A few months back, I began getting questions about emails like this one, from a UK-based magazine called Reader’s House:
![On Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 1:20 AM Ben Alan <ben.alan@readershouse.co.uk> wrote:
Hi [redacted]
This is Ben from Reader's House, a London-based literature magazine. I am reaching out to discuss a potential interview opportunity for the magazine. I will provide you with more details in the following email, should you be interested.
If so, I'll write you details with specific questions tailored to your titles and background.
Meanwhile, I recommend taking a look at our ABOUT US and MEDIA KIT pages. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Ben Alan
Editor
Reader's House Magazine
“London’s Literary Gateway”
https://readershouse.co.uk II ben.alan@readershouse.co.uk
200 Suite
134-146 Curtain Road
EC2A 3AR London,
United Kingdom
Reader's House is a subsidiary of NewYox Media Group](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Readers-House-solicitation.png)
What author wouldn’t be excited by an invitation to interview in a seemingly established and reputable literary magazine (even if they’d never heard of it before)? Those who responded received a followup like this one (the emphasis is mine):
![---- On Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:52:26 +0000 Ben Alan <ben.alan@readershouse.co.uk> wrote ---
Dear [redacted],
Thank you for expressing your interest in interviewing for our Reader's House magazine. We are excited to explore your insights and perspectives. Below, you will find a set of questions that can be tailored to your specific experiences and titles. The interview will be conducted via email, at your convenience.
Feel free to modify, delete, or add any questions to better showcase your expertise and unique viewpoint. Your input is highly valued, and we are eager to learn more about your thoughts.
Meanwhile, I recommend taking a look at our About Us and MEDIA KIT pages. Please feel free to reach out if you have any inquiries.
Please note that there is no fee for participating in the interview, and it will be published online. However, the inclusion of interviews in the print edition depends on the availability of space and the relevance of the interview content. If the interview is selected for the print edition, we kindly request the author to order a set of copies from us. Some of the interview that we showcase in print edition, author gets "Editor's Choice Award of Literary Excellence" from the magazine.](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Readers-House-followup-1.png)
For authors whose inboxes are stuffed with pay-to-play interview offers, this will seem like a welcome change. And indeed, the interview really is free…and it’s a real interview, with questions personalized to the author and their book (which is why I’ve redacted them in the example above).
In reality, though, the interview is what’s known in the retail trade as a loss leader: a product the seller offers free or at a below-market price in order to attract customers and leverage more profitable sales. Once writers turn in their interview responses, they receive this (again, my emphasis):
![From: Ben Alan <ben.alan@readershouse.co.uk>
Date: Thu, Jan 23, 2025, 4:02 AM
Subject: Re: Interview Questions
To: [redacted]
Hi [redacted]
Thank you for your insightful responses; they were truly captivating.
I would like to propose featuring your interview in our print edition, along with an editorial introduction that includes a quote of praise. However, the editor will inquire if you are interested in purchasing any of our services or ordering a set of issues.
Our services, such as Editor's Choice and Media Imprints, are beneficial for authors. If you're interested, please let me know, and I can provide you with more details.
Additionally, I will recommend to the editor that your name be considered for the Editor's Choice Award of Excellence, which is presented to a select group of outstanding authors.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
Best,
Ben
- - - -
Ben Alan
Editor’s Desk](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Readers-House-switch.png)
And here come the prices, typos and all:
Which should not be a surprise to any authors who followed the initial email’s invitation to download the Reader’s House’s media kit (though it’s possible they may have glossed over this section):
The paid packages all include print publication (as opposed to online only, the only option that’s free). On its website, Reader’s House has a whole article extolling the claimed benefits of appearing in print. However, although you can buy a print edition at online retailers like Barnes & Noble (cost for a 68-page issue: a whopping $32.99), it’s not clear that Reader’s House has brick-and-mortar distribution, which would be necessary for it to appear on magazine racks in physical stores. And indeed, Reader’s House basically admits, in one of its followup emails, that acquiring readers is not its main goal: “Unlike other magazines, our print edition is designed for authors rather than readers.”
In other words, author, you are our customer.
You Can’t Eat Just One
You’ll notice that in the last of the emails above there are mentions of several other publications. Reader’s House is owned by NewYox Media, which also owns nine other magazines covering books and authors, art, beauty, food, and business. Most have published fewer than ten issues; some have published just two or three. I’ve seen email offers from one, Mosaic Digest, that are similar to those from Reader’s House.
