As you'll know if you're a regular reader of this blog (and from your own experience if you've ever self-published), we are currently in the midst of a tsunami of scam companies that aggressively solicit authors with out-of-the-blue emails and phone calls touting phony services--"endorsement" to Big 5 publishers or major film studios, "nominations" for representation at book fairs or other costly-but-useless PR strategies, and more.

These ripoff artists often seek to boost their credibility--and stroke writers' egos--by naming some made-up organization or group that has recommended or otherwise validated the author's book. The Guild of Literary Agents, Book Acquisitions Guild of America, Book Acquisition Society, The Literary Arts Organization, Affiliation of Creator Agents, Hollywood Database, Literary Review of Books...I could go on, but you get the picture. Despite the official-sounding names, none of these so-called organizations (which I've seen referenced in multiple scam solicitations) exist--as even a cursory websearch will confirm.

Scammers, of course, are counting on writers not to check. But writers have become much more savvy about solicitation scams than they used to be--partly because there are now so many of them, and partly because there are so many warnings about them. This has caused some predators to up their game, attempting to create credibility for their made-up endorsement organizations by giving them actual websites.