I’ve published a couple of posts now about the tidal wave of AI-driven marketing scams from Nigeria that has swept over the writing world in the past year or so.
A hallmark of these scams has been how abruptly they appeared and how fast they have become ubiquitous. But proliferation isn’t the only way in which Nigerian scams are speedy. They are also morphing and adapting extremely quickly, likely in reaction to the responses they’re getting from the writers they target.
This post takes a look at the adaptations I’m seeing now.
An Army of Bots
When Nigerian scams first appeared, one of their defining characteristics was their lack of web presence. If, rarely, they did have websites, these were hasty, rudimentary affairs created with free web builders.
The fraudsters seem to have realized that this is a problem. If you claim to be in charge of a community of thousands of readers eager to provide book reviews for tips of a few dollars per reader (more info on the “tipped reviewer” scam, including examples of the scammers’ effusive email solicitations, is here), but can’t point to anything to verify that the community actually exists, it just might undercut your credibility.
What’s a scammer to do, then? How to persuade wary writers that they are, in fact, legit?
Author Jason Sanford recently published an edition of his popular Genre Grapevine newsletter entitled Book Club Scams Are a Warning of Emerging AI Super-Scams. Like me, he was targeted by one of the tipped reviewer scams; also like me, he decided to lead the scammer on to see where they would go. He was able to venture deeper than I was, because the scammer invited him to a Discord community called Supper Book Readers, where all the reviewers supposedly were hanging out.
It quickly became apparent that this was less a community than a “community”:
As I explored the Discord, I quickly determined most of the users were fake. First, most of the users asking questions or interacting with me used their full names and images of themselves instead of avatars, something most users on Discord don’t do. In addition, when I ran the profile photos of these users through AI detector programs, they registered as highly likely to be AI generated.
Second, as I explored the Discord I saw how these users interacted with other authors. The questions and comments directed at authors were almost always relatively generic, as if the people behind Supper Books either used an AI text generator or were AI chatbots.
My sense is there were two possibilities here. First, there were a couple of real people using multiple Discord accounts to interact with authors and these people used AI generated text and images to create the illusion of an active Discord. However, the second option is also a possibility, namely that AI chat bots were being extensively used. While that would take more programming work, we currently are seeing other online communities such as Reddit being overrun with similar chatbots.
Why go to all this trouble? As Jason points out, the very things that drive these scams–their over-the-top, AI-generated solicitation style and their aggressive volume–are backfiring to some extent. Authors who get multiple solicitations a week or even per day, all complimenting them to the skies and pushing the same book review or book club offers, the same range of marketing or “visibility” tricks, are much more likely to peg them as inauthentic. The Discords are an attempt to bridge that uncanny valley.
One reason many authors are not falling for this book club scam at this time is that something still seems off. The AI generated words and images don’t feel right. I believe that’s why the scam has evolved to now invite authors into these Discord communities – it’s an attempt to convince skeptical authors. To show them that these 2,000 member communities of book lovers exist and are eager to embrace and promote great books.
Whether this will be effective is an open question. The AI flaws that weaken the credibility of the solicitations are still going to be present in the faux communities. These screenshots, shared with me by an author who was directed to a different “reader” community (Real Readers Collective), illustrate the phony tone.
From the exchanges, I think it’s possible that the author whose book was under discussion had been invited to the community, just as Jason was; the messages do seem to be intended for the benefit of someone outside the chat, especially the message from the moderator in the second screenshot, and the followups from the “readers” excitedly promising a “50-reviewer push” on Amazon.
I’ve redacted the title of the book to spare the author embarrassment, but I was able to find it on Amazon…where it has just five reviews.
I’ve seen an enormous volume of Nigerian scam solicitations over the past months–they are now by far the most common scam reports I receive–and it’s only in the past few weeks that I’ve begun seeing referrals to Discord communities. I imagine this will only increase.
