Writer Beware

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USA Pen Press: The Ghostwriting Scam of a Thousand Websites

$USA Pen Press homepage with large images of John Grisham and J.K. Rowling flanking a boxed announcement: Hello World! We Are The USA Pen Press Bearers of the book publishing \ legacy$

JAN 24, 2025October 16, 202529 COMMENTS

Well, not actually a thousand. But a lot.

It's been a little while since I've written about ghostwriting scams (previous posts include the markers that identify ghostwriting scams and the scams' misappropriation of the Amazon name and trademarks)...but given how prevalent they are, and their increasing aggressiveness in advertising, especially on Facebook and other social media, it seemed like a good time to re-visit them, via an especially egregious example I recently discovered.

But first...a little background.

BEST OF WRITER BEWARE: YEAR IN REVIEW

Best of Writer Beware: 2024 in Review

Header image: the numerals 2024 against a blue background, with the zero shown as a target with an arrow in the bullseye, enclosed by a magnifying glass

JAN 10, 2025January 10, 202523 COMMENTS

Hard to believe another year has rolled around--it seems like five minutes ago I was preparing this annual overview for 2023. As always, it's been a busy year of writing scams, publisher implosions, exploitative contract terms, and more.

As in the past few years, impersonation scams were among the most frequent types of fraud reported to Writer Beware. And as always, their primary targets are self-published and small press authors. If you self-publish your book, it's almost a guarantee that you'll encounter some or all of these.

The Impersonation List. Impersonation scams, where scammers impersonate literary agencies, publishers, movie studios, organizations, and others with fake representation offers, publishing contracts, movie offers, and more--all, of course, involving large upfront fees--are among the most common of the many scams arriving from overseas. Constantly updated, this list includes all of the impersonations that have been reported to me (and there are a LOT of them), along with with tips on how to unmask imposters.

OVERSEAS SCAMS

Karma’s a Bitch: The Law Catches Up With PageTurner Press and Media

Header image: touchscreen with law-related icons (gavel, court building, open book, etc.) with hand selecting scales of justice (Credit: mayam_studio / Shutterstock.com)

JAN 3, 2025December 23, 2025190 COMMENTS

My first post of the new year is usually my annual look back at the year just past--but you'll have to wait till next week for that one. This news is too good not to share right away:

The CEO and VP of one of the worst publishing scams of the past few years have been arrested in California.

Some background. The scam in question is PageTurner Press and Media, one of the biggest and most brazen of the vast array of publishing/marketing/fake literary agency/impersonation scams operating out of the Philippines.

OVERSEAS SCAMS

A Quick Pre-Holiday Warning for Authors: Guard Your Credit

Header image: woman in blue shirt holding a selection of credit cards (Credit: Me dia / Shutterstock.com)

DEC 21, 2024January 14, 202527 COMMENTS

The latest newsletter from the Authors Guild includes this scam alert:

Beware of aggressive “independent publishers” like Leap Write Literary, who persistently call until authors agree to republish their books then orchestrate elaborate multi-stage scams. In this case, the scammer (using the name Pia Robinson) first charged $6,000 for supposedly required documents for a fake $282,000 publishing deal with Hachette, then attempted to extract more money through a fraudulent movie deal with Focus Features. When the author refused the movie scam, the company retaliated by making an unauthorized $4,000 charge to their stored credit card information.

The scammers sent out fake emails from executives (using non-corporate email addresses) promising large advances and elaborate details about publishing and movie production. Red flags include the requirement to pay for query letters and synopses, non-working email addresses for supposed executives, blocked access to sales reports, and an F rating with the BBB.

CONTRACTS

When Royalty Language in Publishing Contracts Isn’t What it Seems

Header image: fountain pen on a sepia background over the words "Publishing Contract" (credit: alexskopje / Shutterstock.com)

DEC 6, 2024December 6, 202412 COMMENTS

Recent complaints to Writer Beware about a couple of different publishers' royalty practices has alerted me to the fact that writers may need to demand more clarity around royalty language in publishing contracts--even if that language looks completely standard.

First, though: an overview.

Royalty language varies widely from contract to contract, but good royalty clauses should include, at a minimum:

OVERSEAS SCAMS

Failing the Reality Check: Independent Literary Recognition Guild and Acquisition Database

Header image: "Real" fading away and being replaced by "Fake" (Credit: Net Vector / Shutterstock.com)

NOV 29, 2024March 30, 202516 COMMENTS

From time to time, scammers create faux organizations or publishing industry groups in order to enhance the appearance of legitimacy or to run a fraud. Some of these are quite elaborate, with large, well-designed websites (and, occasionally, text plagiarized from legitimate sources they're imitating). I've covered a few of these sleazy efforts over the past couple of years.

Herewith, a couple of new outfits that flunk the reality test.

I became aware of the Independent Literary Recognition Guild (ILR) thanks to comments on another of my blog posts from writers who'd been contacted to buy ads in its magazine. (The pay-to-play magazine racket--whether the fees are for interviews or ads--is a well-established pitfall for writers; I've written about it a number of times. Even when not a scam, it's a dubious investment, especially if you can't determine subscription or circulation numbers.)