have successfully completed one project for me and are now working on a fictional novel. My intent in writing this novel has never been to be famous or be rich. I just wanted to get it out of my head and maybe break even.
Just recently the project manager has been switched out twice and I’ve been pushed consistently to spend money for marketing and audiobooks. I always have a hard time spending money but I asked to see the numbers regardless, which included a guaranteed 150% return on my investment if the book didn’t sell well (since they love the book idea). The proposal was from Dan Brown Academy.
Alarm bells went off and I looked up both Pacific Ghost Writing and Dan Brown Academy on BBB. I saw similar stories to mine and then saw this article. Needless to say I turned down the proposal despite the dogged persistence by “Nathan” to make the deal.
So far they have written four chapters and have been very responsive. The writing has a UK flare to it (80$ instead of $80) and I have made some edits and additions of my own. I will update as things progress. I’m wondering how responsive they will be now that I’ve told them I want to wait before spending more money.
I have just been in contact with Writers Beware, and Victoria Strauss. I am so glad I did. I am a new writer and have spent the summer submitting proposals to traditional publishers without success. Was contacted by this company Wordsworth Writing House and now after many emails and red flags I know it is a ghost scammer publisher. So hard to figure this nasty scam out. Victoria`s article has helped a lot. I suspected all along something was off so no money was ever handed over.
Great post, and thank you. I’m super nervous now. I am using ghostwritingmentors.com and I’m reading a lot of similarities between what you said and them. However, they have been very responsive, in fact they reach out to me. English is literate. Someone even referred me to them. Do you think you could take a peek?
Ghostwriting Mentors is a scam like the ones described in my post, which provides a number of markers to help you identify such scams. For example, Ghostwriting Mentors’ entirely fake “portfolio”, in which they claim credit for traditionally published books (if you believe they were responsible for DUNE and CHARLOTTE’S WEB, both of which were written long before the internet even existed, I have a bridge I’d like you to buy); and their claim to have been in business for 20 years, when their web domain wasn’t registered until October 2023.
You are correct, ghostwriting mentors are based out of Pakistan. These corrupted Muslims know no bounds, they know no shame. They wrote their own positive comments about their service. Told me that they will be refunding me, I hear nothing but crickets.
Victoria, how about you ghostwrite for me. Just like everyone here, I do think I have a great idea for a book. Mine is a fantasy bible story. It has not been done yet by anyone. Pope might get mad though.
Sounds interesting, I’m sure Victoria would do a great job…
Have you heard of majestic ghost writers? I found them on google. ive looked over everything and dont see scam but can you please take a look also and let me know?
A major scam sign on ghostwriting sites is claiming credit for books that they had nothing to do with, so it always makes sense to check. For example, in Majestic Ghostwriters’ “portfolio” is THE BOY FROM BLOCK 66, a book published by ReadMore Press in January 2023…which is confusing, since per its web domain registration, Majestic Ghostwriters didn’t exist until October 2023. Majestic also claims credit for HEAVEN’S RAIN by Jonathan Macnab…which was published in 2018.
Add to this the unverifiable claims of expertise (a real ghostwriting firm will provide a staff list that you can check to make sure the people actually exist) and equally unverifiable testimonials (some of which use stock images) and you have the very portrait of a scam.
Hi Victoria, I am currently working with https://www.aspireghostwriting.com/ to write my book, Is this website legit? Because the book manager kept calling me asking to buy more services, and he always misleading things (did not follow the deal of the pakage, etc.), then there is the time limited discounts and all other red flags. They said they are located in LA, USA but I looked it up and the website address is located in Bulgaria. What should I do if I’m getting scammed? they got all my credit cards info.
If you read my post, you’ll know that all of the things you mention–the upselling, the dishonesty, the failure to perform, and the pressure–are all signs of a ghostwriting scam.
If you paid by credit card, and are within the window to file a dispute (usually, within 180 days of purchase), that may be one avenue to getting at least some of your money back. Even if you’re beyond the dispute window, I’d encourage you to dispute the charges; credit card companies and banks are often willing to work with fraud victims. US citizens should also consider contacting any one of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion–to place a fraud alert on their credit report: https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/CreditBureauContacts . You don’t have to contact all three–the credit bureau you contact must tell the other two to also place a fraud alert.