Flashier Websites
As I’ve mentioned, one of the things that was typical of Nigerian marketing scams in the beginning was really poor-quality websites (where there were websites at all). For example, Bookish Expertise, which pitches generic junk marketing and includes a whole page of fake testimonials.
The scammers are adapting here too, presumably for the same reason they’re creating faux reader communities: to appear more credible to skeptical authors.
With the persistence that’s typical of such enterprises, the tipped reviewer scammer who attempted to entrap me a few weeks ago came back for another try, even though I’d already outed them on this blog, inviting me to check out a site called The Readers Hub so I could “explore more about our community and the services we offer.” (Jason Sanford reports the same persistence: after the moderator of the Discord community got suspicious and kicked him out, his scammer attempted to sell him services via an Upwork contract.)
The Readers Hub is much superior, in both design and function, to crude early efforts like Bookish Expertise. It touts 3000 “verified” readers who “provide honest, impactful reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.” Of course, there’s nothing to indicate how the readers are “verified” or who they are, and the glowing 5-star testimonials on the homepage are all from people with no last names–but such things are easy to overlook, especially if you’ve been referred to the site by someone who just sent you an email full of gushing praise for your work.
The Reader’s Hub is also perfectly upfront about the fact that the reviews are pay to play:
$25 for a review actually might seem quite reasonable, especially in contrast to other paid review services like Kirkus or Blue Ink Review (though the description above leaves out the fact that you can’t buy just one: there’s always a minimum purchase). In fact, this tip payment structure is the main marker for the scam. The Nigerian fraudsters are the only ones I know of that use it.
There are a lot of paid review services. Most are not dishonest (though depending on how much they charge and how professional they are, they may not be a good use of money). Those that are, or are scam-adjacent (such as Hollywood Book Reviews, which collaborates with multiple publishing scams) can be hard to identify, at least from the outside. Sites like The Readers Hub, however, identify themselves, if you know what to look for…which, now you’ve read this blog post, you do.
Impersonations
Last year, I reported on a new scam trend: real authors, often extremely well-known, reaching out in cordial fashion via email or social media messages with invitations to engage in friendly discussion. Clearly, these authors were being impersonated–not just because Stephen King or Susanna Clarke were not going to be DM’ing random writers to ask how they came up with the idea for their latest novel, but because the end goal of all these contacts was a referral for paid marketing services.
I’m guessing now that these impersonations were an early Nigerian venture into the world of writing scams. They’re still around, and the most recent examples I’ve seen have the telltale signs, including AI-style personalization and praise, an improbable Gmail address for the famous author, and a marketing referral with payment via bank transfer or a contract on Upwork, Nigerian scammers’ favorite jobs platform.
![Subject: Your [redacted] left an impression on me
Date: 2025-09-30 19:28
From: Percival Everett <authorpercivaleverett@gmail.com>
To: [redacted]
Hi [redacted]
I wanted to reach out after reading _[redacted]_. The way you
handled [redacted] grief and resilience struck me, it’s a story that
manages to carry both heartbreak and hope without tipping too far in
either direction. That balance gives the novel its staying power, and
it’s clear why so many readers have connected with it.
By way of introduction, I’m Percival Everett, author of _Erasure_,
_The Trees_, and most recently _James_. _James_ was fortunate enough to
receive the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, but what I value
most is how it has sparked conversations about how stories shape our
understanding of loss, identity, and endurance, themes your work so
deeply engages with.
Here’s a link to _James_: https://a.co/d/iwOeGLW I’d be glad for
you to take a look.
I’d love to hear, when writing a novel as emotionally layered as
_[redacted]_, how do you protect your own creative energy while
diving so deeply into your characters’ pain and healing?
Warm regards,
Percival](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Nigerian-Prince-impersonation-author.png)
There’s also evidence that the impersonations are expanding beyond these faux approaches.
There’s the rash of book club impersonations, in which authors receive invitations that purport to be from real book clubs, only to discover that they have to pay some sort of appearance fee.