Several of the magazines’ media kits include a price chart like the one above. For those that don’t, there’s this, which strongly suggests that anyone targeted by one of the fee-free magazines will also get an invite from one of the fee-charging ones:
What about audience? What exactly makes it worth paying for a feature in the print versions of one or more NewYox magazines? The media kits all emphasize availability–6 continents! 190 countries! 40,000 “stores, resellers, platforms, and libraries”!–and the more expensive paid packages promise exposure in multiple magazines. But of circulation, nothing is said at all, or only that “Unlike many UK magazines that have experienced an average annual decline in print sales of 6.3 percent since 2014…we prioritise ensuring that your interview will reach thousands of people.”
Okay. But how, exactly? The promised press releases are junk marketing–cheap to provide, dumped on massive platforms where they must compete with thousands of others. Also, beyond the admission–by Reader’s House, at least–that readers are not its main consumer base, it’s worth noting that the magazines’ social media profiles don’t really support claims of a substantial audience. For example, Reader’s House is the oldest of the bunch and has published the most issues, but it has only 498 followers on Facebook, 266 on Instagram, and 154 on Xitter. Novelist Post, which appears to be the newest venture with just two issues published, has 24 Xitter followers. Entrepreneur Prime (eight issues) has three. Mosaic Digest (three issues) has zero.
In addition to the magazines, NewYox offers something called NewYox Platform, which it describes as a “multi-sided publishing platform that creates value primarily by enabling direct interactions between publishers…and consumers as whole”–which apparently (it’s not totally clear) means personalizing or customizing products such as books and catalogs. No examples are offered, and the many grammatical errors don’t inspire confidence.
Per Companies House, NewYox was incoporated in September 2021, and is helmed by Fatih Oncu, whose LinkedIn identifies him as “a media entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry”. Other than NewYox, this appears to consist solely of iBoo Press House, a publisher of mostly public domain titles that doesn’t appear to have released anything since 2020 and whose website is a lorem ipsum mess. NewYox is categorized as a micro company, with assets of less than £10,000 in its most recent filing. Despite multiple editors’ names in the magazine mastheads, plus at least four other names I’ve seen on emails from Reader’s House and Mosiac Digest, it has only ever claimed an “average” of one employee.
Is Pay-to-Play Ever Worth It?
The NewYox properties are far from the only pay-to-play magazine interview/feature “opportunities”. The largest number appear to focus on the business community; they aren’t so common in the creative industries, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.
I’ve written about the bogus magazines put out by publishing scammers, which consist almost entirely of paid ads bought by authors and are never circulated to readers or book buyers. The now-defunct #WORLDCLASS Magazine was also an energetic solicitor of writers, offering features and cover spreads for an “investment” of over $900. There’s DE MODE, which messages writers on social media (cost in 2023, when they solicited me on Facebook: $200 for inclusion in a “promotional article” on “unputdownable books”). Passion Vista magazine solicits professionals for expensive paid features.
Defenders of these types of arrangements argue that it’s no different from buying advertising. And in some cases that may not be untrue–if the magazine has substantial web traffic, for example, or real-world circulation via subscriptions and/or print distribution.
But pay-to-play publications may misrepresent their audience and reach–and lacking verifiable information, such as the name of a distributor, or active social media profiles that may give you a sense of audience engagement, how can you tell? And they often employ shifty recruitment approaches, never mentioning fees until after clients have been enticed with offers of freebies or claims they’ve been chosen for important media coverage–at which point it may be harder to say no to the money grab.
Like paid reviews and TV appearances, pay-to-play magazines may not be scams. But whether they are ever worth the fees they charge is debatable at best. In most cases, there are better uses of your promotional budget.
Dear Miss Strauss,
My Name is Fatih, as the founder of NewYox and the publisher of Reader’s House magazine, I feel compelled to address the concerns you’ve raised, particularly regarding your portrayal of our authors and the nature of our services.
First and foremost, I was disheartened to see the imagery you chose to depict writers as lemmings dashing towards a cliff. This representation does a disservice to the thousands of intelligent and discerning authors we have actively engaged with and featured on our platforms. Over the years, we have proudly interviewed and showcased over 3,000 authors, including bestselling, award-winning, and notable writers, all of whom understand and appreciate the value we provide.