You can also consider filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, where writers who are considering buying services from Aspire Ghostwriting may see it, and with law enforcement. A single complaint probably won’t produce any action, but a volume of them may; if there are other complaints on file, yours could be the one that tips the balance. There’s a list of places to file complaints here: https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/legal/#Other
I am a rider that was offered a ghost riding job by 360 ghost writing. I would be interested in the job and I do have public writings that I know that they had read. But they won $50 for a membership which allows those wanting to use their service to choose me or put me in a group of writers on their behalf.
I understand that what you’ve been talking about is for those at one to use the service in this particular case they’re wanting me to work for them as a ghost rider but there’s a fee of $50 again to their membership. Have you heard anything about 360 ghost writing? https://www.ghostwritingsaga.com/lp-coupon/?src=google-ppc-us-search&network=g&place=&adid=663202560895&kw=360%20ghost%20writer&matchtype=e&adpos=&device=m&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0MexBhD3ARIsAEI3WHKwLaIdYjZ9hoW0r2oOa2GVv_MWOutyT1yLrziCBVPHa8uDEr82FSUaAsAlEALw_wcB
Thank you, Michael
Has anyone ever heard of, or worked with, Premium Ghostwrting Academy? They teach people how to ghostwrite educational email courses. I’m in the early stages of research so thought I would reach out here.
I took a look at its website and the background of its founder, Nicolas Cole. While maybe not exactly a scam, because you probably do get something for your money, it strikes me as the same kind of “magic ticket” or “secret shortcut” flimflam as the “courses” provided by AWAI, which promise to show you how to make tens of thousands a month as a freelancer. Maybe it works for some people, but for most, they’ll be whatever amount they paid for the course poorer, with most of the course’s monetization promises never panning out.
Thank you for this information. Identifying the scammers is important. Identifying the GOOD guys though, I think that’d be a great article to write. How about a few suggestions for “good” ghostwriting services to look into?
Writer Beware has a relatively narrow mission. Our purpose is to track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other bad practice in and around the publishing industry. Rather than providing lists or recommendations for “good” people and companies (which not only is a subjective judgment, but will not be universally helpful, since the best agent/publisher/editor for one writer might be the worst for another, thanks to differing focuses and specialties), we identify the bad guys, explain WHY they are bad, and provide concrete, actionable information on how to identify them–with the aim of giving you the tools you need to identify them yourself in your literary travels.
There’s a more detailed discussion of this issue here.
Has anyone ever heard of Dawn Ghostwriting, I am not too far into the process with them, but I am getting major red flags. Please help!
https://www.dawnghostwriting.com/lp-offer/?src=google-ppc-us-search-br&network=g&place=&adid=681582402873&kw=dawn%20ghostwriting&matchtype=e&adpos=&device=c&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwMqvBhCtARIsAIXsZpYz_F2E3lcibuQE9d_1SPNvyy30wXa9C_llPOfiImWsi22SGQwpp9IaAq9JEALw_wcB
Please read my post. It provides a set of markers to help you identify and avoid scams like this one. (To name just one marker that applies here: fake “ghostwriter” bios with stock images.)
Hey there how far into the process did you get?
Ghostwritersteam. Ghostwriterscrew.com
Century Blvd. Los Angeles
Any comment if these are scams??
Fee$11,000 for writing Marketing scriptwriting promises 200% return
Comments?
Yes, they are both scams. If you’ll read my post, you’ll find information there to help you recognize the scams for yourself.
What do you know about Ghost Writers Crew? Are they a scam?
Yes. My blog post provides a set of markers that identify a ghostwriting scam so you can check for yourself.
this information is incredibly helpful. i signed up with a dan brown ghost-writing company (anyone heard of them?), they are suggesting i own them more money than originally agreed upon because it is taking so long. the bank was out of texas but the ‘writers’ are in california. additionally, i can no longer find the website i signed up with. a fear is that they have quite a bit of personal information about me. next time they reach out, im going to tell them i want to put the book on hold.
