The official blog of Writer Beware® shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
As 2023 gets underway, it's time again for Writer Beware's annual look back at all the schemes, scams, pitfalls, and publishing industry craziness we covered in 2022.
A New Home for the Writer Beware Blog: After many years, Blogger (our previous home) finally got too small for us, and we transitioned to Wordpress. How that came about--and the benefits thereof.
Some important publishing industry initiatives kicked off in 2022.
I can't believe it's the end of another year--where did the time go?
From Michael, Rich, and me, best wishes for a healthy, safe, and joyful holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it. Heartfelt thanks, also, to the many readers, writers, and industry professionals who share their stories with us and help to spread the word about Writer Beware. We couldn't do it without you.
We'll see you in January!
If a rash of solicitations over the past few months are to be believed, there's a major rush down in Mexico to acquire film rights to books.
These virtually identical emails are, of course, laughably bogus--from the peculiar capitalizations, to the anonymous "Hollywood Movie Agents", to the implausibility of these supposed directors bollixing up their own movie titles, to the unlikelihood of famous film folks personally soliciting authors via funny-looking Gmail accounts--but they have been briskly doing the rounds since this past summer, and I've collected quite a trove of them thanks to the many authors who've sent them to me.
Obviously a scam, in other words. But what's the endgame?
One of the few remedies available for writers who've been ripped off by scammers is to file a payment dispute.
This is possible if you've used a credit card or PayPal, and are within the window of time in which a dispute is permitted. In the USA, credit card companies are required by law to give consumers up 60 days from the time they receive their bill to dispute a charge, though many companies allow for a longer 120-day period (the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains a database of US credit card company agreements where you can look up your company and see what their policy is). They also cap consumer liability at $50. Protections for UK credit card users are similar.
For PayPal, the dispute window is within 180 days of purchase.
Last year, I published a post about a growing problem for self-published writers who've bought into a "re-publishing" offer (always received out of the blue) from a company that promises it can do a better job, or provide more marketing, or facilitate a transition to traditional publishing.
Such offers can seem attractive, especially to writers trapped in the Author Solutions ecosystem, where customer service is poor, book prices are often non-competitive, and low sales and obscurity are all but assured. Often the offer is reasonably priced (as a loss leader to get writers in the door so they can be pressured to buy more expensive services), or includes tempting features like marketing campaigns or (supposed) literary representation.
Unfortunately, most of these companies are scams (see this list), and signing with them carries serious risk--from relentless upselling pressure, to substandard services, to fake trad pub or movie rights proposals involving enormous fees, to simply taking the cash and running.
Cricket is a paying market (rates are posted on its Submittable page). However, over the past few weeks I've received multiple complaints from writers and illustrators who say they've had tremendous difficulty getting paid--or have never been paid at all.
The range of reported problems is wide, and also somewhat random. Some creators told me they were paid promptly for some works but very late (like months or even years) for others. Some said that persistent emails or invoices eventually pried a payment loose--though far later than the promised payment date--while others received repeated form responses but no check, or no response at all. Several told me they have never gotten the money they are owed (the longest reported time lag: two and a half years). Some are still invoicing for these missing fees--but others said they'd just given up.
Reported amounts due range from just over $100 to more than $1,000. Complaints cover the whole slate of publications, from Babybug to Muse Magazine.