While I acknowledge that mistakes can happen, none of our errors were intended to mislead. I kindly urge you to reconsider characterizing our authors in such a disparaging light.
Allow me to briefly introduce myself and provide context regarding NewYox. I received my education in communications from CSR in Albany, followed by a Bachelor of Science in Publishing from NYU (not completed) and an executive program at MIT focused on the digital revolution. My career spans over 20 years in the publishing industry, during which I established iBoo Press and facilitated the publication of around 1,000 books that is shut down in pandemi.
Recognizing the shifting landscape of publishing in the 21st century, I developed a project that personalizes and customizes publications, including books and magazines, which you can learn more about at newyox.com. In 2021, this project was recognized by the UK International Trade Office, which supported me in establishing it, despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the subsequent loss of my previous business network.
Our primary mission with Reader’s House magazine is to provide a platform for authors to share their unique voices. This magazine goes beyond mere publication; it serves as a marketing tool that enhances authors’ online visibility and SEO efforts. We have conducted over 200 interviews each month for Reader’s House alone, with 90% of questions tailored and approved by the authors themselves to ensure a meaningful dialogue.
I understand your concerns about our business model, particularly regarding authors ordering copies of the magazine. This approach was designed not to rely on magazine sales for income but rather to cover the costs of publication and distribution. Importantly, we offer exclusive services to authors, emphasizing that our focus is not on selling magazines to them, but on providing value through their features. I assure you that this policy does not compromise the quality or integrity of the content we produce.
While I value constructive criticism, it would have been beneficial to communicate directly with us before posting your corcerns. Our work reflects a vision of empowering authors, and we remain committed to addressing any feedback for the betterment of our services.
In closing, I wish you and the members of your platform a joyous holiday season. Thank you for considering our perspective.
Sincerely,
F. Oncu
Founder of NewYox
Except you’re already soliciting me for money, and you never even published my *free* interview, even though I inquired about it. That shows bad faith. Who knows? If I’d been impressed with my interview, I might have explored your options. I won’t now.
Great feature, thanks|!
I was forwarded this link by Rob from The Inca Pr(cheers, Rob) as I sensed something not quite right. I’m sure everyone has their email inbox overflowing with offers to promote their work. It’s so much worse now, I think, than a few years ago before AI made it easy for someone on the other side of the world appear to have read your book, highlight relevant sections, praise you the heavens and then suggest they can help get it in front of thousands of avid readers who will ‘devour’ your work. (There is a commonality to the language used in these messages which convinces me AI is at play.)
However, Reader’s House initially seemed ‘different.’ This magazine looks impressive … and the one I read online was actually pretty interesting.
I agreed to the interview and submitted my Q&A yesterday (when I contacted Rob and another trusted and experienced writer) but stressed while I was impressed with the magazine, I wouldn’t be paying any great sums of money. Yeah £30 for the issue containing my feature would be ok, but not £xxx!
I could see the magazine would in itself not generate sales. I knew it was not reader focused. However, I was tempted by the thought there may be a knock-on effect – some other publisher / magazine / blogger may pick up on it and THEY would help with sales.
However, just last night, I checked Reader’s House social media following and it’s non-existent for a publication of its supposed repute.
Additionally, when I checked the featured authors’ books on Amazon, I could see the amount of reviews had shown very little / absolutely no change from when their feature appeared in the magazine, suggesting next to no sales resulted from their ‘investment.’
And then this morning, I am pointed to this page.
It’s all a real pain – not knowing who to trust in this game. Even likes of Amazon Ads are so complicated and expensive for wee indie writers these days.
But you know what? It’s on mornings like this I am so glad I’m such tight-fisted, cynical, grumpy, old git! 😀
I fell for them… answered their questions (which were well thought out and interesting) but did not commit to paying for anything. Never heard anything back. I still don’t know to this day if it was ever published.
To add insult to injury they emailed me again several months later with the same offer.
Alison,
Your interview may very well be online! I too was contacted and answered their questions. I didn’t hear back but decided to go and further check out the online interviews. To my amazement I found my interview, which was dated about 4 weeks later. Interestingly it did not have my picture on it, but the write up was great!
About a month later I saw that my picture had been added to the interview itself. Interesting.