Hi I lost $4.173 dollars with Infinity Ghoswriters, I written a review, then they call and tolde they were going to sue me. I said go ahead i have all the evidence from them the text ,email, Conversations, Bank invoice etc. i told them from start i was not ready, they insisted i should send the money and written i had ready.
Sofia,
They won’t sue you–they’re just trying to intimidate you. If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company to dispute the charges. I’ve heard from many authors who’ve been able to get their money back that way.
I’m a ghost writer and I endorse everything Victoria says. Most of my work comes from publishers but I do occasionally get approaches from individuals. It always – ALWAYS – comes in that way; I would never approach anyone offering to work for them and I don’t know any reputable ghost writer who would. That’s simply not the way the business works. When I do get a direct approach, I never quote a fee immediately. Instead, I send a replay that incudes this:
“I’m not sending you an immediate offer because I’ve learned that the most important factor in the success of a ghost writing gig is chemistry. Do you, the author, and I, the writer, get along together well enough to produce the best possible book? And I’ve found that the best way to answer that question is by a Zoom conversation with cameras switched on so that we can look each other in the eye. If you’re up for that, please let me know the time zone you’re in and a suitable date and time for a Zoom and I’ll send you an invitation.”
Sometimes I hear no more and that’s fine – I don’t follow up. And sometimes the author and I Zoom. Once in roughly every ten cases, I follow the Zoom with an offer. Nine times out of ten, it ends with me saying, “Look, I wish you every success with this project, but I really don’t think I’m the ghostwriter for you.”
And when I do take on an author, I certainly don’t expect to be paid the whole fee in advance. I asked for 25% upfront to ring fence the time to write the book (and there’s no chance that that time will be now: I’m booked up too far in advance) and the rest isn’t due until the book is written to the author’s satisfaction. That way, nobody needs to worry about promises of refunds – the person at risk is me because someone might take the book and refused to pay. And I’ve been doing this a long time, and that has never happened. That’s part of what the initial Zoom conversation is about.
Thank you for commenting, and confirming–among other things–that reputable ghostwriters don’t solicit! Important information that authors should know.
d0 you know about adept ghostwriting. My wrote a book,but it didn’t sell. Adept promises to help,but I have my doults
Adept Ghostwriting’s website includes most of the scam markers identified in my post.
It is a nigh
mare to find a genuine ghostwriting company.
AI suggested the company to me as a website: writingstudio.com
What is your opinion of this website?
Writingstudio.com looks to me like an version of the essay-writing services that lazy college students use to cheat on their coursework. I don’t have any evidence that it’s a scam–but there’s no information whatever about the people who actually do the writing, or any examples of the writing they produce, so you have no way of determining whether the writers are qualified or what the quality of their work might be. Plus, they are expensive.
You are definitely risking disappointment with an overpriced, substandard product.
Writing Studio is a content writing service for companies. They don’t write essays.
From their FAQ.
“Is there any content you don’t write?
We don’t write social media content, case studies, academic essays, and pitch decks.”
Hello Victoria Strauss
Happy New Year 2024. I am trying to publish my first book. I have flagged many dubious ghost writers because they only have reviews for 1-2 years when they claim to be in business for over 10 years.
I do not feel confident about “Book Writers Avenue” (https://bookwritersavenue.com/ghost-writing)
What is your opinion about this company
Looking at the Book Writers Avenue website, most of the markers identified in my post are present–so in my judgment it’s another scam.
The reviews for such sites are highly likely to be fake–fake reviews can easily be bought on Fiverr, for example. This is one reason why TrustPilot, which is riddled with fake reviews, isn’t a good resource for evaluating a company’s legitimacy.
Is anyone familiar with LT-writing (https://www.lt-writing.com/) company? I’m worried that a colleague, who was in the market for e-book publishing services, might have fallen victim to a potential scam. Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Again–my blog post provides a roadmap for identifying scams of this type. Feel free to provide a link to your colleague and encourage them to read it.
Multiple markers are present at LT-Writing: false claims of having worked on trad pubbed books, claiming “10+ years of experience” when their web domain is less than a year old, claims of expertise that can’t be verified because there are no names or other specifics you could check out, generic testimonials that can’t be verified either because there are no book titles or links.