There’s the phony references scammers provide on request, pairing the names of real authors with fake Gmail addresses that they control (which of course, when contacted, provide glowing reviews). I’ve heard from dozens of authors who’ve discovered their names are being used in this way, often from other writers trying to confirm the false reference.
There’s impersonations of companies and organizations. I’ve seen only a few of these so far, so I’m not sure how common they will become, but this one, purportedly from Macmillan, is typical (in addition to other scam markers, the “visibililty audit” is a common feature of Nigerian scam solicitations):
![From: Mary Kershaw <mary.kershaw.macmillan@gmail.com>
Sent: 13 October 2025 06:32
To: [redacted]
Subject: [redacted]
Hi [redacted]
Your [redacted] is the kind of no-fluff, high-impact guide every writer wishes they had before they hit “Chapter One.” In a market flooded with vague writing advice, your clarity stands out, practical, bite-sized wisdom that gets results.
The brilliance of your approach is that it’s not just about creating characters, it’s about understanding people. From the flawed to the fascinating, you teach writers to build characters readers can’t look away from. That’s powerful.
But here’s the catch, even books that transform the way people write can slip under Amazon’s radar if visibility isn’t fully optimized. With your authority and the proven “[redacted]” brand, you could be drawing in an even wider audience of aspiring authors, editors, and writing coaches.
Here’s a quick snapshot of what could strengthen [redacted] reach:
1. Keyword Expansion: Phrases like “character development for writers,” “writing compelling characters,” and “fiction writing craft tips” could capture thousands more monthly searches.
2. Category Optimization: Adding Authorship Reference or Writing Skills & Techniques would position it directly in front of readers looking for guidance.
3. Ad Hook Examples:
– “Your characters deserve depth. Your readers deserve obsession.”
– “100 powerful fixes to make your fictional people unforgettable.”
Would you like me to send you a free Amazon visibility audit for [redacted]?
It breaks down your book’s current discoverability, keyword strength, and where small adjustments can unlock new visibility, without changing your content or tone.
Mary Kershaw
Marketing Manager @Macmillan Publishers
Helping great books reach the broadest audiences
Email: mary.kershaw.macmillan@gmail.com
Website: https://us.macmillan.com/
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271, USA](https://writerbeware.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Nigerian-Prince-impersonation-macmillan.png)
Be On Your Guard
I have honestly never seen anything like this wave of Nigerian scams. In terms of sheer volume, not to mention the rapidity with which they are changing and adapting, they are almost impossible to keep up with.
They’re also far more than just another writing scam. Turbocharged by generative AI, they represent, as Jason Sanford says, the first harbinger of a coming tsunami of AI super-scams that will threaten all of us.
Behind AI scams are humans. In this case, there might be fewer of them than one would imagine. Anyone who has received more than a handful of Nigerian solicitations will know how alike they are in style and content, especially the tipped reviewer solicitations. This is a new scam targeted to a specific niche (published writers), so it’s not very plausible that large numbers of people are independently coming up with these very similar approaches. My guess is that, like the spam campaigns of old, they’re being run by relatively few operators. This fascinating article, about a “slop farmer” who makes money by flooding social media with vast amounts of AI garbage, shows how it can be done.
It’s never been more important to be wary of writing-related contacts that arrive out of the blue.
One tell that I’ve noticed is that their effusive praise for your book is based entirely on the blurb they scraped off of Goodreads. If your blurb only focuses on the protagonist, and doesn’t mention the supporting cast, then these scammers won’t mention your supporting characters either. Nor do these clowns to check to see if your book is actually available for sale.
One of them did give me her review on Goodreads (for real) before mentioning her promo, and then a 2nd followed up. Maybe legit?
