Originally published at Writer Unboxed
This is a question that sometimes comes up when I do interviews. Writer Beware has been in operation for more than 25 years, yet it’s still so busy. There seem to be so many scams that target authors. Are writers somehow more vulnerable to fraud than other creatives?
In my opinion, no.
Writing scams aren’t unique. There are similar frauds in every creative industry. Headshot scams for models. Talent agency scams for actors. Representation scams for illustrators. Pay-to-play venues for musicians and artists. They may not be as numerous as writing scams, but they are widespread, and they use the same tricks and techniques to lure and ensnare victims.
Why are there so many writing scams, then?
Because (again in my opinion) there are so many writers.
Other creative pursuits have boundaries and requirements that create bars to entry. Musicians need training, not to mention instruments. Actors and singers may have limited venues in which to practice their craft: there isn’t a casting call around every corner. Painters and sculptors need often-costly materials. Models must conform to various standards of physical appearance–much broader these days than in the past, but still restrictive.
But writing: writing is just words. Everyone has those. If you can speak, you can write, and all you need to follow your impulse is an idea and a computer, or pen and paper if you prefer.
Whether you should or not is a different question. But the accessibility of writing, along with the universal human desire for self-expression, inspires vast numbers of people to create a story or a poem or a book. And what good is a story or a poem or a book without readers?
As recently as two decades ago, the difficulty of getting published presented the kind of limiting factor that exists in other creative pursuits. But while there are still considerable barriers for traditional publishing, the digital revolution has created multiple publishing options that bypass the gatekeepers and make it possible for pretty much anyone to get their work out into the world.
The readers, though. That’s the challenge. In an ocean of other authors, a sea of books and stories, how does your reader find you? With so many writers asking that same question, it’s a ripe opportunity for scammers.
All creatives are vulnerable to scams.
If the bar to the practice of writing is lower than for many other creative pursuits, the barriers to success and recognition are just as high. Anyone can write and publish a book, but far, far fewer manage to make a career of it. Where desire is strong and success is an outlier, scammers cluster at the gates–and that’s true of all creative industries, not just writing.
Creatives’ vulnerabilities aren’t unique, but they are acute. Scammers set traps accordingly.
The lure of the shortcut.
Climbing the ladder of success is hard work. Scammers and opportunists purport to offer a way to succeed without putting in the labor, claiming they can cut through red tape, skip the middlemen, get you and your work directly to decisionmakers without the necessity of all the tedious steps and tasks you’d have to undertake on your own. Of course, such shortcuts don’t exist (or if they do, very few have access to them). But creatives want them to, especially if they’ve been hitting walls on their own…which makes them vulnerable to false promises.
The lure of the giant payday.
The creative industries are not, by and large, very lucrative (at least for the average creative). Most, even those with active careers, don’t earn a lot of money. But media coverage of the big bucks outliers creates a distorted picture of the odds of financial success. Predators take full advantage, spinning tales of big money: We can make your book a bestseller! Enormous advances await! All you have to do is pay this fee/buy this service!
The lure of validation.
All creatives struggle at some point for acknowledgment and recognition. Trying to break in can be an especially lonely business. Scammers exploit these vulnerabilities: offering fulsome praise, claiming you’re one of a select few, promising unique opportunities and incredible outcomes just for you. The validation is fake, but the need is real. If you’ve been banging your head against walls of indifference and rejection for a long time, just having someone pay attention can make your good sense fly out the window.
The lure of hidden knowledge.
Creative industries are opaque: they don’t like to expose their inner workings. This is less true than in the past–especially in publishing, where Very Online agents and editors freely offer all kinds of information and advice.
But it’s still a problem, and scammers leverage that by purporting to possess “inside knowledge” that will dispel the mysteries and open a secret back door to success. Relatedly, they take advantage of many creatives’ lack of experience to paint a false picture of how business is done, so that they can portray whatever scam they’re selling as the way things really work.
Defending yourself:
It’s tremendously important for creatives to fortify themselves with knowledge of their chosen field before diving into it.
For writers, that means taking the time to build some knowledge of publishing and self-publishing before trying to get published. Writer Beware hears from a lot of authors who figured they could just jump in and learn on the fly, and who got into trouble as a result. The more you know about how things should work, the more alert you’ll be to bad or nonstandard practice when you encounter it. (This is especially important if you self-publish, because that’s where the majority of scams are concentrated these days.)
But awareness is also key.
Be aware that scams exist.
Yes, that’s a truism (thank you, Captain Obvious). But if you don’t know what threatens you, you don’t know that you need to be on guard. Many of the first-time writers who contact me to report a scam fell into it because they didn’t realize they had to be wary.
You don’t have to acquire an encyclopedic knowledge of every possible variation of writer-focused fraud. Just know that fraud is out there. This may help you to ask that one question, or listen to that one inner doubt, that could save you from being defrauded.
Be aware that you’re vulnerable.