Is money spent with LT-Writing by card recoverable? If it is fraud seems like it should be.
Can someone tell me if Innovative Ghost Writers is a legitimate agency? I paid $1500 but book is now complete. They needed my Amazon login. I got an alert that someone from Pakistan was trying to login to my Amazon. Now I’m scared to give access
I took a look at Innovative Ghostwriters’ website. It includes most of the warning signs identified in my post, including false claims about working with traditionally published books, transparently bogus testimonials, and multiple sites with identical content (phrase search is your friend).
Guys, my post provides a roadmap for identifying a ghostwriting scam. Please use it.
Thank you!
I was so scammed.wrote a book and am looking for another publisher. The ghost writers o dealt with before disappeared over night. I could not sell anymore books because they are nowhere to be found. It is weird how they keep resurfacing with different company names to take more of money to let me down.
Has any one tried Brooklyn Ghostwriters?
In my judgment, Brooklyn Ghostwriters is a scam like the ones described in this post.
Does anyone know about Ghost writing Castle in CA?
It’s got all the scam markers identified in my post above.
Does anyone know about the GhostwritingSaga?
Is it legit or not ?
I just checked the Ghostwriting Saga website. It has most of the warning signs identified in my post.
Sorry I didn’t understand
Is this a good sign or a bad sign?
I’m dealing with them right now, it’s a mess
The listed several different addresses in Dallas that are all just parking garages
Ohh 😮
I have already given 2500$ to them for my editing of my book and marketing and other services
They will pressure you to give them more money for other (possibly completely bogus) services. Don’t do it.
Beware of bestsellerghostwriting.com looks like another scam. I can’t believe how many there are
Did you read my post? It answers your question.
They already got me for 1200
#ghostwritingsaga
So did you pay the amount ?
Hi Avanish,
At this point they claim to be processing me a full refund. I guess that’s the litmus test on legitimacy. We’ll see ?
I had given them my book for editing and all
They did edit the first chapter
And it was quite nice and impressive the way they edited it
I did like it
Nice 👍
I didn’t get the same level service. I’m happy they at least agreed to a refund.
It’s motivating me to dig more into wrapping this up myself, and then seek out an editor that’s a better fit
Not to be a downer, but scammers often promise refunds to pacify angry customers and then don’t deliver. I hope that isn’t the case for you. Would you please let us know what happens? Thanks.
Sure will let you know..
As I told you, they are editing it and all
They did edit the first chapter and it was pretty impressive and I liked it
Within next 1-2 days would get the next chapter so, I hope I like it and I am not finding any problem with them so I don’t think so I will ask for a refund.. it will take a month and a half time for completion of my book
I can only decide then if their services was good or not
The refund is pending at my bank, they haven’t received the funds yet. We’ll see
That’s really nice they refunded your money
So that means they r a legit company then
I changed my yelp review to neutral while the refund is pending. I can always change it back and repost the google reviews. I never had a pending refund before, the funds have always either been there or not. In this case it’s saying it might take 5 days and Saga hasn’t given them the funds yet ?
Ohh I didn’t know they aren’t given the funds back yet..
Do you want to wait for some more time for the funds to come back ?
They have edited my second chapter and gave it today. They are doing a good job with it and doing the editing part very nicely
I have no complaint against them
At this point it appears to be a stall tactic and Saga hasn’t released the funds yet
Saga did fund the refund and it cleared the bank. They did honor their refund policy
Steer clear of GhostBookWriters dot org. These guys are based out of Pakistan with a N.Y. address.
They deceitfully use a bogus BBB website (BBB-Acredidations instead of BBB) giving themselves an A+ rating and tons of great reviews.
However, when you research them on the real BBB site, they have an “F” rating with numerous complaints. Once they have your money, its excuses, delays and finally, they just stop communicating with you.
The logo was slightly different from the legit BBB address.
And of course, they did the whole schmeal about their special discount, “just for you” 😉 and in a rush to sign.
My instincts kept telling me something was amuck so, good thing I did a little more research.