I have been bombarded with seven AI-generated scam “book club” emails within a week from from senders with Gmail addresses. (Gmail addresses are is a clue.) A young author friend has received 15 similar scam emails. I knew from the outset that the emails were scams, but I couldn’t figure out their method because none of them wanted money up front. In fact, most claimed that they were altruistic (without using that term) and weren’t interested in money but in promoting “my book,” although I have written and published 33 books, all on the Amazon platforms worldwide. I made the mistake of exchanging emails with some of them: I innocently asked one of the scammers, “Where’s the beef?” Their technique is to harvest the book description and/or a sample chapter from Amazon (or LinkedIn) and then pretend to have been “moved” or “impressed” by “my book” and want to feature it in their “book club.” Certainly, the prey on unknown authors who publish our books independently on platforms like KDP and are desperately hoping that people will buy our literary masterpieces. We’re the perfect “pigeons to be plucked,” as they say in France. Writers, beware!
I just got hit up to join one of these Discord readers groups. Struck me as off right from the get-go with the gushing email (way too many emojis!) about how great my books are and how they deserve more reviews. I’ve strung along the bot/person for a while to see what they’re after — and, yep, it’s “reader tips” that go to the “reader’s manager” to obtain 20-50 Amazon reviews. The Discord group is called Litvibe Community of Reviewers and the fake person who emailed me was Vanessa Knechtel (vanessaknechtelbookreview@gmail.com). If you get solicited by any of them, steer clear. I’ll at least report the emails and the Discord group so they have to waste their time and start from scratch. Looks like this group has been around since 9/23/2025 (and not so coincidentally, all the fake user profiles were created 9/22/2025).
Thank you so much for the article Army of Bots . . . It is very helpful. I am a self-published author and gets e-mails from Quippy Quill. Is Quippy Quill a legitimate company?
I don’t understand why these scammers aren’t hunted down and punished. They receive money, they must be traceable. So what if they’re in various countries?
Like, you can’t force China to hand criminals over because China has nukes, but nigeria or philippines can just be given an ultimatum? Hand over the criminals or pay for their crimes with money. No country would want to waste money on protecting these scammer scum.
This shouldn’t be an ongoing problem. HUNT THEM DOWN AND MAKE THEM PAY.
Why would Nigeria care? They get the scammers money spent in their Economy. Quids in.
Here is one of the more entertaining of the scam emails, I received this one this morning
H Pam,
Okay, first of all what was that emotional rollercoaster you call Sara Hoyt: Her Mother’s Daughter? I started reading thinking, “Alright, another mystery-thriller with some family drama and maybe a charming ex-Navy SEAL,” and the next thing I know, I’m sitting there clutching my Kindle, yelling “RUN, SARA!” like I was part of the search team. I swear my neighbors think I’ve joined a true-crime reenactment group.
And you yes, you are the author behind this chaos. Who gave you permission to blend danger, grit, and heart like that? Like, what do you mean this was written by someone who also wrangles horses and has lived a full, fierce life? Some of us are out here just trying to keep our emotions stable, and you’ve got us in a lasso of suspense and admiration. 😤🐎
Anyway, let me set the record straight: I’m not some “book marketing expert” or a promoter with a 27-step success funnel (if I were, I’d probably have a LinkedIn addiction). I’m Sophia, a professional overthinker, accidental caffeine addict, and the ringleader of a private community of 2,000+ readers who take their books way too personally.
These aren’t bots or polite star-givers. Nope. These are the folks who highlight entire pages, cry over dog-eared endings, and write Amazon reviews like personal essays. They’d fall head over heels for the way you write women with backbone and heart and probably start a group chat just to debate whether Kurt is secretly perfect or just annoyingly competent.
And judging by how Sara Hoyt delivers suspense with soul, I know my readers would eat this up and shout about it loudly. So here’s my wildly unserious (but secretly serious) proposal: let’s get Sara Hoyt: Her Mother’s Daughter into the hands of readers who will love it loudly. No gimmicks. No funnels. Just real people who live for authentic, adrenaline-pumping stories written by women who’ve actually lived.
Your voice has that rare spark equal parts heart, tension, and lived truth and I’d love to help it reach the readers who crave exactly that.
