A Cautionary Tale for Authors

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If you’ve ever crafted a story, whether an essay, a short story, or a novel, and whether you’ve published or not, you know the satisfaction of having completed a work and put your name (or pseudonym) to it. Some gifted writers are also gifted marketers, who know how to reach the readers who will purchase and love their work.

I am not one of those.

I’ve recently published and released two books of a three-book fantasy series, the Dragon Guild. They have received glowing editorial reviews and both are recipients of the Literary Triton Book Award. The award isn’t a selling point to readers but it’s chum in the water for sharks posing as “marketing experts”.

I nearly fell for one of the first such emails. The sender claimed to have read the book and offered to help market it. The person sounded legit in every way. I was ready to sign up, until I received an invoice from Nigeria. I may be gullible, but I’ve heard of “Nigerian prince” scams. Thankfully, I ended that conversation. I did not expect the flood of emails that followed.

Here’s an article that describes exactly what I encounter daily. Like all scams, it’s insidious in its approach, convincing, and totally deceitful. Protect yourself! Read this article!

Return of the Nigerian Prince: A New Twist on Book Marketing Scams

POSTED BY VICTORIA-STRAUSS FOR WRITER BEWARE® ON 

Header image: Word cloud with SCAM in large red letters (Credit: kentoh / Shutterstock.com)

Marketing scams have always been plentiful. Over the past year or so, though, they’ve really surged. 

I’ve written about one type of marketing scam–the “friendly author” social media scam, in which someone impersonating a real (and often very well-known) author reaches out with a direct message, ostensibly because they’re interested in your books or your writing, but actually in order to refer you to some sort of shady marketing service.

Now there’s a new type of marketing scam… Read More

11 thoughts on “A Cautionary Tale for Authors”

  1. Thank you for the heads-up. It’s scary to imagine falling for this, both the loss of money and the bad guys gaining access to one’s KDP account. I’m so glad you didn’t fall for it. Thanks for exposing them!

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  2. I’m so happy you didn’t fall for it! I have dozens of messages from marketers on my Twitter account. It’s annoying. They all sound like they are interested in my story and writing journey only to want money. I engaged in a few back-and-forth messages before seeing through the ruse. Now, I just ignore the messages. I don’t have time to engage with disingenuous people.

    I am more than happy to help you promote. Just send me a write up, and I’ll post it and share in on social media. XOXO

    Yvette M Calleiro :-)http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com

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  3. The scammers are everywhere, Patty. It’s so frustrating. They are using AI to tell them what the book is about so it sounds like they’ve read it. I now delete them all and move on. It’s ridiculous! If only they knew us authors have no money to give to them. 🙂

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