I contacted the N.Y. BBB and filed a complaint. I don’t know whether or not they’ll inform me of the outcome but, at least it’s reported.
It was such a rude awakening to see so many scamming sites so eager to take your money. And now that I know “good” ghost writers charge $12,000 – $15,000, the fly by nighters promising the world for $1200, are just that, idle promises.
Great article and on point. Wish I’d have seen it prior to wasting all my precious time with scammers.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Dee. Sorry you wasted time–but at least it doesn’t sound like you wasted money! I’m glad you found my article.
does anyone has experience with https://www.eternalghostwriting.com/
I signed up with them almost 2 weeks ago. I was promised an outline mid week last week and then a chapter on friday after I provided about 6 pages worth of content for them to use.. I heard nothing on Friday and asked my account manager about it. She called and asked if Monday is ok for the outline and then chapter later in the week. I agreed but started feeling something was off. Monday 8/14/2023 now and I texted my account manager. She didn’t respond. I went to the eternal ghostwriting website and used the customer support chat to tell them my issue and I was considering a refund. I heard back from another account manager immediately. The people are very kind. Right now I just want to see the quality of work. If it is good then I can deal with delays because these things take time, as they should. I thought the timetable was awful fast but I am not experienced with this so who am I to say? Anyhow, I felt a hint scam vibe when I wasn’t getting what I was told and then I was getting pressured for buying a marketing package, which I want with the right company. They make the prices ultra low when I tell them I can’t pay a certain amount. However, I consider AI could be putting a dent in their income stream so I chalked it up to that. Anyhow, I can’t say but maybe go with someplace that is bonafied, has good reviews, no reviews saying their a scam, etc….
Also, my account manager emailed me from another account that had the name iconicghostwriter.com. This company has several reviews that state they are a scam. I think there are several of these sites linked up and are the same company.
Banana 100,
Your comment lists several components that identify a ghostscam:
– Delays
– Non-response (until you mentioned the “r” word)
– Pressure to spend more money
– Account manager emailing from an account that has the name of a different ghostwriting service
Please don’t give these people any more money. Also see the comment from Henry Molinar, below.
I have found that one way to spot a ghost-writing scam is to be wary of services that offer prices that seem too cheap. Ghost-writers and professional bio writing services that are legit usually charge fair rates based on how much they know and how hard the job is. If an offer seems too good to be true, you should do a lot of research, read reviews, and carefully read the terms and conditions before going through with it. This will help you make sure that the offer is real and that the services offered are good.
Victoria,
Why didn’t I read your “How to Spot a Ghostwriting Scam” piece before I signed up and paid $5,500 to Eternal Ghostwriting to help me make my writings better, publish, book cover and marketing the book. The next day the senior writer said it didn’t include hard back books at Barnes and Nobles and got me for another $7,000 so my book would be at 600 plus B&N store throughout the USA. Then two weeks later, the writer said it was going to be a best seller and it should have a script made for it so it could be made into a movie for $3,000. In all cases the figures were $2-3,000 more but gave me a discount if I said yes “now”.
The initial contract was with Eternal Ghostwriting, the $7,000 came back with a Fortune Ghostwriting contract that I didn’t know at all, and the script I was never given a contract. The poor quality and errors filled of the rewrite my first three chapters were totally unacceptable to me. It wasn’t going to work and not a good fit and not in my voice with these foreign accented people. I asked for a refund. They would even listen to me by phone nor by text, so I went to my bank to ask for a refund back to my debit card account. After a long time, my bank sided with them, saying they proved they provided products or services and moved the $15,500 back to their bank account and not to mine. I asked my bank what information they gave them that my bank used to make this bad decision. After I received the information I was seeking, I discovered they made so many lies about me and about what actually happened.
They told me originally they were in Dallas, Texas but they are located in the garment district in Los Angeles. Letter sent to the Fortune Ghostwriting address was returned as undeliverable. Do you have any experience with these businesses? They didn’t provide any services for the publishing with Barnes and Noble nor any script written without a completed manuscript when not even the first chapter was approved by me, so how did they provided me with services for the $3,000?
Lawyers would cost me a lot to do a civil lawsuit. Can I use your blog to let the bank investigative fraud team read and see how these businesses have all the hallmarks of a ghostscam operation?