As with all creative fields, building a writing career can include a lot of difficult, disappointing, and bruising experiences. Rejection, low sales, the struggle for access and exposure…these things take a toll. That’s something scammers can exploit, no matter how smart you are, and no matter how prepared.
It isn’t just creatives, either. Anyone can be vulnerable to a clever scam. If you’re mindful of that, and acknowledge the ways in which you may be susceptible, you’ll be better prepared to resist.
Last but definitely not least…don’t despair!
Writer Beware’s mission is to track and report on writing scams, with the goal of educating writers on how to avoid them. The largest part of what I write for my blog, and share here on Writer Unboxed, comes from that viewpoint. I’m aware that this kind of advice can come across not as empowering, but as scary and overwhelming: scams are inevitable! There is no escape!
That isn’t true, of course. Yes, the writing world is haunted by scams, but that doesn’t mean you can’t evade them. I’d urge you to read this essay not as a proclamation of unavoidable doom, but as the kind of warning you get before doing something that may be a little dangerous, and requires some reasonable caution, but is also intended to be fun. Common sense advice to keep in mind that shouldn’t discourage you from doing, and enjoying, the fun thing.
Is Ingram sparks a reputable publisher?
IngramSpark isn’t a publisher, but rather a self-publishing platform. It’s one of the main platforms, with a good reputation in the self-publishing community. IngramSpark charges no fees and sells no adjunct services. Anyone using the Ingram name and asking for money is a scammer.
I too say thank you! I just want to trust people and in this time, you can’t! I did have one publisher call me and I was too busy writing my book. I didn’t know about scamming in the publishing world. Now I do and I am aware. We have to beware and smart. You can’t trust everybody. This site is wonderful!
AI is definitely operating against us. I’ve received more emails than I can count that contain very compelling compliments and insightful descriptions of my work that were obviously generated by cutting and pasting my book description into a AI generator. I believe there’s even a website out there that promises “in-depth” literary reviews that also smell a lot like they’re generated by AI since so much of what is said makes no sense. AI also makes it too easy to spoof logos, etc. to make an email look authentic. Or messages on Facebook!
I was trying to promote an FB post/ad and I immediately got told in an authentic looking email from Meta that it didn’t comply with their community standards with all sorts of threats about shutting down my profile, etc. I arrived so quickly it caught me off guard. I usually don’t get sucked in with email because the sender shows on my email client and when it’s a gmail address it’s obviously not from a real company. I missed it this time because of the timing. I told the long, harrowing tale in my blog so won’t repeat it here, but if you plan to promote a post on FB be aware that you are likely to immediately get messages like that via email and FB messenger.
Another word to the wise: If you use PayPal do NOT connect your credit card or bank account! If a scammer gains access to PayPal they can empty it, then run up your credit card to its maximum, and then start emptying your bank account!
I am writing to find out if certain requirements are required to have a Literary Agent submit a manuscript to a publishing company prior to being accepted.
The requirements being asked for are:
Video Book Commentary or/and an Exclusive On-Location Author Interview,
They are asking for a fee to do these.
On another note, Is Writers Branding a reputable company?
7 Wrightstown Cookstown Road, Unit 8 Cookstown, NJ • 08511, USA
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, Thank you
Reputable literary agents don’t charge upfront fees of any kind, or require authors to buy anything as a condition of representation or submission of book manuscripts to publishers. Any request for upfront money, and any selling of services is a marker for a scam.
Publishers are only interested in seeing manuscripts. They have no interest in “extras” like videos, author interviews, book reviews, or any other paid service. No reputable agent will tell you such things are needed…because they’re not.
One more thing: reputable literary agents rarely reach out to authors directly (like publishers, they expect authors to come to them via queries), and they never submit or “endorse” manuscripts for non-clients. In other words, for an agent to submit your ms. to a publisher, you’d have to sign a representation contract first.
And what good is a story or a poem or a book without readers? you ask. Well, there is one benefit. Writing a story can be deeply theraputic: it can cause you to look inside your own mind, examine your motives, your fears, your ambitions. It can help you to understand yourself.
Victoria, what a gospel of the obvious your articles represent! Thank you. You see, “the love of money” is still the epic prompter of man’s will, be they writers, actors, or models; and they are often easily deceived when promised what does not exist. Just when I suspected some scammers were listening in as Nigerian publishers declined to publish my damning scholarly text on Nigeria for fear of retribution from the nation’s corrupt leadership, my inbox was no sooner flooded with scammers who were impersonating Amazon and who were promising to satisfy my yearning for the highest bidders. I remembered pausing and wondering until I ran into the safe arms of “writerbeware.org.” I have since grown ten-fold in my publishing goals. Scammers indeed have flooded the writing landscape and to have you as the saving grace of writers who value their trade is quite appreciated……. Cliff I Edogun.
A valuable post.