Then six weeks after this I received a follow up email pitching the media packages again, and stating that if I wanted to pursue the print version, available to those who purchased media kits, it would be republished on-line, as well as in the print magazine that was being released in two weeks. That was earlier this week. I think I’ll post the whole of this to the main blog since I’ve learned a lot since. My point in replying to you was that your interview is probably online now; just calculate four weeks from your original submission and scroll through their online magazine to find it.
Thanks for sharing – I rec’d a similar “no charge” proposal and TONS of marketing experts lathering me with sweet suds of “oh your book is captivating” and “we will do this and that and the other.” I don’t even bother responding anymore. I immediately block.
The best part of only having one 99c ebook is, I can’t afford the scams.
Our approach is simple: we interview authors and feature them on our magazine website at no cost. For the print edition, our editorial team selects outstanding authors, including New York Times bestsellers, award-winners, and prolific writers who have published 50+ books. These authors are also showcased for free. Interestingly, while we never require New York Times bestselling authors to purchase a single issue, many opt to place orders after being featured in our magazine.
In addition to these features, we offer optional services to authors, which we refer to as “opportunities.” These services are entirely voluntary, and some authors choose to take advantage of them to further their exposure.
Each month, we conduct interviews with over 100 authors. Unfortunately, not all of them are bestselling or exceptional authors, so for the remaining pages of our magazine, the editor selects authors who either opt for our services or place magazine orders. Over the last three years, we’ve proudly featured over 3,000 authors across 55 issues. While it’s not possible to make every single author completely satisfied, the vast majority are happy with their experience. We’re thrilled that 95% of the feedback we receive relates to our magazine sales and not concerns like scams or unethical practices.
We did use their interview option and it was free. We did pay for the printed version and then ordered the magazines. In hindsight it was probably too much money spent on too little exposure globally, but for our own advertisement on our social media it was considered impressive because the magazine could also be purchased on-line through Barnes & Noble. It was not a great way to get more readers, but it was a good way to advertise and impress our current readers. So it was a way to advertise and impress! It did not have a global reach, which is what we had hoped for.
I have had a very similar issue today. I posted this on Reddit and someone suggested I looked at your site. This is fascinating. Clearly this is rife although I didn’t expect to find unreliable sources on Goodreads!
A few hours ago I looked on Goodreads for a beta reader. There was a woman who was offering her services for a low fee. She had great reviews 100% positive, which should have warned me. So I contacted her. Yes, she could do any genre, any form of English and she would complete the work in two weeks. What’s not to like? There was a woman of the same name on Facebook. Here I was a little confused because she was an extremely good looking woman with a totally unrelated job and in another country not usually connected with Beta reading but, I thought, don’t be narrow minded. There is absolutely no reason why a country normally connected with spam emails should not be a beta reader. So I carried on. Here her request to be paid in advance now appeared. Through PayPal. And now a little red flag.
I was not paying her but a man who on FB appeared to be someone living in another country. So, I queried this. First the desire to be paid in advance. She said previous authors had not always paid her. Poor thing. But then why? On the person to be paid she claimed he was a relative. Odd I thought that the woman on FB bearing her name has over 500 friends and yet not this man. As it happens I used to work with a policeman. I contacted him and he said – fraud. Don’t touch it. This conforms to a stereotype.
Thank you for what you did for me. I recently published the first of series of works on Philosophy. I was approached by and pitched hard by Kerry Jacobson. I am a former investment CEO and Kerry was out of his depth. I stumbled upon your post while researching him and it confirmed my suspicions. I noted the lack of information on him, it is intentional and managed.
If one cannot manufacture positive comments make sure the negative ones are removed. Yes it can be done. His list of successes are people who can afford to buy their best sellers as a means to another end, usually as pedestrian as making money.
He uses a lot of tricks that I am sure are quite effective and if all one cares about is money his services are undoubtedly worth it. As I retired investment manager who made my living profiting from fear I am more concerned with retaining what is left of my soul.
I have published a good deal before this on finance and written countless newspaper columns. I have always been insulted from the actually publishing industry…wow!
At least finance is upfront about taking your money. I will carry your fear and you pay me to do it.
These people prey on hope. If I lost your money you can make more. If I steal your hope, my God is there anything worse? I have been assaulted by publishers and marketing people who expouse their love for my work who have never even read it.
I would be happy to provide you with what I have learned.
I am already small f famous and big I infamous. The f is warranted the I is not, my memoir will address the I’s. My experience with Kerry and the man who introduced us makes a very interesting vignette.