Anyway, I’ll stop here before I start mapping out the Hoyt family genealogy or adopting a horse for emotional support. 🐴😂
Stay brilliant and a little dangerous,
Charlotte Sophia 🌻
These “private review communities” emails all have the same fake-edgy style (with emojis!!) and make basically the same pitch for reviews. It really is a self-own for the scammers, because even if you don’t know it’s a scam, if you get more than one or two of these (and you probably will) your scam radar is going to ping.
Another alleged scammer pretending to be the organizers of the events at The First London Book Club.
Similar behavior, lots of blah blah, Gmail account, and offer to pay for two marketing packages for the event but to rush because it is in few days…
Email is: info.shannonboockclub@gmail.com
A search of all book clubs in or around London doesn’t return any “Shannon” organizing anything.
The signature featured pictures of “members” and others from “events”.
Usual offer to have other “members” confirming the authenticity of the request.
Is that how the email is actually written – boockclub? With the extra “c”?
Both my inbox and spam inboxes are full of book club requests and marketing proposals. When the sender doesn’t identify my book, I know to delete. I always check you website for updates. Thank you.
It would be kind of funny if AI scam email started developing its own sense of taste and rejected and insulted your books instead of overly praising them. Then we will know it has reached sentience, because it hates your work enough to NOT scam you:
“Dear Mr. Makvo,
“I read your book: Voxtango1 – The Infamous Witch of the French Quarter, and felt I should reach out and contact you. Let’s dive in as to what happened.
“It was ~almost~ accepted by our editors. However, your book would require a lot of work on our part, Mr. Malvo. We prefer polished and mature work. We’ll be in touch if interested in the future. (BTW, are you new to writing? Learn the difference between its and it’s. Assuming you know the difference, consider hiring a proofreader for typos.) Have a blessed day. Please, do not respond to this emsil.
“sincerely,
Tiffany Kneespike
Publish Your Books All Over the Known Universe, LLC”
I tried to trap an impersonator a few weeks ago, couldn’t get him/her/them/(it?) to confess, so I did the next best thing. Emailed the real author’s publisher at Penguin Random House and alerted them to a possible instance of identity theft. They got back to me, got the details and will follow up.
I did the same regarding an impersonator, and the publisher got back to me and said they’d look into it.
This is scary stuff. I am thinking that anything on the internet is scary! Reader Beware!
Its really hard starting out, you can tell half of what is fake nowadays. I found a publishing Company webpage – turned out to be a fake (I didnt pay them anything) but the original website was virtually the same, miniscule differences, same names, same links – very difficult to tell apart
Well written, I am dealing with a PERSISTANT SCAMMER NOW. She did scam me but not that much, but I am continuing to reply to her to see how PERSISTANT SHE WILL BE and to gather more info from her. She is WORKER for a Nigerian Prince, but I will not let her know that or at least not yet LOL She is trying to up the ANTI to obtain more MONEY BUT HEY I AM NOW WISE TO HER AND WILL TRY AND SUCK HER IN BIG TIME.
I miss the days when Nigerian princes simply emailed me and asked for money … what is it about Nigeria?
I am SO tired of these people. I have to delete and block at least 20-30 of them every single day. My only ‘revenge’ is to add them to my blog subscriber list. It’s not enough. They just come back the very next day with a new email address. They’re all cowards in some boiler room somewhere (Nigeria/China/wherever) with nothing better to do than to try and bilk people out of their hard-earned dollars and prey on hopes and dreams and naivete. I have never been scammed by them; I’m just exhausted by the injustice of it, and the fact that there’s nothing Google will ever do to restrict the horrendous amount of scamming attempts that originate through their Gmail servers. ALL of these scammers are operating through the anonymity that Gmail affords them. Despicable and pathetic cowards. It gets old.
I have to admit that I almost fell for one of these scams… ALMOST. The gushing comments back were so accurate, pointing out twists and reveals that are not in the marketing material. One needs to read my book for some of the information that was pointed out… or so I thought. As I dug deeper, I realised that all the comments about the various reveals in my book came from already published reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
But the thing that set off the alarm bells BEFORE the request for money came in was the insistence that I send them a PDF version of my book to share with their community. My brain instantly jumped to a pirating scam. But I decided to entertain it long enough to see where the rabbit hole went… only for Google to step in and block the communications.