Mind you, I’ve not been caught by scams for one simple reason. I don’t have the money to pay their demands. 😊
Vulnerable? Yes! To sit down and write takes its toll, unless one is an AI-robot.
I say thank ya, Mizz Strauss, for keeping up the good Work!
I was wondering, do you think there will ever be an actual asserted effort to crack down and bust these legions of scammers (or, at least, a big chunk of them)? It only took one well-worked scam to open my eyes, but it’s unchecked continuance is just so depressing!
Excellent article. Thank you.
There is little more that I can add to your accurate depiction of the required alertness to avoid scams of any description in any field.
It is with thanks to a great part to your articles, that I have had near misses with what appeared to be a genuine proposal, that on closer examination revealed itself as a cleverly crafted offer fanning the anticipated needs within the writer.
I have great appreciation for the work that you do, in assisting writers to connect with integrity within the sphere of the creative industry. Thank you, Barbara
Thank you for keeping us on our toes.
Fantastic article. We can be “easy targets”, but with resources like Writers Beware, we can also be “well armed easy targets”. Twenty-two years ago, when I was first trying to kick start my writing career, I fell prey to an author mill press that seemed legit, but did crappy (to no) editing, no marketing, and really just relied on the money they got from us who bought our own books from them. Fortunately, that publishing company did itself in with scams like this and no longer exist (Publish America), but twenty-two years ago… It wasn’t long after I realized what I’d fallen for that I found my first resource (Predators and Editors) but now, Writer Beware is the place to go, and I’m very grateful we writes have a resource like you to turn to.
Thank you.
I recently recieved an offer to sell my book DEDE in Frankfurt and L.A. The offer was exciting until an up front amount of $899 was posted. There was what hit me. Leaving off one dollar from the price made it seem so much more of something to pay. Yes! What a lure.
Dennis Roeder
Great article. Writer scams should not discourage you from using your talent.
Just be aware that the bad guys are good at being bad. When I say “show me the money”, “send me a check” or “deduct your fees from my royalty” , silence is the answer.
If you write to deliver a message, keep writing. If you write to get rich, better off with pickle ball. Good Job
Dr L
Your message was just what I needed to hear! It took me five scams to realize that I should keep on writing but beware of promises and double talk. Thanks for restoring my faith.
I agree with every word of this. Was a pro cellist in London before I was a writer. There are barriers to the music profession that writing is just without…
That makes writers uniquely vulnerable, imho.
A good friend of mine, who is a best-selling author, had told me that back around 2015 or so, that the publishing industry had changed. Not these scammer small-timer so-called publishers that really aren’t publishers, but the real ones. Like the company that has a bird in Antarctica named after it.
***Fiction writing has gone downhill, just like Hollywood itself. All these publishers want is the name, the big name. Joe Rogan, who hasn’t written a book that I’m aware of, could write a book and it would sell a kabillion.
There is an entire small club of authors that are published and they all promote each other. It’s the self-promotion game.
Yes, you have to write a great story with a very strong concept, premise, character arcs, and interesting characters. But to get anybody to take notice to actually publish it, good luck with that. The large publishing companies, they’re not interested and they’re not looking.
***Another problem is that anybody can so-called publish anything with the so-called self-publishing angle. It’s not really published if you go and you put it on Amazon, is it? Publishing and putting something for sale are not the same thing.
An example of this small little community that promotes itself is the book series which started with the title, The Terminal List. Written by a Navy SEAL, that first book is really good. They made a TV series of it. I forget. Might be Amazon. I forget. Next thing you know, somehow, that Navy SEAL gets on to Joe Rogan and everything just goes ballistic. It’s not because he was a really good writer. It’s because he knew the right people.
***And if you continue to read the series, you will notice after so many books that there is a lot of bullshit propaganda in it. Such as the so-called Russia hoax, which is being promoted in this series. Even worse is this Navy SEAL is written into his series that men in caves did 9-11. Architects and engineers for 9-11, there’s over 3,500 of them, and these are people that know everything from fire physics to building construction, have annihilated the official story of 9-11. Where two jets magically brought three skyscrapers to dust. This author has the man in caves being responsible.
I stopped reading the series. I just can’t put up with bullshit propaganda. This is what the public-issuing industry has turned into. There’s the approved list of authors and the approved list of material just like Hollywood.
Beam me up.
There is an outfit called “book baby” that lays pout exactly how much they charge for various options: book cover, ghost writing, editing, etc. I am wondering if this is just a lead-in to some scam that will cost a fortune with no result. The total they want is about $2,300.00. Since I don’t own a printing press but have some idea what printing anything costs, that sounds fair. What say you? But yes, I get scams in bulk in my inbox offering everything I would need and some I don’t even know what that is. I do want to thank you for your good work and the countless dollars you have saved so many people. Bill Miller
BookBaby isn’t cheap, but it also isn’t a scam, and as far as I know has a decent reputation for quality and service.
Thanks, Barbara. Useful and timely as usual!