Writer Beware

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Scam Alert: Raider Publishing International

APR 16, 2015May 2, 202227 COMMENTS

In 2012, I posted a warning about Raider Publishing International. Founded by former (and disgruntled) PublishAmerica author Adam Salviani, and presenting itself as an independent publisher, Raider is basically a publishing service (not a publisher) in the Author Solutions mold, with some added (and highly dubious) bells and whistles.

Raider began to become a problem in 2012, with mounting author complaints. Here's what I wrote at the time:

Over the past few months, I've begun receiving a steady trickle of complaints about Raider, where before I only received questions. I'm not the only one; as a result of the negative feedback he's gotten from Raider authors, Mick Rooney of The Independent Publishing Magazine has revised his once-positive review of Raider to "not recommended." Other complaints can be found online--at Ripoff Report, for instance, and Scam Informer (I always take websites like this with a grain of salt, but in this case the complaints are quite consistent, and the problems reported reflect the reports I've been getting).

BOOK MARKETING SCAMS

Amazon Takes On Fake Review Services

APR 13, 2015June 28, 202210 COMMENTS

The actual impact of four- and five-star reviews on Amazon and other retailers' websites is a matter of ongoing debate, but their perceived importance is not.

Which explains why, if those reviews aren't accumulating on their own, there's a quick fix--as long as you're willing to hold your nose and open your wallet. Throw a virtual rock these days, and you'll probably hit a service that, for as little as five dollars, will create a glowing review of your product and post it online--even if the reviewer has never used or even looked at your product.

Authors are as vulnerable to the lure of the quick publicity fix as anyone else (perhaps even more so, given the crowded book marketplace and the struggle for discoverability). One of the most infamous examples of book boosting by dubious means is self-publishing superstar John Locke, who, as one of his publicity strategies, bought hundreds of book reviews from a service called GettingBookReviews.com. And Locke wasn't the only one. According to the New York Times, GettingBookReviews sold over 4,500 reviews in its relatively short career.

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

The Strange and Twisted Tale of Peter Senese, Serial Con Man

Photo of Peter Senese looking dapper in a beige jacket and tween scarf, standing in a parklike setting surrounded by fallen leaves and trees with autumn foliage

APR 9, 2015July 17, 202522 COMMENTS

Since at least 2013, SENESE allegedly defrauded parents whose children were victims of international abduction by falsely representing that he, working with the worldwide resources of I CARE, could rescue their children and return to them to the United States in exchange for money for his purported rescue operation expenses.

Senese allegedly conned over $50,000 from one parent of a lost child, and is charged with one count of wire fraud (the criminal complaint can be seen here). He was arrested and arraigned March 31, and is currently free on bail.

Okay--but what, you may be wondering, is Peter Senese doing on Writer Beware? Well, before he started preying on desperate parents, he ran an elaborate literary scam.

UNCATEGORIZED

Naughty-No-No! E-reading App Keeps Young Minds Pristine

APR 1, 2015May 2, 20227 COMMENTS

If you follow publishing news, you're probably aware of the recent controversy over Clean Reader, a reading app that scrubs ebooks clean of curse words and profanity.

Now, in a step toward the future of interactive digital media, bold start-up Inkadinkadu has partnered with a number of major ebook distributors to produce and distribute a new reading app, called Naughty-No-No!.

Starting where censorship app Clean Reader leaves off, Naughty-No-No! allows readers to make any ebook capable of being read and enjoyed by pre-schoolers down to the age of three. “If they can read, they can read with Naughty-No-No!,” said Inkadinkadu head honcho Jimmy Duranceville, “and, if they can’t read yet, the app will read the book to them in a voice modeled after the legendary stage and screen actress Shirley Temple Black during her famous child actor years."

CONTESTS AND AWARDS

Bookbzz — Buzzed Off?

MAR 31, 2015May 2, 20228 COMMENTS

Last week, I started hearing from writers who'd entered a contest sponsored by an outfit called Bookbzz, which describes itself thus:

Bookbzz.com was designed as a simple but powerful book marketing engine to enable authors and publishers to better market their books.

By gathering together basic information and enabling social sharing we are able to provide authors with a free marketing suite, reviews and tell-a-friend engine to promote their books.

SELF-PUBLISHING

Second Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Author Solutions Inc.

MAR 26, 2015May 19, 20225 COMMENTS

In April 2013, the law firm of Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart filed a class action lawsuit against Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI). The case survived various motions to dismiss, and this past February completed discovery and filed for class certification.

Now the same law firm has filed a second class action against ASI.

Dated March 23, 2015, the complaint was filed in District Court in the Southern District of Indiana (ASI's headquarters are in Bloomington, Indiana) on behalf of two new plaintiffs, Patricia Wheeler and Helen Heightsman Gordon. It alleges fraud, unjust enrichment, and violation of various statutes and consumer protection acts, including the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the Indiana Senior Consumer Sales Act (Wheeler is over 60 years of age).