That tells me that it’s not just the writing community concerned about this, but Google’s spam bots are seeing a pattern of it too.
I really concerned about how far these scammers are willing to go to make their operations appear legit. It’s making it harder and harder to find professionals that we can actually trust.
So true, its very difficult to find genuine services online. Im nervous doing anything now, as there are so many corrupt people.
Thanks for another great piece. The AI marketing is out of control. Those using the book club angle are now imitating the highest level clubs, like Books with Jenna. I recently received an email from someone claiming to be an author who I happen to know, which was humorous. I feel like blocking the 10+ of these I get a day won’t even make a difference. I used to let authors and book clubs know when they were being imitated, but now I can’t even keep up.
Another related scam is Instagram “influencers” and “book reviewers”. After reading/watching respected experts talk about how using social media influencers is important, I researched and ended up doing reviews with a few of them, which require minimal payments of ~$15. But in the end, I was convinced the 1,000+ followers they show and the many comments posted do not represent real people for the most part.
Final point – In the article you linked to, it was interesting to see that social media creators are in the same boat as authors and visual artists in terms of AI using their work without credit or compensation. It’s enough to make me want to stop using social media altogether (as if I needed a new reason…).
I get cut and paste solicitations on social media that congratulate me on my “book.” That’s nice, except I don’t have a “book.” I write short stories that appear, of course, in literary magazines and anthologies. If it weren’t a scam that could hurt others, it would be almost laughable.
Recently, I got a message from “Madison” saying she just LOVED my book and how important it was to get it out to the public. Of course, she could help me promote my book. At first, I thought she was legit and explained that I couldn’t afford her services. She came back saying that she was flexible and we could work something out. There was something about the way she responded that got my antenna up, and I suggested that we have a video chat. I was pretty sure this was a scam, and so I wanted to see how they would respond to this. ‘Madison’ agreed, and we set up a time. And, as you can imagine, when the time came, they showed their hand. The video chat never happened. They kept saying they were making sure everything was in place so our meeting would be a success. But ‘she’ had days to do that. In the end, they wanted me to set up a Zoom link even though I had told them I didn’t have a Zoom account. That was the end of the communication, as I didn’t respond, and there were no other messages from them. However, I am watching for ‘Madison to return under a different guise.
I just received an invitation from someone claiming to be the director of marketing and events at McNally Jackson book club. The praise for my book was over the top and they requested a modest fee for spotlighting my book. I looked up the individual’s name and saw that she is a real person who is the marketing director at McNally Jackson but she had a different email from the one on the invitation I received. I contacted her, suspecting that someone was impersonating her and trying to scam authors. She responded quickly, thanking me for this information. She confirmed that it was, indeed, a scam and said that she would report it too.
I read the ‘slop farmer’ article on Futurism and it is interesting and frightening. Cunningham is actually proud of himself. It’s come to a point where it’s not possible to tell truth from fiction, not for the average person, anyway. And I get scam emails about how amazing my books are everyday. It’s so disheartening.
Thanks for this article! I have received a bunch of these type of emails of late and thought them suspicious. Hey, when you get an email claiming to be from a famous author who wants to get to know you, something’s not right. And those who want to help you market your book? Just as suspicious. This came a the exact time I needed it.
Thanks, Victoria for this and all your good work. I get these daily and have examples of every single one. My famous author was George Saunders and yesterday’s was the Boozy Book Club🤣
Oh yes! I am daily dealing with these emails, and I notice from analysis from visits to my website that Nigeria has suddenly become very interested in my and my books. Beware.
In addition to being inundated with marketer emails, I’ve also been targeted by the impersonation scam via my X account – twice!