Yes, of course. And I’m sorry you lost so much money to Eternal Ghostwriting.
Sorry to hear about your experience, But I’ve signed up with Eternal Ghostwriting and My project is going great!
In Start I had some doubts but My Project manager cleared all my doubts and now my book is in process and it’s nearly completed and I’m happy with their services.
Isn’t it nice to have a scammer directly from Eternal Ghostwriting show up to try to clear their name. LOL
Hi Victoria, I currently started working with Lincoln Writes and now I don’t know what to do regarding I have already paid over 6k! Do you believe it to be a Scam? They send me the chapters to approve and I send it back with my notes etc.
Thank you,
Maria
Hi, Maria,
I’ve gotten other questions about Lincoln Writes. In my judgment, it’s a scam, like the ones discussed in my post: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/01/24/how-to-spot-a-ghostwriting-scam/. I’ve heard from writers who’ve bought services from similar ghostwriting scams and have received substandard work full of mistakes, or no work at all. I’ve also heard from writers who bought services and then were targeted for a book sales fraud (where the scammer claims that bookstores are ready to order thousands of copies…but you have to pay to have them printed).
I’m really sorry to give you bad news. My advice would be not to give them any more money.
How do we get our money back from these companies?
They promised me 5x on my investment at least (20k total), and they claimed their people do 7x on average.
My book was released Sept 25, it is almost 9 months later and we are in the negative with book sales + $ for advertising with only 136 books sold within that time
This is not worth it in my experience and I will most likely be disputing the 20k charge since we have what they promised in writing and did not deliver anywhere close
If anything changes I’d be glad to update this review but I’m doubtful they can fulfill their promises in the next 3 months since they haven’t even come within the same ballpark in 9 months.
Maria, I’m sorry you fell victim to Lincoln Writes, too. I left a lengthy comment/review of Lincoln Writes here on Victoria’s post over a year ago, but apparently the internet demons ate it. Please don’t give them any more money and demand what you’ve paid back immediately. They scammed me, not for ghostwriting services but for promotion services. I did manage to get $3K of my $6K investment back, but it took a lot of back and forth with ridiculous claims on their part, threatening to turn it over to my lawyer, then they insisted on paying me over a 3 month period. Shoddy, childish work, a condescending rep that I finally refused to talk to anymore, posting articles that required substantial edits by me, and so so soooo much more.
Thank you for this comment O.J. Barré. I was doing research on them for marketing but was immediately turned off. The rep claimed that they were responsible for Victoria Aveyard ‘Red Queen’ series marketing success. Then he sent me serval images to look over and all were low quality. I was quoted 10k for 9 months of services. I wish I could share the conversation here. Anyway, your comment let me know I made the right decision. If you don’t mind me asking who did you end up going with?
Have you ever looked into Innovative Ghostwriters? I legit can’t tell if they’re a scam or not.
Definitely a scam. Lots of markers: poor English, false claims about having worked on trad-pubbed books, duplicate sites (for example: https://www.ghostwriterexperts.com/index.php ).
Does anyone here know of the company Penguin Classic Writers (website: https://www.penguinsclassicwriters.com/services/book-ghostwriting/, allegedly located in Houston, TX). I am concerned that a colleague of mine who was in search of e-book publishing services may have been scammed. Thanks in advance!
It’s clearly a scam. It’s got multiple markers: poor English, claims of expertise that can’t be verified because no details are provided, discrepancies (“Penguins” in the logo, “Penguin” in the text; a different company name, “Ghost Book Writers”, on the About page), and sites with duplicate content. I hope you can save your colleague from handing over any (more) money.
Thank you for your research. This is helpful. Have you vetted: https://www.barnesghostwriting.com/ ?
Also, if you have worked with a ghostwriting service provider before, how were you able to successfully reference check their credentials or organization?
I used this company too just Edit and KDP Publish and found them decent enough with the job for which they got paid.