He’s about to get more for his efforts than he planned on.
Thank you,
David F Brochu,
Author Thrive:The Theory of Abundance and The End of Suffering
Founder and Former CEO StrategicPoint Investment Advisors. Providence RI.
Thanks for writing. It’s a great headsup. I’m one of the people Kevin’s suggesting. I’d like to think I’m cynical enough to say I’d be wary at the third email. I subscribe to magazines but read them on my tablet so pay for paper copies just to … (what exactly?)
I got a pitch from them and I did answer their questions. BUT I refused to pay for it to be in a print edition. Utterly refused. Instead it did post online for free and I was cool with it. (And I didn’t pay a cent–writers should NEVER pay a cent to be profiled).
There are magazines out there who do print interviews. I’ve done a couple. I’ve even done them for blogs about writers. I’ve never paid. I’ve never received and revenue from these. They are just a way to get name recognition. They are not going to sell any of your books. Paying for a print magazine is ludicrous. I have had bloggers send me the link to the blog where I can copy it and put it away for posterity. Which means it will go in the trash when I’m gone.
The Facebook page shows people who, I assume, self-published books about magic being real; ghosts; amazing discoveries that violate the laws of nature and physics; NewAge (rhymes with “sewage”) bullshit.
I hope you aren’t implying that the authors of these self-published books on subjects you think are bullshit deserved to be scammed.
Well said Victoria.
This reminds me of the old National Library of Poetry. You’d get a solicitation for poetry. When you sent it in, you received a letter praising it and telling you that you were a finalist. After that, you got further emails to buy things: a massive volume containing your poem, framed copies of your poem, etc. Everything was expensive.
As always, spot on. So, this fake rag does not care about getting subscribers, but is targeting AUTHORS! Right. And how many authors are going to rush to buy your book? Zero. Authors who would use this rag do not have expendable income. Whatever monies they do have will be spent on THEIR books.
Thank you for your explanations. Timely because I just received one of those emails.
I hit post too quickly and didn’t get to write my comment. Pay to play is becoming increasingly common in the PR world–especially with podcasts. Some are legit, others are not. There are numerous book review websites where you can pay for book reviews. City Book Review now charges. Previously, they’d ask for several titles to review. The list goes on. Authors need to weigh their need for validation in a review versus what will actually sell their book. Most reviews, even in legacy media, don’t.
You know, Kirkus Reviews for self-published books is not unlike your Pay-to-Play descriptions. The reviews cost $450 (reviewers receive $50) and you get a Kirkus blurb for your book cover and your review published in the Kirkus magazine, buried in the back pages with all the other self-pubs. There are also opportunities to step up your exposure in the back pages by purchasing ad spaces for your book, and you can buy even greater recognition as a chosen book to read. Do librarians and book stores rely on the self-pub pages of Kirkus magazine for their selections? Not that I’m aware of.
Agreed. I’m never a fan of paid reviews for exactly these reasons. With venues like Kirkus, which don’t promise a positive review (unlike some lower-rent paid review services), it’s also something of a gamble that your money will buy something you’ll want to use.
I always discourage my clients from buying trade reviews. They aren’t helpful, and they are expensive. Trade reviews aren’t consumer-facing, so it’s not as if the trades sell books.
Scammers not only make us wary, they break the hearts of newbie and gullible writers who desperately seek and want encouragement. I think “same old sad story”, but I’ve been linked in to the writing world for a long time. I know to be extremely cautious. And I do all that I can to “pass forward” my knowledge and help.
Thanks for this article. I too received this pitch and spent a good deal of time answering the questions which were actually very interesting. Clearly someone had done a deep dive into my website and it was fun to answer the questions. But the moment I saw that I had to pay to be in a print edition, I thought this is a joke. However, I will use the interview on my website and in my Substack newsletter which I assume is legal because they did not ask me for a copyright and I signed nothing.
Did your interview actually appear online? I’ve heard from two people who refused to pay whose interview either never appeared or appeared and then vanished.
I won’t even pay a submission fee, so I’m not going to spend this kind of money even if an outfit is legit. I can’t imagine generating enuf sales to cover the fee alone!
Thanks for publishing this. I received the pitch and immediately tossed it in the spam bin, but I can see how some authors (new ones, especially) might be taken in. Great job!