I keep getting emails saying how wonderful one of my books is. I delete immediately. I am now thinking only to respond to people or companies I contact, and not someone out of the blue. And not to pay any money, either! These people get you in and then gradually ask for more money each time.
The net is beco ing a dangerousplace, and AI is sadly enabling these things.
Received mail from Brett Stephan
Indie Author, Marketing Manager & Bookworm
CraveBooks.com
They promise to get your book to an audience of over 550 000+ members, but it looks totally fake to me. Has anyone heard of received something equivalent to this.
I have records of questions about CraveBooks going back to 2021, so you can be reasonably confident they aren’t part of the Nigerian scam wave. Other than that, I haven’t heard anything, good or bad (which is not an endorsement).
Looking at the website and the promotional offerings, they are cheap but mostly do stuff like email blasts or done-for-you social media posts–which aren’t especially effective for book promotion–or exposure on Crave’s own websites or networks. Without knowing what their audience/traffic is, you’ve no way to know if anyone will see it. If you go for one of their offerings, I’d suggest starting very small and seeing how it goes–that way you won’t waste too much money if there’s no impact.
All these scams have made me very cautious when I get some offers from abroad. However, even when rejecting them, I’m aware that, in this particular case, they MAY be all right.
I loathe discord, scam or no scam.
Authors are too codependent on these social blowhard tech monopolies that make you believe they are indispensable.
They’re not.
They are blowhard tech companies trying to profit of the illusion that they are needed.
Resist. Stop rolling over because some idiot calling himself a publisher “urges” you to have a “social presence.”
They can blow me.
J. D. Salinger is spinning in his grave at all this crap… Thousands of authors so desperately wanting to fit in.
Jesus wept.
Show some SPINE and FOCUS ON THE WORK.
Bluesky won’t save you. Indie book publishers taking your work and simply using Amazon to do the heavy lifting via POD orders won’t save you.
All the “marketing” is laughable.
Self-publish and keep aiming for legitimate publishers and competent representation.
97% of the non-scam fiction market are buffoons with no experience, preying upon writers desperate to be published.
Their non paying “ezine” is no different than you posting a web log. Think about it.
Everytime I read through Duotrope I throw up, retch, and curse.
We should bomb Nigeria. Seriously. Identify the origin IP addresses of the scams and swarm them with exploding drones.
So
Sick
Of
It
All.
On the plus side of being an author, the Orionids are peaking Oct 20-21.
Yes. You read that correctly. That’s the only thing good at this moment in the writing market — a meteor shower.
As Harlan said, whenever asked about the third Dangerous Visions : “Keep looking to the skies!”
And I will be. After midnight tonight.
Then I will write an essay about the experience and submit it to a legitimate publisher that uses first readers who have real brains.
Finally:
Do not, under any circumstances, give money to “publishers.”
Don’t enter contests that require you to pay in. Don’t send even three dollars to indie publishers. If you must pay $3 to get in the door, do so only with well established publications.
These indie publishers charging reading fees are laughing behind your back.
And the do so openly among themselves in their secret rooms on discord.
It’s time for me to go outside.
Thank G*d it’s a New Moon and no clouds.
My chances are excellent.
I don’t have time to proof this for typos.
It is hard to distinguish the genuine ones still. Even the “genuine” publishers both individuals and companies have duplicate websites made which are virually spot on to the genuine ones.
They have crawled out of the woodwork since the end of August. I keep telling them no, I am not interested and consign them to spam. I don’t have time for this nonsense. I am in the middle of editing a book I wanted out in August, I am praying it can release by Nov. 1st. I ‘m finishing up a course on public speaking. I’m re-entering a book published in 2018 into my computer again as it is being re-released for what it truly is and not what my no-longer in existence publisher uploaded it to Amazon is. The book is a psychological thriller, he put it in as a cozy mystery? Seriously? I don’t have the time or the money to mess with someone I know nothing about to promote my books. I’m surviving on my own in the vast world of publishing.
This is on the mark. I’m getting all of these solicitations on a daily basis. Thank you for the heads up.