I tried using this company and would add it to the list! I was surprised it wasn’t on there already. I had researched before I sent money to them. The good reviews greatly outnumbered the bad ones, so I tried them. Awful, I have seen more creativity in children and better spelling! It seemed that once they found out I didn’t intend on publishing through them (I received many calls about the cost of this), they couldn’t continue working on the contracted items unless I paid more money!). It had taken some time to go back and forth, and they said it went over the timeframe that wasn’t listed in the contract or mentioned to me with all the contacts they made with me through email or phone!
Does anyone here know of the company Ghost Book Writers (website: http://www.ghostbookwriters.org, allegedly located in Brooklyn, NY). I am concerned that a colleague of mine who was in search of e-book publishing services may have been scammed. Thanks in advance!
Just looking at their website, they do look like one of the scams described in my post. All the markers are there, including at least two other websites with different names but identical content and design templates: Superior Writings Hub (https://superiorwritingshub.com/) and Ghost Writers 360 (https://ghostwriters360.com/).
Frank says:
Thanks for leaving a reply to my inquiry about Ghost Writer Experts. They can barely speak English on the phone, claim to be African Americans, and call my house about ten times a day.
Please add ghost writer proficiency to hood list !!! Scam buckets. Liars. Thieves.
He could have given the names of the legit one’s he is referring to.
So where are the legit one’s? Who are they? Of course I will find them.
Really great article. Thank you for your great work here.
That was FUNNY! Victoria. I don’t think he can take the truth.
Great post, Victoria! Opened my eyes.
Amazing research that you have done. Can you kindly print the entire article? After printing just squeesh it and shove it all up in your ass lady. Many names that you have added here are ligit businesses. They were already facing a lot of problems because these scams are copying all their content and info to create their own websites for scamming. Now you added another pillar of problem for them. GREAT! Stupid researchers. Atleast, finish your education before you go out public with your $2 research.
Awww. Did I make the widdle scammers sad?
OH NO! My long comment disappeared!! Why oh why didn’t I copy and save it before trying to post??
I have a better case study please share the details of the person whom I can contact to give insights about a couple of these websites as I have tried paying a few of the companies mentioned above and they are completely scam and ripping off people
Great article!
Add American Writers Group https://americanwritersgroup.com
Very similar to the sites beginning with "ghostwriting" such as Ghostwriting Solutions.
DOG GONNIT.
I wish I had searched better on Paramount Ghostwrites.
This is a great resource.
I had written (Myself with a paid editor) and published my first book with the idea for 2-4 more books and thought it was well worth (HAHA) to hire this firm to help me get #2 & #3 out, after all I had content from my prior book and transcriptions from lectures and podcasts that could be used to bring them up to speed and provide raw content for my business books.
Waste of time and money. Money I can earn back, time I cannot.
G.B. Miller, there's a whole subculture in the self-publishing world devoted to paying other people to write books that are then published under your name–the idea is to set up a kind of writing franchise where you pay a minimum fee to someone on Fiverr or a similar jobs site and then collect the income. I think the ghostwriting scams are at least partly an outgrowth of that.
On the other hand, I hear semi-often from people who have a book idea but don't feel they have writing skills, and want to hire–or find for free–someone to do the actual writing. And the ghostwriting scams offer a range of other services that writers are willing to pay for, such as editing and publishing. So there are definitely customers for these kinds of services–unfortunately. As with the Nigerian-style spam scams, they only need a tiny uptake to make money–especially given the web of interrelated websites.
I'm still trying to grasp the concept of the average newish writer using a ghostwriting service to "help" with their story. I mean, I get if you're a busy known person in a particular entertainment/sports field whose writing skills just honestly aren't there needing a ghostwriter to put your story into print. But why an ordinary person? If you're not confident in your skills at all, maybe you're better off either not pursuing it or taking a few basic creative writing classes/workshops to acquire the basic skill set to put you on your chosen path of fun.
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Hi Victoria,
You never fail to amaze me with your diligence and research.
I just love reading your reports.
I did find one of the Ghostwriters on Linkedin! Surprise!
I did a screen shot of the guy that seems to be on your list. Nanda Behl
with contact details. The image looks identical to yours. He may not know of this scam.
Linkedin.com/in/nanda-behl-9a6942175
But, did not go any further.
Keep up the good work.