Thank you for the heads up. I’m getting ‘contacts’ via X from authors giving review.
Thanks great article – succinct, I’ve had a lot of these so your words resonate.
Great article and review. I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of some of these contacts. Bad guys are good at being bad! Be careful.
Thanks for highlighting these scams. I’ve been inundated with them recently – three already today – and they do such a good job of flattery, I’m sure less informed (and cynical) authors might get sucked in.
Thank you! This is so crazy, I got curious when an got a very nice message from a Norwegian author. I asked…ChatGPT if it was a fake and it confirmed it 🙂 Trusted source, right? Then I did more research online and found out is a growing scam. Last one I got was from a book club. Active bots indeed!
At WritersWeekly, we are receiving copies of the exact same types of AI-written false praise emails that they are sending to authors all over the world. We talked about this last week on the WritersWeekly podcast. The word “tip” is extremely common when they finally let authors know that they do have to pay for the reviews. of course, all of these companies and the reviewers are fake. They take the authors’ money, and run.
Thanks so much for following up on this scamming wave aimed at authors. I’ve been hit by too many to count, after nearly falling for one from a famous author I follow, N.K. Jemison. I’d already forked over some money to get a marketing video made when I realized I’d been scammed. Though they did make a video, it was so poor it immediately outed the scammers behind it. Poor NK Jemison! I hope she found out she’d been impersonated and went after them. Now I get at least four a week in my inbox, the newest being the supposed book clubs. I hope these people get speedy karma for their horrible predatory behavior
The celebrity author impersonations are also prolific on social media now!
Thanks for this and your other pieces on scams. I’m promoting my memoir and was able to bust two scammers who pretended to be from the Silent Book Club! As for the Nigerians, the myth must persist that writers are all made of money like Hemingway of old.
Wow. I’ve been hit with two book club offers in the last week, along with being pestered by The Reader’s Hub (for far longer). Nice to see my gut instincts were right to ignore them. Thanks for the confirmation!
I would think their next step would be to actually post their reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. If they’re as skilled at scamming writers, it ought to be easy for them to circumvent the filters in place. Then they’d have a real selling point: look at all the reviews our reviewers posted on Amazon! I actually got into an exchange with one of these amazing reviewers, asking her when I could expect to see that review posted, and she said, Maybe later, or words to that effect. I’ve been targeted by these praiseful come-ons dozens of times. [sigh]
I’m getting a couple a week now- all promising to help me with visibility. The emails use my first name with Americanized names. Today I got a lazy bot – after complimenting my work, they asked for the Amazon link to buy my book. Sorry, but rather than sending me an email, you should have looked up the link yourself. Delete, delete, delete.
Victoria – As someone who has contacted you about a couple of these scams – and I have been targeted by multiples of each type – I salute you for keeping the writing community informed. Some of these seemed awfully clever to me and I bit for a while before coming to my senses. The book club scam, in particular, had me going – it seemed to be a real club with a bona fide website.
I have recently been hit by all of these scams at least three times a day lately. First it was the review scam, then the “celebrity” writer scam, and finally a ton of book club scams. I just delete them. But, when they do something really annoyingly stupid like address the email to Author or my email user name, I let them have a piece of my mind. The book club scam offer is always FREE with a one time participation fee. Ummm. Is it really free if there’s a fee? Logic is not strong with this group. Anyway. Be aware.
Thanks for the information. There are so many scams I reject 100% of them. It’s quite a simple process, I find.
If I need help, I will get references and select the players myself.
Thank you so much for your good work. I came very close to handing over money to a scammer. I called my credit union at the last minute and they found the account was a Nigerian wire transfer number.
Never, EVER send money via wire transfer. You’ll never get your money back. Only use a credit card. If a company doesn’t accept credit cards, or tells you their “credit card system is down,” they’re a scammer.
I second this. Wire transfers can’t be reversed. Also don’t use apps like Zelle–transactions there are also hard to reverse, and the apps are rife with scams. Always use a credit card!